Stiles awoke with a start to the harsh sound of his alarm. Before even reaching to turn it off, he instinctively placed an arm in front of his eyes in an attempt to block the sun rays that seeped through his window. He hadn't even been awake for a full minute and already felt that he was experiencing a sensory overload, the blaring noise of the alarm clock making his ears feel as if they were going to bleed and the blazing sun burning his eyes were too much at once.

He shut off his alarm clock. In a flash, he was at his window, shutting the curtains, not even noticing is own unnaturally quick movements. Once he finally relieved himself with both the peace of quiet and sweet embrace of darkness, he noticed how hungry he felt. Half the time he was fine without even eating breakfast, but, for some reason, he was ravenous that morning.

Quickly, he got himself dressed and rushed downstairs, rummaging through cabinets for something to eat.

"You alright, son?" he heard his father's voice behind him.

He whirled around to face his father before nodding.

"Yeah, just hungry," Stiles replied. He touched a hand to his throat when he noticed how dry his own voice sounded.

With that, Stiles got a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the sink. As soon as he pressed the glass to his lips, he finished it in a one gulp before setting it back on the counter.

His father gave him a slightly concerned look, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Okay well...I'm just gonna head to work. Take it easy," the sheriff said.

Stiles nodded. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that he'd heard his father's heartbeat jump slightly. But, he did know better, and he knew that he wasn't a werewolf and therefore there was no way he could actually hear his heartbeat all the way across the room.

As his father left, Stiles settled for fixing himself a bowl of cereal before eating it rapidly and then another, all before heading to school with a certain empty feeling of needing something else - something more.

—

"Dude, what's with the sunglasses?" Scott asked.

Stiles shrugged.

"What? We live in California. It's sunny," Stiles replied simply.

Scott shook his head.

"I know, but I️ don't think I've ever seen you wear sunglasses before. I️ didn't even know you owned any" Scott said.

Stiles looked around, indicated the sky before continuing.

"Well, it is like unnaturally sunny today which doesn't help," Stiles responded.

Scott tilted his head to the side slightly, brows furrowed in confusion before slowly shaking his head.

"No, not really," Scott said.

Stiles looked at Scott confused. How could he not notice that the sun was about million times brighter than normal?

"Okay well...maybe you can just tolerate better because you're a werewolf," Stiles concluded, as he wasn't seriously about to start his morning arguing with his best friend about the brightness of the sun.

Scott shook his head.

"Yeah, no. That's not really how it works. If anything I'd sense it more," Scott explained.

Stiles sighed and shrugged.

"Whatever, man. Can we please just get inside? I️ feel like I'm gonna burn in this heat," Stiles remarked, taking note of how harsh the sun rays felt on his skin.

Scott still appeared confused, but chose not to speak on it.

"Uh...yeah, sure," he said.

With that, the two headed inside, which was somehow almost worse for Stiles. While the fluorescent lighting of the school hallway was, admittedly, better than the sun, it was still too much. Not to mention that it was so loud in there. Was it always that loud?

Sounds of chatter rang through the air, but now Stiles' ears were as picking up more on the shuffling of feet, the opening and shutting of lockers, and the sound of...hearts beating? No, it couldn't be.

It was even worse than when he woke up that morning, and at that point he just wanted to crawl back under the covers and sleep all day.

He tried to find one thing to focus on, but everything at once was so overwhelming.

"Stiles? Stiles? Stiles!" his best friend's voice said, penetrating through his daze.

Stiles blinking before turning to look at Scott.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Scott asked, placing a hand on Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles answered. He said he was fine. Well, that was his intention, at least. Instead of doing that, he actually found himself just staring at the werewolf's pulse point, just listening to the rhythmic drumming that was beginning to get a little bit faster.

He was craving something-

He blinked, shaking himself out his own daze and forcing his eyes to meet Scott's. He pressed his lips together, nodding.

"Yeah, yeah, all good. Let's just get to class," Stiles insisted. Scott opened his mouth to say something before dropping it. Instead, he just patted his friend on the shoulder, nodded, and began to walk to class.

—

In class, Stiles couldn't focus on anything. As someone with ADHD, this wasn't a particularly new phenomenon, but somehow it was even worse than normal.

Every little sound from feet tapping to pens clicking bothered him beyond belief for some reason that he couldn't quite pinpoint. Was everything always this loud?

Not to even get him started on the distraction that was the offbeat drumming sounds coming from every single student and the teacher.

When class was over and Stiles had officially retained nothing, the teacher was cut off by the sound of the school bell, and that was when Stiles lost it.

He closed his eyes, covering his ears with his hands. He felt like his head was going to explode.

When the bell finished ringing, which felt like an eternity for Stiles, Scott gently tapped him on the shoulder.

With reluctance, Stiles moved his hands away from his ears and looked at Scott.

"I️ think we should take you to Deaton after school," Scott suggested.

Stiles shook his head.

"No, Scott, I'm fine," Stiles insisted.

Scott sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know if you are. Whatever bit you last night...look, just think of it as an extra precaution, okay?" Scott persuaded.

With an eye roll and a grunt, Stiles reluctantly agree.

"Okay, fine, whatever," Stiles replied.

Scott patted Stiles on the shoulder before the two got up to head to their next classes, Stiles wondering how he'd possibly make it through the rest of the day.