He does not like that tone of voice, that much is obvious. If he was arrested for Fighting The Man by saving dolphins from Sea World or something else that anyone, in their right mind, could feel pride about? It would be different. But he wasn't and he's starting to see in Stiles what it might have been that Abigail saw in him, too:
He's alarmingly normal. Or, at least, capable of acting normal. Maybe he is as close to normal as they come. Maybe he's from somewhere as big a mess as Baltimore and he clings to normalcy where he can find it. And if there's one thing Will Graham can relate to, it's that search to be normal and what happens when it doesn't work out. The boot of the world crushing the life out of a kid who thought, for a split second, maybe he could deal with it. Learn the ropes. That he could eventually get invitations to Christmas parties and Never Have I Ever and any sort of party, really, as opposed to resorting to holing up away from the normal world because trying proved fruitless and exhausting and giving up? Can be so, so, so, so easy.
He is not supposed to like this kid. He is not supposed to peel back the veneer of a finally worn teenage boy suit and come away with anything appealing. Hell.
This is backfiring.]
For five murders. [Stated like fact from an old textbook as opposed to anything overly personal. Abigail's real father was a serial killer, why shouldn't her surrogate end up being an ex-convict?] I was set up, mind. If I'd actually done any of them, no one from our world [Abigail and he are a we, an us, an our, he is going to use that as much as possible.] would be very comfortable with me on the streets.
[Or might be comfortable with him on the streets as long as he was on a leash or might be comfortable on the streets right next to him, but that's giving away far too much.]
[ just a murmur. stiles knows a murderer who's walking free, after all. crimes committed back home don't seem to have any sticking power here. still, he's pretty sure will wouldn't even mention this if he was actually dangerous, if he'd actually done it. and he feels like abigail would have warned him in amongst everything else. ]
Must suck to stand trial for crimes you didn't commit.
[ he adds more clearly, even though that's the understatement of the century. he just wants will to know that he believes him, ok. ]
[There is one serial killer Will knows who is rolling free, even after at least two offenses committed here. Stiles is right that they couldn't do much about it, but if Will was the sort of nasty they had once thought he was?
All they would need to do was wait for the gruesome murders to pop up. Eventually. Put some people on his tail. As far as he knows, none of that is going on.
He shrugs his good shoulder and pulls a face—yeah, okay, suck is one way to put it. Yes, it does suck.]
Haven't made it to the trial just yet, but I'm sure it'll suck quite a bit. [Look at him, getting into the vernacular. Like the cool kids...in absolutely no way at all, it's so forced.] Which wasn't— [Why he wanted to talk, but perhaps this is better than going down the path of Lecter. He's two seconds from running a hand over his face, that much is obvious.] —I just need you to keep what you know about Abigail Hobbs to yourself for. Ever, preferably. Knowing her is fine, but mentioning anything that gets into that is too much. [As long as Lecter's around.] Got it?
no subject
He does not like that tone of voice, that much is obvious. If he was arrested for Fighting The Man by saving dolphins from Sea World or something else that anyone, in their right mind, could feel pride about? It would be different. But he wasn't and he's starting to see in Stiles what it might have been that Abigail saw in him, too:
He's alarmingly normal. Or, at least, capable of acting normal. Maybe he is as close to normal as they come. Maybe he's from somewhere as big a mess as Baltimore and he clings to normalcy where he can find it. And if there's one thing Will Graham can relate to, it's that search to be normal and what happens when it doesn't work out. The boot of the world crushing the life out of a kid who thought, for a split second, maybe he could deal with it. Learn the ropes. That he could eventually get invitations to Christmas parties and Never Have I Ever and any sort of party, really, as opposed to resorting to holing up away from the normal world because trying proved fruitless and exhausting and giving up? Can be so, so, so, so easy.
He is not supposed to like this kid. He is not supposed to peel back the veneer of a finally worn teenage boy suit and come away with anything appealing. Hell.
This is backfiring.]
For five murders. [Stated like fact from an old textbook as opposed to anything overly personal. Abigail's real father was a serial killer, why shouldn't her surrogate end up being an ex-convict?] I was set up, mind. If I'd actually done any of them, no one from our world [Abigail and he are a we, an us, an our, he is going to use that as much as possible.] would be very comfortable with me on the streets.
[Or might be comfortable with him on the streets as long as he was on a leash or might be comfortable on the streets right next to him, but that's giving away far too much.]
no subject
[ just a murmur. stiles knows a murderer who's walking free, after all. crimes committed back home don't seem to have any sticking power here. still, he's pretty sure will wouldn't even mention this if he was actually dangerous, if he'd actually done it. and he feels like abigail would have warned him in amongst everything else. ]
Must suck to stand trial for crimes you didn't commit.
[ he adds more clearly, even though that's the understatement of the century. he just wants will to know that he believes him, ok. ]
no subject
All they would need to do was wait for the gruesome murders to pop up. Eventually. Put some people on his tail. As far as he knows, none of that is going on.
He shrugs his good shoulder and pulls a face—yeah, okay, suck is one way to put it. Yes, it does suck.]
Haven't made it to the trial just yet, but I'm sure it'll suck quite a bit. [Look at him, getting into the vernacular. Like the cool kids...in absolutely no way at all, it's so forced.] Which wasn't— [Why he wanted to talk, but perhaps this is better than going down the path of Lecter. He's two seconds from running a hand over his face, that much is obvious.] —I just need you to keep what you know about Abigail Hobbs to yourself for. Ever, preferably. Knowing her is fine, but mentioning anything that gets into that is too much. [As long as Lecter's around.] Got it?
no subject
[ and to his credit, he doesn't once start pushing as to why. ]