When frustration reaches this point, it’s better not to say a word. Of course, Stiles has never really been that good at keeping his mouth shut, so he keeps opening it to say something, but then he closes it when Kira gives him the sad look. It’s like trying to be angry at Scott with the puppy dog eyes, which he had way before ever getting bitten and becoming an actual puppy. Kira has almost as strong a puppy eyes game as Scott, and Stiles is no more immune to them, either.

“Just say it,” Kira finally tells him, staring at his face as he focuses on the wound on her arm. He dabs the wet cotton against it, cleaning off the blood so he can see how bad the claws cut her skin. She sighs. “Stiles, you’ll feel better once you get it out.”

“Nope.” Stiles tosses the bloody cotton ball in the trash. He gets the antiseptic and sprays it on the wound, watching it fizz up as the germs from the creature’s claws react with the hydrogen peroxide. He needs to ask Lydia about experimenting with different supernatural substances to determine if modern medicine can actually affect some of what they deal with, injury wise. He applies antiseptic out of habit, but it appears to be reacting with whatever gunk was on the creature’s claws when it scratched Kira.

“That stings,” she mutters, scowling at the deep scratch. “Ugh. That looks really deep. I didn’t realize it scratched me that bad. Thanks for taking care of me, Stiles.”

“Maybe if you’d listened to Scott and stayed out of the fight, it wouldn’t sting so much because you wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place,” he reminds her in a somewhat snide tone. Sorry not sorry. He has to get lectured every time he joins the fight, so it’s only right for her to realize she’s not invincible, either. Even if she really is in a lot of ways, what with the kitsune thing, but whatever.

“If I’d listened to Scott, more people would have been hurt a lot worse than this little scratch.” Kira watches him apply the antibiotic to the scratch.

It probably won’t help much, seeing as it’s a creature scratch, but it makes Stiles feel better to have something to do with his hands while he processes how scared he’d been when he watched her get tossed around like a ragdoll and thrown to the side, not moving when she’d hit the ground. He doesn’t have a Band-Aid big enough to cover the scratch, so he gets several different ones from the box of Avengers Band-Aids he’d bought off E-bay last year.

“It really bothers me when you don’t talk,” Kira whispers, biting her lip when he looks up at her after applying a Hulk Band-Aid across the top of the scratch. “I’d rather you yell at me or curse or anything except be so quiet.”

“If I talk, I’ll say something that fucks us up,” he says confidently. “It’s better if I’m quiet until I can talk without putting our relationship at risk because I let my emotions guide my tongue. I’m trying to be mature here, Kira.”

Kira reaches up to put her hand over his, squeezing his fingers. “Nothing you say is going to mess us up, Stiles. I’m sorry I got hurt, but I’m not any sorrier for fighting to protect people than you were last month when you faced off against the goblin without even having a weapon.”

“I wasn’t thrown around and not moving on the ground,” he points out, focusing on her wound, cursing under his breath when he notices his hand shaking as he applies the Black Widow Band-Aid beneath the Iron Man one. He rubs his thumb over the end of it to get the adhesive to stick, closing his eyes and shuddering when she hugs him. His voice is barely above a whisper when he admits, “You were just lying there, Kira, and for a moment, I didn’t even know if you were alive. I was scared.”

“I’m okay,” she says, kissing his cheek and holding him tight. “It’s just a scratch, and I’ll try to be more careful next time.”

“No, you won’t. Not any more than I ever am when there’s something to fight or someone to protect.” He leans down to kiss the Band-Aids. “My mom used to tell me that having someone who loves you kiss a boo boo always helps it heal.”

“I can already feeling it starting to heal.” Kira smiles as she shifts over onto his lap. “I was a little scared, too,” she whispers, resting her cheek against his chest. “It was stronger than I realized, but I just had the wind knocked out of me.”

“Just try not to rush into danger quite so fast, alright?” He kisses the top of her head and just listens to her breathe as he holds her tight.