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Stiles wasn’t exactly the type to hide things from the pack. It's a lesson learned years ago thanks to an annoying chimera. Well, he still hides one thing from practically everyone, and he hides it well.
He hid it well, he should say.
Because that ship officially sailed. Sure, it was probably a bathtub toy ship, but it sailed.
Stiles was stuck in his full shift after a run-in with a new mage. He was just supposed to help Deaton out by letting Annalise stop by for books, and now he was angrily ribbiting at the flustered kid, wondering where all his clothes went. Normally, his full shift meant getting naked and leaping into a pond as he let his shift overtake him, lest he be trapped in the confines of jeans.
Nothing either of them could do would fix it so far. It had been almost an hour already. She had put him in a small mug with water and tried her hardest to get him back to human shaped.
“So,” she flopped onto the couch with Stiles perched on the coffee table, “sorry for this. I didn’t think you were,” she flinched, “I thought it’d be fine practicing my pronunciation.”
Stiles glared. It was obviously going well, at least.
“Does your dad know about,” she motioned to his frog body.
“Ribbit.”
“Uh, was that a ribbit for yes or for no?”
“Ribbit,” Stiles repeated, exasperated.
She nodded in understanding and went into the kitchen, searching out things to help. It took another ten minutes for her to call John at work and sheepishly explain what happened. She waited for John to come home, apologized again, and hurried away from the disappointed look. John had managed to convince her that Stiles wasn’t a shifter before she left.
Stiles would feel bad about it if he wasn’t still an amphibian. She deserved a few hours of elocution work.
John sighed as he turned to look at his son again, gingerly hanging over the edge of a teacup he hadn’t seen in years. “You sure do find interesting ways to get into trouble.”
Stiles considered if he could splash his dad from that far away.
“I do need to get back to work,” he sighed, “But I can’t leave you alone.”
Yes you can, Stiles tried to communicate, you can and should. Leave me in my pond.
John pulled out his phone and dialed someone.
Stiles tried to stop his dad and failed.
“Is this Liam?” John moved the phone and squinted, “No, I meant Liam Neeson, yes you.”
Stiles chuckled at the tone.
“He’s a famous —” John pinched his nose and sighed, “never mind, just, get over here.”
Stiles wished he could hear like the wolves. Or smell like them to smell what his dad was thinking. Because he couldn’t really be thinking of telling the pack Stiles was a frog shifter.
“Yes, the house. Thank you and hurry.”
Stiles splashed a bit to get his Dad’s attention.
“Okay, I know you haven’t told the pack yet,” he sighed, “but normally you can control shifting back to protect yourself.”
Stiles tried to voice his displeasure, but the frog sounds did not work well enough to give a sarcastic reply.
“I’ll tell Liam the same thing I told Annalise. But I think you should let them know after this.”
Stiles slipped down into the water and closed his eyes.
“Mature.”
Stiles blew a few bubbles and turned away from his dad.
“Fine, point taken.” John sighed, “But really, kiddo, you don’t need to worry.”
Stiles thought about it. The reasons he kept it a secret were still there. What good is he in a fight? What benefits would the pack get? None. He would dry out on a surveillance mission too fast, and he didn’t even have venom or poison to cause damage. Maybe a distraction?
John didn’t push more, just set up a few things for Liam to watch over Stiles with.
Stiles didn’t bother opening his eyes or coming back to the edge of the teacup until there was a knock on the door.
He watched as his dad led Liam in, talking about that new girl in the pack and pretending like he wasn’t even sure it was Stiles on the table.
“So, why not bring him to Deaton?” Liam asked as he reached out to poke Stiles.
Stiles splashed him in retaliation.
“She said it’d wear off? But she didn’t sound too sure.” His dad rubbed a hand over his face.
“Okay, I, uh,” Liam cringed a bit, “what do I need to do?”
“Just… keep him alive.” John sighed, “those weird survival snacks he got should be good if he gets hungry.”
Stiles huffed, they weren’t just good, they were delicious.
Liam nodded seriously, “You can trust me, sir.”
“It’s just John.”
“Sure thing, sir.”
John shook his head and turned to leave, “and don’t loop in everyone. I don’t need nosy Mrs. Carlsen two doors down calling in a noise complaint if the pack shows up. I’ve got five more hours of my shift left, see you then.”
Liam offered a salute and settled on the couch, cradling the teacup in his hands. “I’ll keep him safe.”
Stiles didn’t like the movement but didn’t complain much beyond helping the water slosh over the side more.
“Sooooooo.” Liam tilted his head and looked closely at Stiles. “Guess we’re hanging out for a bit.”
Stiles sunk back into the water and blinked.
Liam put him back on the table and pulled out his phone, scrolling mindlessly for a bit.
Stiles enjoyed the lack of discussion. Liam let him just relax and sleep, no need to try and struggle to communicate. He let himself drift off for a bit, relaxing in his mom’s favorite teacup.
“So,” Liam tapped the cup to get Stiles’ attention, “I’m gonna try something. Remember after all this, Scott would really be mad if you hurt me.”
Stiles tried to back away as Liam scooped him up. He considered peeing on Liam’s hand as he got closer to Liam’s face.
The kiss, unsurprisingly, did not change Stiles back.
Stiles bit Liam’s nose and turned his back once he was firmly in the cup again.
“It was worth a shot!” Liam defended.
Stiles looked back at him then turned back away. He hoped the motion portrayed the way he felt about the idea and how very much not worth a shot it had been. Stiles knew that Liam wasn’t one of the normal planners in the pack, but normally his suggestions were slightly more cohesive than kiss the frog. Liam tried to bribe him with crickets and ants, but Stiles firmly ignored Liam in his embarrassment. Stiles managed to fall back asleep after he stole one of the crickets and hopped back into the water.
Liam quietly laid out another cricket for Stiles to steal and turned on the television.
By the time his dad returned, Stiles had warmed back up to Liam and sat higher up in the cup, gladly eating the crickets Liam offered. He was fairly full when a weird sensation ripped through his body. Liam helped him out of the cup as he struggled to control his limbs.
The transformation was awkward but painless, and he was happy to note his clothing stayed on.
Liam hovered as he stretched out, not quite touching Stiles.
“That sucked,” Stiles groaned.
Liam flinched back a bit, “Sorry.”
“Not your fault,” Stiles clapped his shoulder, “well, mostly.”
Liam glared.
“I mean, you did think kissing me would work.”
“It was — ”
“A really dumb plan. So dumb.”
Liam clenched his fists.
“I mean,” Stiles smirked, “if you wanted to kiss me, then you should do it when I’m not a frog.”