It had taken a lot for her to fall asleep that night.

Ever since coming back from the Hunt, Katherine had been keep up at night for a variety of reasons; her guilt over the situation with Brett, nightmares, the constant fear of losing Stiles, her guilt over the situation with Hayden, night terrors. Through all of them, she hadn't been alone which was nice.

Both her brothers, Liam and Mason, Melissa and Argent — who were shockingly now in the process of becoming a couple, she was almost certain — as well as her father and so many other people on her community that knew of the supernatural were all doing their best to help.

On nights when her brother was packing his things and Scott was working, Lydia and Malia would sleep over in her room with her. Mason did his best to hang out with her after school every day. Liam spent nearly every free moment with her, whether it be after school hours the middle of the night, or during their shared classes.

Even Hayden put in the effort to make sure she was okay, which meant more to Katherine than she'd ever be able to say. They'd talk on the phone occasionally, compare physics notes while she also explained them all to her because Katherine still couldn't understand shit. They texted movie recommendations to each other.

She even shared her not exactly secret comfort-before-bed movies.

What weighed entirely on her conscience, however, was Brett.

Even though it had been a week since things had gone back to normal, since the last day of school, she had yet to talk to him in person. They texted a lot, sure, but Katherine felt that the conversation they needed to have should be done in person, face to face.

So that night as she lay there in her pyjamas, in the middle of her bed with her phone off to her right, she couldn't help but think of him. Of what he was doing right there in that moment.

Did he hate her?

Unable to hold it back anymore, she grabbed it and frantically typed in a message and hit send before she could chicken out.

KATHERINE
you feel like diner
food?

Much to her anxiety's relief, the reply was almost instantaneous.

BRETT
I'll be outside in 15.

Without hesitating for a second she was out of her bed and digging around in her closet for a flannel that would do to keep out the evening chill of May. She slid on her shoes and moved silently down the hall to Stiles' door and knocked quietly so she wouldn't wake her dad up.

She was almost certain he was awake still, since he seemed to have the same troubles sleeping that she did, but she didn't want to wake their Dad up. He opened the door like she knew he would, and he seemed to understand what was on her mind before she even opened her mouth, but she still explained herself anyway. "I'm gonna go talk to Brett," she murmured softly, pulling him in for a short hug. "He deserves..."

"An explanation," Stiles finished for her knowingly, and she could only nod. "Alright, just be quiet and Dad won't notice, he's got his door closed. Come tell me when you're home, okay?"

Katherine smiled thankfully at him as she nodded, then went silently down the stairs two at a time. She only had to sit on the front steps for ten minutes, all of which she spent playing Candy Crush, before a familiar silver car pulled over in front of her house.

He rolled the window down, smiling faintly at her. "Hey, Stranger."

She slid into the passenger seat and closed the door. "Hey." She waved slightly at Stiles, who was watching them through his bedroom window, and watched as he nodded once and let the curtains fall back into place. "So I need to have a conversation with you that is going to suck but needs to be said...had...fuck it, what ever," she forced out, swallowing thickly.

Brett just nodded, his lips twitching up at the corner, and pulled away from the curb. "You feel like diner food?"

Her eyes closed as her body flooded with relief after realizing he didn't sound annoyed or mad. "That sounds great."

🐺🌑🥍

Edith's was hardly busy as they pulled into the parking lot again, and while she desperately wanted to run away from the entire situation and hide, he deserved so much more than that. She slid out into the night air and closed the door behind her.

Already holding the diner door open for her, Brett offered her the tiniest of smiles as she passed him, and they made their way to the same booth they'd taken last time.

Everything still looked the same; all bright pink wallpapering, checkerboard floors with teal seats filling the room. The old movie posters were still in the same places she remembered them being, which made her smile, and the only thing she could smell was freshly made burgers.

Brett sat across from her again, hands folded in front of him, and he looked fractionally guilty; Katherine could tell by the way his lips were drawn to one corner, brows were furrowed, and eyes tightened at the inner corners. "What's that fucking face for?" Was the first thing she asked before she could even process it.

Immediately, she slapped a hand over her mouth as he snorted. "Hello to you too."

"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly, noticing the older waitress making her way over from behind the retro counter. "I'm really tired...but dude you look guilty, what's up with that?"

"You texted me, so you go first."

"How about we order first and then tell our life story to each other and watch the sun rise while we eat doughnuts."

"...I'm game."

After looking over the menu and taking ten minutes to make their decision, Trudy the waitress went to the kitchens with her note pad covered in scribbles. She'd gotten a bacon cheese burger with fries and a blueberry milkshake plus a coffee, and he'd gotten the same with the exception of his drink being a glass bottle of coke.

They sat in silence for a little bit, Katherine chewing uneasily on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out how to start the conversation. "So...how are you?"

"I'm doing okay, actually," he sighed, the two of them smiling kindly as their drinks were set on the table in front of them. "It's been a weird few months, but—"

"—I kissed Liam," she blurted out before he could finish, and immediately closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I know I told you I needed time to get over him but there was the whole thing where I got taken by the ghost riders and it was right before they took me to this weird train station that was actually a way station for all the souls they literally stole from people, and I wanted to at least do it once before I disappeared and—"

Now it was his turn to cut her off. "—You literally don't even know how relieved I am to hear that," he breathed out, slouching in his side of the booth.

She blinked at him for a moment, the fear that he would hate her fading so suddenly she was stunned. "What? Dude, I agreed to go on a date with you after I got over the dude I was in love with and I just told you I kissed him and...you're happy?"

"I am," he promised. "I so am. While you were in the Hunt and all that, I uh..."

It took a moment for his hesitation to click in, but when it did she gasped; the guilt and lack of eye contact, the hesitancy, even the happiness about her finally making a move on Liam. "Holy fucking shit; you met someone!" At the sheepish smile on his face, she knew she'd been right and she found herself grinning. "Tell me everything right now or I swear I'll judo flip you in the parking lot."

Brett laughed and leaned back in his seat, the blush that briefly dusted his cheeks making her squeal quietly and dance in her seat. "Okay, so his name is Owen—"

"—last name? I need to do a background check on him," Katherine hummed immediately, arching a brow as if daring him to disagree while taking a sip of her milkshake.

He rolled his eyes. "Owen Cabot, if you seriously need to know—"

"—which I do—"

"—and I met him at cinema...wait you're not offended that I'm seeing a guy?"

Katherine blinked at him, her brows raising in astonishment while typing the guys name out in her phone notes. "Did you literally forget I watched you grind on a dudes ass the night you got stabbed with those weird scorpion stingers last semester, remember?"

After a second to think about it, he just shrugged. "No, but to be fair I was stabbed with scorpion stingers that night."

"I'll allow it...now tell me more about him."

"There's nothing official, but we've gone on quite a few dates and I really like him, Katherine."

Trudy came with their plates and she took a break from her interrogation to eat the majority of her burger before feeling the outside of her coffee mug to see what temperature it was, and when she was satisfied with it, downed the whole thing in one go.

He was hardly even surprised at it, having apparently grown used to her caffeine addiction, and hardly even blinked when she wheezed in a breath as she set the mug down.

Trudy came back again, and the ordered doughnuts to go for desert, and she went back to the kitchens.

They chattered away now that the elephant in the room had been addressed, and as they finished eating she demanded to see a photo of the two of them together. He rolled his eyes but complied anyway.

The Lock Screen of his phone was a selfie of him and a dark skinned boy his age, all pearly white smiles and golden eyes. His lips were plump and coily black hair cut close to his scalp, all of it perfectly suiting his articulately structured face. "That is the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life," she stated without even taking a second to think about it.

Brett laughed and smiled down at his phone for a moment before he stuffed it back in his pocket. "I think so too," he chuckled. Then he cleared his throat. "Just so we're both on the same page, there's no hard feelings at all, right?"

Taking another sip from her milkshake, Katherine couldn't help the grin that would it's way onto her lips. "No hard feelings at all."

A/N: I COULDN'T LEAVE HIM SINGLE AND HEART BROKEN YOU GUYS I JUST COULDN'T DO IT MY HEART COULDN'T TAKE IT
anywho
this

is how I picture Owen Cabot, for those of you who wanted a reference photo.