#But either Stiles gets hurt and Derek has to turn back in order to help him

[noyzinerd]

Derek the Doggo

Now, I've read a few Sterek AU fics where Derek has to pretend he's a dog/wolf and gets adopted by Stiles, who is none the wiser. Stiles usually talks to his "pet" in these as if he were talking to a person.

That's nice and all, but can someone PLEASE give me a Stiles that speaks to fully-shifted wolf Derek like a tumblr millennial raised on the internet? Like the single, poorly socialized, unhinged, expending-waaaay-too-much-energy-into-his-"fur-baby" dog-mom I know he'd be?

Like, Stiles holding up a mirror up to Derek and going "It you!"

Or, when Derek lays belly-up, paws to the ceiling, and stretches his toes wide, Stiles says sagely, "Ah, yes.The beans are coming in nicely this year."

Or Stiles putting Derek in a hotdog costume.

Or decorating his entire place with balloons and streamers and ordering an elaborate, dog-safe cake made of peanut butter and Milkbones to celebrate their one-month-iversary since the adoption.

Stiles hiring a professional baby photographer for a photoshoot.

Stiles setting up a Zoom call for Derek with another friend's dog, in which, Derek just sits there, looking awkwardly between Stiles and the other dog like "What exactly am I supposed to do here?", because he's a full grown man expected to have a "conversation" over videochat with a dog like they're supposed to bark back and forth about the weather or park recommendations or something.

Stiles making Derek a Twitter account and constantly posting as him in doggo speak (which he reads out loud, in a voice he imagines Derek would have, as he types). Like "Henlo! I is heckin good boi derk! Big anger! Much grump!" Or "No bork. Only O\m/O". Or "Mmmm hooman shoes omnomnomnom 😋"

And when Derek tears into things or misbehaves in an attempt to upset Stiles, he's just met with a psuedo-stern "Wuh-oh. Looks like Hurricane Derek strikes again. I hereby sentence you to 3 hours of cruel and unusual punishment!" Before being put in a cone of shame.

Bonus points if, after Derek shifts back, it turns out Stiles already knew he was a werewolf (maybe not the whole time, but definitely early on). He just wanted to see how far he could push things until the mysterious werewolf he had adopted finally showed himself and revealed whatever he was planning.

(If there is, by miracles of miracles, already a fic like this, recs would by greatly appreciated!)

[babeyvenus]

My Future

Derek Hale x OC

Samantha, Stiles and Scott are always joking about the impossible. Who wouldn't when your best friend's dad is the sheriff of Beacon Hills? All jokes stop when they realize the impossible is indeed possible.

Chapter 52: New Enemies

As Sam drove home after dropping the girls off, she still felt bothered. She hadn't even talked to her mom after that whole situation.

How did she even feel about it? Now that Sam thought it, it had to have been the most awkward family reunion anyone had to have witnessed.

She should've kept a better leveled head in front of her friends. She shouldn't have blown up the way she did, but she couldn't help it. She felt used. She didn't feel missed.

And in spite of that, she was hurt. Rightfully so. But she also felt guilty. Guilty for letting them leave. Guilty for making a scene instead of talking to them calmly.

However...

They abandoned her. What the hell did she have to feel guilty for? It wasn't her fault they decided to leave and get bit.

And now they have their own pack. So what the hell were they looking for her for?

Sam sighed, parking outside of her house. She didn't wanna go inside yet. She couldn't face her mom. Not yet.

Instead, she started her car up and drove down the road near the old Hale House. Parking by the road, she got out and walked through the woods that led to the cliff Derek had taken her to.

She sat down at the edge and sighed. The wind blew softly, making her lips quirk into a smile at the familiar feeling.

She should've made time to appreciate something as mundane as this. Looking over the town as it bustled with its citizens.

What should she do…? Should she team up? Even if she wanted to, how would she find them in order to agree to help?

She didn't wanna do it for them. She wanted to do it for the people who were losing their lives over someone else's selfishness.

"I thought I'd find you here.", she heard and smiled at the voice, turning to see the older Hale walking up to her.

Derek sat next to her. "What's going on? You're thinking awfully hard there."

Sam sighed once more. "I can't decide."

He raised an eyebrow. "On?" She shrugged. "Whether or not I want to team up with them. This decision has to get back to Scott, but still."

Derek frowned. "Well… they're your family. I'm pretty sure Scott'll be willing to discuss this rather than let it go if that's not what you wanted."

Sam shook her head. "After the whole thing with Theo, I'm still a little iffy with his decisions and judgements."

He nodded. It was understandable. Scott was still getting used to being an alpha but at the same time, he wasn't treating his pack right either.

"It still depends on you.", he says. She nodded. "Whatever decision you make, I'm on your side.", he declared softly. She smiled at him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

After more contemplating, Sam discussed her decision with the pack, much to Stiles and Scott's reluctance.

They weren't too happy about working with a new pack in town, much less the same people that abandoned their friend.

"I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it for the victims. The quicker we find out who's doing this and we stop them, the quicker they can go back to wherever they've come from.", Sam promised.

"I can get down with that, but just working with them is…", Stiles shook his head. "Do they even know what they're doing?"

Sam shrugged, sighing. "That's what we're about to go find out."

Sam sent Scott out to send the message. She wasn't exactly ready to have a conversation even though it was inevitable.

Scott recognized their scents and went to an abandoned factory north of Beacon Hills. The area around it was vacant and practically nothing but trees. It was perfect for the supernatural.

He knocked on the old, rusty metal door and waited for an answer. Heavy footsteps padded to the door and he stepped back a bit as it opened, revealing the alpha.

"You.", the alpha spoke, recognizing the younger alpha.

Scott gave a nod in greeting. "I came to talk."

The older alpha frowned and eventually let Scott in, leading him inside the factory. As Scott looked around, he could see eyes peering at him from every area. It was almost creepy.

A lot creepier than Deucalion's own pack of alphas. The alpha took a seat in a plastic lawn chair and looked at the boy. "What didn't you want to discuss? We're not in any territory, as far as I know. Why are you here?"

"Sam wants to work together. To stop the shadow woman.", Scott confessed. Jax's eyes widened a bit. Was she trying to forgive them? Not only that, the shadow woman? That's who's been taking people captive?

The alpha nodded. "Okay. When should we discuss this?"

Scott sighed and shook his head a bit. "The earlier the better, so tomorrow. She doesn't want to waste any time."

Jax smiled a bit, appreciating his daughter's urgency to help people. He nodded and agreed, letting the young alpha leave.

As Scott left, Jax sat thinking about Scott. "How'd the boy even become an alpha…?", he hears Jayson ask. "He looks soft.", the beta slandered.

"He didn't just become an alpha on a whim.", Jax said. Not really. The boy didn't look like a killer. At least, not from his mannerisms. It wasn't that he looked soft, but kind. Merciful.

He wasn't willing to kill just because. At least, not for something as petty and trivial as power.

"So Sammy wants to talk?", Jayson asked. Jax sighed. "I have a feeling it won't be the most pleasant conversation, but it needs to happen. This needs to stop."

Back at the Wilson residence, Sam sat in her room, looking over the book her grandmother lended.

The shadow woman was powerful and even more powerful at night.

"That's when she does the hunting…", Sam mutters as she reads. The shadow woman has lived for more than 200 years.

She takes restless people that wander the streets alone and even torments people in their own homes. If they were strong enough, she'd take them and use them as a boost of power.

"But instead she's using them to make herself younger… why?", Sam asked herself as she laid back against her floor. "If I wanted to look younger after living more than 200 years… I guess it would be an issue if other people saw that I was growing old and hadn't died yet. Especially after 100 years."

She frowned. "I'd be like the Cullens."

She sighed. "But why people…? Why not something organic? If this woman is physical during the day and becomes a shadow at night, why not make an organic thing that'd help her stay young?"

Sam began to get frustrated. "The only way to disperse her is to overpower her."

With the amount of people the woman had been taking, how was Sam supposed to do that?

She doesn't get powered up by taking energy, it just happens.

The woman needs energy in order to survive. It kind of reminded her of Jeepers Creepers.

The only person she could think to go to was Deaton. He was a druid… it was close enough, right…?

Arriving at the clinic, the girl entered the supposed closed lobby and looked around. "Deaton?", Sam called.

"Back here.", she heard and followed the voice to the back.

She saw the vet organizing his cabinets. "Knock, knock.", Sam says from the doorway, making the man smile and turn to her.

"How can I help you, Sam?", Deaton asked. Sam sighed and walked in, stopping to lean on a counter. "So… my dad and brother came back."

Deaton's eyes widened a bit in interest. "How'd that go?"

Sam frowned. Deaton took note of that. "Not good, I take it."

She shook her head. "Not at all. They're both werewolves now.", she said. "Not only that, they came to make me a part of their pack.", she told the vet, making him frown.

"That's not okay. They didn't even ask how've you been? They couldn't tell you had already been bitten?", he asked.

Sam shrugged. "Guess not. I don't even think they missed me."

Deaton sighed. "Sam, there's just some things you can't control about people. And what they missed was their fault. You can't pin that on yourself."

She nodded, now quiet. Deaton walked up to her. "Was that all?"

Sam shook her head. "I needed to know if you knew more about the shadow woman. I'm only reading what I can, but it feels null. I can already control shadows as best as I can, but she's taking people to fuel her own power. I don't do that."

"She's literally the shadow woman. I can't beat her in her own game.", Sam shrugged.

Deaton agreed and frowned in thought. "There is a way that you can stop her physical form. Belladonna is one of them."

Sam frowned. "I gotta kill her?"

Deaton raised an eyebrow. "It's either that or let her roam free doing what she wants. The last you tried saving someone by giving them a chance to redeem themselves ended up with people dying. If you want less deaths, you're going to have to tie a loose end. The loose end being her, that is."

Sam frowned in thought. Could she really do it…?

That'd mean they have to find the physical body of the woman first in order to kill her.

"Where would I even find belladonna anyways?", Sam asked. Deaton smiled. "All you need to do is ask."

Sam's eyes widened as Deaton went to a perfectly organized cabinet and pulled out a small container that was labeled 'Belladonna'.

"You just have everything, don't you?", Sam asked. Deaton amused and gave a shrug. "Almost everything."

Sam smiled and gave the man a hug. "I never got to thank you for everything. Thank you for helping my mom out.", she said. The man gave her a hug back. "You're welcome."

The next day, Scott brought his pack over to the factory where the new pack in town was taking refuge.

Sam looked around. "I guess.", she muttered. "They couldn't have picked a better place?", Stiles asked. "I think that's hard to do when you don't have a job anymore…", Liam said.

"Or money.", Sam added.

"Good thing we have someone that has bucket loads of money.", Stiles said, pointedly at Derek. Derek frowned. "That money's eventually gonna run out, y'know."

Stiles frowned, and rolled his eyes as the door opened. Jayson's face popped out of the crack of the door, peering at everyone and settled once his eyes stopped on Sam.

He opened the door fully to let everyone inside. Jayson greeted his sister, only to receive a soft grunt in return. She wasn't ready to talk so casually yet.

The pack looked around seeing the place. "It looks like a trash wrestling ring…", Stiles muttered to Sam, making her snicker.

"It's about time you all showed up.", a pack member said.

8 other pack members walked up to the younger group. Jax appeared behind them, sitting in the same plastic lawn chair. "Cut them some slack. They didn't know where to find us.", he says.

He waved a hand to a table, addressing the younger pack to sit. They did.

"This is it? A couple of werewolves and three humans?", a woman scoffed. Sam raised an eyebrow at the woman. Lydia, Kira, Stiles and Scott frowned.

"Well, some of us aren't exactly fully human.", Scott corrects.

Stiles raises his hand. "Yeah, I'm technically the only human."

"What the hell is your problem? Genuinely.", Sam asked the woman.

"Amy.", Jayson called in a soft warning.

The woman continued. "This is a weak pack. A couple of teenagers and one adult. You have 4 werewolves, and 3 other… whatever you are and one human. This is weak. How does this even work?"

"It's been working fine, I'd say. There's been a couple of issues here and there, but who needs to get into that detail, huh?", Stiles shrugs with a blank smile.

Amy scoffs. "You're not even the alpha.", she turns to Derek. "I'd assume you're the alpha, but we all know now.", she sneers.

Derek frowned and Sam glared at the woman. Amy turned to the girl. "Your father's a great alpha. Why don't you stick with us instead of this sad excuse for a pack?"

Jayson looked at his father before looking at Amy. "You might wanna stop while you're ahead.", he warned in a mutter.

Before Amy could defy, Sam spoke up.

Sam shook her head. "Because this "sad excuse for a pack" is still my pack. And out of respect, I was waiting for you to correct yourself, but it looks like I'm gonna have to."

She got off of the table and stood in front of her friends. "I don't know how things work around here, but we don't do that shit."

She walked up to the woman. "You're talking an awful lot of shit for someone that doesn't have visual potential.", Sam said.

"What would you know about potential? I can barely smell the bite on you. That's half baked.", Amy insulted.

"And that's exactly why that type of shit will have you on your ass without you realizing it," Sam shook her head. "And you really don't want that to happen."

The woman glared at the girl. "Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a promise.", Sam stated, peering at the woman, stopping right in front of her. "If I have to fuck you up, I will.", she determined with raised eyebrows.

Amy opened her mouth to say more, appalled at the girl's behavior, but Sam cuts her off. "I will turn this place upside down and have all of your asses handed to you for dinner.", she exclaims.

Jax and Jayson looked at Sam with deep, concerned frowns before turning to her pack who looked at them with an expression that made them understand.

They didn't have time to be divided and Sam was only thing that could technically bring them all together. 

The youngest Wilson tilted her head a bit as she glared at the woman with flickering yellow eyes. "So, you might wanna check yourself."

Sam looked at the older werewolves in the factory. "Each and every one of you will understand why we're here in the first place. Even if that means I have to make you," She says, just as another large, glowing resin illuminated under their feet, making the adult werewolves in front of her freeze.

Bewildered, they looked at the girl. Sam looked at her father. "Considering you came to us first, y'all have no choice but to shut up and listen anyways.", she says with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, and by the way, dad," Sam called, gaining the man's attention.

"I'm a werewitch."

[teenwolffan-with-nolife]

Mistakes

Word Count: 1,713

Characters: Derek Hale, Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Reader, OC Characters

Pairings: Eventual Derek Hale x Reader

Warnings: ANGST, Derek being an asshole, TW: drugs, overdose, death

A/N: this will have mulitple parts, either 2 or 3, so nothing too long lol

Masterlist

“I don’t care! Keep looking!” Derek paced around the loft, while Stiles and Scott sat on the couch, bounding their legs nervously. Allison, Lydia, and Isaac were out with Argent, all looking for you. 

“People don’t just disappear,” Stiles shook his head.

“Yeah, no shit,” Derek replied.

“Okay, just think. What did she do all day? Did she go anywhere o-or something? Has anyone seen her all day?” Scott asked.

“She was with you guys last. Her phone’s right here,” Derek held up your phone, before exhaling harshly.

“Maybe it’s time to tell your dad, Stiles. He can help us,” Scott suggested.

“Maybe I should, yeah,” Stiles got out his phone, before hearing the loft doors open. 

The three of them froze, looking at the door cautiously as you stood in front of them. 

“What’s going on?” you frowned slightly.

“What’s going… What’s going on!?! Everyone has been looking for you for the whole day! Where the hell were you?” Derek yelled at you.

“I was on a hunt, I-I forgot my phone, I meant to text you-” you started.

“Stiles, Scott, get out. Now,” Derek clenched his jaw as he kept his glare on you.

The two boys nervously stumbled out of the loft, not wanting to leave you alone with Derek.

“Did you not think it was important to let someone know where you were?’ his voice was calm, but the anger was still evident in his face.

You hated when he would act like this. Ignore you for 40 percent of the time, yell at you for 60. You had grown tired of it.

“I forgot,” your voice was low.

“We wasted the entire day looking for you,” he crossed his arms.

“And I never told you to look for me. If you’re just gonna get mad at me, then I’d like to go now,” you replied.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that? If I had it my way, you wouldn’t be in the pack. You’re less important than Stiles,” you always felt hurt by his words, yet never showed any emotions.

“Yeah, I’m unbelievably useless, as you keep reminding me,” you sighed.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just…” you cut him off, before running your fingers through your hair.

“Why I can’t just listen? Why I can’t just stop being useless? I’m a fucking mistake and you keep reminding me every single second you get. Don’t you think I know by now? If I could change, I would. You refuse to give me the bite and so does Scott. I’d leave Beacon Hills if I could, leave instead of forcing you all to live with the burden of knowing me,” you were already exhausted from your day, and Derek pushing your buttons didn’t help one bit.

“I never said that,” he started.

“You don’t have to. I see the way you look at me, I see the way you all look at me. I have nothing more to say to you, Derek, so if you don’t mind, I’m going home,” he stayed silent while you walked out of the loft. You felt a tear fall down your face before wiping it away, heading back home.

---

“Mom, I’m home,” you placed your bags aside as you pulled off your jacket.

You walked up the stairs, kissing your younger brother’s forehead.

“How’s Mom?” you asked him.

“She said she was feeling better but I don’t believe her,” he replied.

“Thanks for being a strong kid and looking after her while I was gone,” you gave him a small smile before patting his back.

“Go eat your dinner, I’m gonna go check up on Mom,” you said, before making your way up to her room.

“Mom?” she was sitting up in her bed, holding a cigarette in her hand.

“Mom! You can’t have those!” you yanked it out of her hand, throwing it aside. 

“Why not? I feel fine,” you could see dark bags under her eyes, while her skin was visibly paler than earlier that day.

“Did you take something?” you asked.

“What do you mean?” she shook her head.

“I’m talking about drugs, Mom! Did you take any drugs?!” you yelled.

“That’s none of your business,” she crossed her arms.

“Except it is. Do you not remember what happened last week?” you scoffed.

“Last week was a mistake, it’s different now,” you shook your head, remembering her near overdose.

“No, it’s not. You need to get clean, Mom. For yourself, for Sam. Are you forgetting who found your body in the bathroom?” you ran your fingers through your hair as you sighed, thinking of your brother

“Sam should have left with his father,” your mom scoffed.

You felt chills go down your spine, at the mention of your dad.

“Well, Dad’s gone, and he’s an asshole. Mom, please. I need you to start taking care of yourself. I already dropped out of college and I can barely keep us afloat,” you begged her.

“You only started college a month ago,” your mom frowned.

“Yeah, I know. But our family is more important. When we’re stable, I’ll start college again. But in order to do that, you need to promise me, no more drugs,” you said.

Your mom nodded her head before you wrapped your arms around her. You could hear her snoring within a few minutes while you chuckled softly, slowly putting her back in bed before flipping off her lights.

You frowned, feeling your neck and arm bugging you from the hunt, before you rubbed your eyes, yawning.

“(Y/N/N)... I need some help with my homework,” you heard your brother’s voice as you held in a groan.

“Sure, kiddo, Come on,” you led him to your room, before closing the door, making sure not to awake your mother.

---

“Scott, you’re joking,” you exclaimed.

“We called partners like 20 minutes ago! You weren’t here and no one picked Derek,” Scott groaned.

“Yeah, and for good reason. I don’t understand why I can’t be by myself,” you shook your head.

“Because it’s dangerous,” Scott said.

“It’s a vampire!” you exclaimed.

“Exactly!” Scott replied.

You squeezed your fists before exhaling sharply. 

“Fine, where’s the douche-bag?” you sighed before Derek walked to you, rolling his eyes.

“Well, let’s go then.”

---

You rolled your eyes, visibly bored as you and Derek sat in silence. The two of you sat in the car, waiting for any suspicious activity while you watched people walk in and out of the restaurant.

You turned on the radio, before Derek pushed your hand away, turning it off. You glared at him, before taking out your phone.

“Get off your phone,” he said.

“I’m bored,” you replied.

“And we’re on a stakeout mission. Get off your phone,” he said.

You turned it off, before hearing it ring. He glared at you, while you gave him a look, checking your texts.

You felt your chest aching as unbuckled your seatbelt.

“I have to go,” you said quickly.

“What? Why? (Y/N), you can’t leave me-” he started.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go,” you could feel tears rushing from your eyes as you pushed out of the car before he grabbed your wrist.

You pulled away from him, running off into the night.

---

Your brother sat in a chair at the hospital, bouncing his leg nervously.

“Sam,” his head shot up as you called his name.

He ran to your arms, burying his head into your chest.

“I-It wasn’t… It wasn’t an accident this time,” he cried out.

“What happened?” you bent down to his level, putting your hands on his shoulder.

“W-We were watching… We were watching a movie, a-and then she got up, a-and… she didn't come back,” your brother stumbled with his words, holding in his cries.

“Shh, it’s okay. It's okay,” you wrapped your arms around him tightly, before shutting your eyes tightly.

She was getting better, it has been a week since your conversation with her, and she was trying so hard.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N),” you heard the doctor as he walked towards you.

“I’m so sorry…” their words drifted off as you bit your lip, tears rushing down your face as you held onto your brother tightly, holding in your cries as you shut your eyes tightly.

She was gone. She died.

---

You held onto your brother as the two of you made your way back to your house, biting back a sob.

“H-Here… I need you to… How about you go to y-your room?” you said.

He nodded before walking upstairs. Your body began to visibly shake, while you cried, holding in your sobs so he wouldn't hear you.

You leaned against the table, breathing shakily as more and more tears escaped from your eyes.

You heard loud knocking, banging at the front door as you wiped your face, before opening it.

You were met with Derek’s angered face as he gripped your arms tightly.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” he yelled.

“I-I,” you stuttered.

“No! Shut up! The vamp killed three people before I could do anything! Do you have any idea how big of a mistake you made?! Why did you leave?! What was so important that it couldn't wait till later?!” he yelled.

“I’m sorry,” you started.

“You little…What is wrong with you?!” he yelled.

You pushed him away from you, as you clenched your jaw. He only walked closer to you, before you swing your fist, punching him in the jaw, only angering him more.

His eyes glew red as he pushed you against the wall. You could see his claws coming out of his hand, digging into your arm.

“Derek…” your voice broke.

“(Y/N)?!” you heard Sam crying loudly, standing by the stairs.

Derek’s class retracted, his face softening.

“Who the hell is that?” Derek asked.

“Get the hell away from me! You want me out so bad?! You got your fucking wish! Leave!” you screamed at him.

You punched him back, kicking him out of your house before locking the door behind you.

You fell to the ground, sobs erupting from you while Sam ran to you, burying his head in your lap.

“I-It’s gonna be okay,” you cried softly, running your fingers through his hair.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

[maxineswritingcenter]

You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 16

-----------------------

It was 2006, one of the last seasons for Beacon Hills Girls lacrosse. The other girls on the team and I fought hard but it would be over by the time my senior year rolled around. We thought if we had made it to the state championships, we would save it. Here’s to hoping. As team captain, all eyes were on me to make the season great. We were lined up on the field, ready for the toss up. I stared into the eyes of the opposing player, the girl’s eyes were determined. But so were mine, I glanced to the side at the bleachers. There was Uncle Noah, Stiles, and Scott, cheering me on. I was just happy Stiles came today.

I looked back up, just in time for the pearl toss, I scooped it from the air, immediately shoving passed the opposing player. I ran down the field, narrowly missing players looking to tackle. I threw the ball towards an open offensive player just as someone slammed me from the side. I grunted as I hit the ground, hearing the crowd wince. I got myself up on my arms and looked down the field. My player was able to get through the other team’s defense and scored the game winning goal. Coach Finstock laughed loudly, loud enough to be heard over the roar of the crowd. I stood up, raising my crosse in the air and shouted into the sky. I ran back to the bench, congratulating my teammates. But now I needed to see him. I pushed through the crowd, I looked around. As I got through the crowd, I was left alone. I was staring out into the woods. An eerie feeling came over me. There was something out there. 

“Hey!” Michael’s smiling face came into my vision, causing me to smile. 

“Hey.” I smiled, looking back at the crowd, “Have you seen Derek?”

Michael raised an eyebrow at me, “Who’s Derek?” I paused, asking myself the same question. 

“I don’t know.”

-

“So let me get this straight,” I said into the phone. I was on the phone with Stiles getting a recap of what had happened over the last couple days, “You stole a police transport vehicle-”

“We put gas in it!” 

“Of course, you did. You stole a transport van, filled it with gas, kidnapped Jackson to talk to him, left him in the woods. Jackson’s father, a lawyer, has issued two restraining orders against you and Scott.” I made sure to separate the kanima and Jackson. “Found out the kanima is being used by a ‘master’. Is that it?” Derek raised his eyebrows at the conversation.

“I was also grounded from Scott.” He added. 

“Unfortunate.” 

“When are you coming home?” He asked, hushing his voice a little, “I’m all for you living out your best werewolf life but I would rather you be home.” I motioned for the group of Derek, Erica, and Isaac to go ahead of me. 

“When I have the courage to face your dad. Or when my lie that I’m staying at a friend’s house doesn’t work anymore. Whatever comes first.” I sighed, “I’ll try to come home soon. I need to apologize.” After our goodbyes, I hung up the phone. 

After I stepped into the railway car, I made it just in time for our “pack meeting” to start. 

“So, why do we need their help?” Isaac asked. 

“Because it’s harder to kill than I thought, and I still don’t know who it is.” Derek said impatiently. 

“And they do?”

“They might. Which is why I need one of you to get on their good side.”

“Mmm. Scott or Stiles?” Erica hummed flirtatiously. Honestly, I don’t think she realizes she’s barking up the wrong tree, no pun intended. Scott was more focused on Allison than his own life and Stiles was in a persistent pursuit of Miss Lydia Martin.

“Either.” Derek sighed, probably fed up with her new found flirtatious nature.

“Good luck with that.” I said under my breath, causing the group to look at me, “What? The last time they saw you, you broke into Scott’s house and tried to kill them.” Isaac titled his head to the side and nodded a little in agreement. 

Isaac turned to Derek, ���You know, the full moon's coming, Derek.”

"I'm aware of that.” Derek said irritably, he opened a large wooden chest, searching around for something. He pulled out dark, rusted chains. 

“Oh my.” Erica lifted up a bundle of them, “These look comfortable.” She said sarcastically. He quickly took them from her grasp and put them with the rest that he pulled out of the chest. 

“You said you were gonna teach us to change whenever we wanted.” Isaac said warily, eyeing the chains. 

“There hasn't been time.” He said. And truly he hadn’t had time. I had really been training myself on how to control the chains with what I was calling exposure therapy. Getting really mad and controlling the change before turning so I would be less likely to kill someone during a spout of road rage. 

“But if you have to lock us up during the full moon, that means... That means you're alone against the Argents.” Isaac said. 

Derek closed the lid of the chest, “They haven't found us.”

“Yet.“ Kid had a point, “So, how about we forget about the Kanima?”

“We. Can't!” He shouted in frustration. He sighed, “There was something about the way Gerard looked at it... He wasn't afraid, at all. I don't know what he knows, or what he's planning. But, I'm sure about one thing-- we have to find it, first.” 

“With Scott’s group.” I added, “We are stronger in numbers, that’s how the hunters work and that’s how we should work.” 

-

On the drive home to the Stilinski house, I really had to convince myself not to turn back around and go back to the depot. But Uncle Noah deserved an apology. He had taken me in, given me a fresh start and asked that I be safe in return. Yet here I was, fighting a lizard man with the threat of hunters on my tail, not to mention that I was a movie monster. I parked in the driveway next to his police cruiser and closed my eyes. My emotions were running high and it was hard to keep my eyes from turning red. 

“Breathe.” Derek’s voice echoed through my head, “It’s going to be okay.”

I took a deep breath in and out and when I opened my eyes, the red was gone. Now or never. 

After closing the front door behind me, I walked quietly into the kitchen where I found him. He was leaning against the counter and sipping a cup of coffee. He looked exhausted. He looked up from his cup a little surprised. 

“(Y/N)...” 

I chewed on the inside of my cheek before answering, “Uncle Noah...”

“Is...Everything alright?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” I said quickly, “Everything’s....” I let out a deep breath, “Everything’s not fine. I’m so sorry about the things I said.”

He smiled a little, “It’s fine.” 

“It-It’s not fine though. You’re just looking out for me, I should appreciate that more. You’ve done more than anyone in my situation could have asked for. You opened up your home, bought me clothes, gave me my own room. You didn’t have to do that.” 

“No, no.” He said, setting down his coffee mug, “I did have to do that. Besides promising your parents that I would look after you, I did this because you’re like one of my own. You’re like the daughter I never had. I love you.” His eyes held a special twinkle. One that you could only find in people that truly loved you. 

Tears prickled at my eyes, my lips trembling, “I love you too.” 

“C’mere, sweetheart.” He pulled me into his arms, holding me tight. I gripped onto the material of his shirt and cried. The first time I had really cried since everything happened with my parents. It just felt like my eyes had been built up and after a while, I was crying because of Uncle Noah, because of my parents, because of the torture I went through. I felt like I had no one to vent to like how I could my mom and dad because they weren’t here anymore. It felt nice to cry and feel safe because I knew that Uncle Noah loved me, no matter what. I just wished that if me being a werewolf did come out, he would still love me like his own. Even the thought of it scared me. 

“It’s alright.” Uncle Noah stroked my hair, pressing a kiss to the top of my head, “Everything gonna be okay.” 

But it’s not okay. 

-

Just a drive to clear my head, that’s all I needed. Stiles was ringing my phone off the hook which really wasn’t helping with my anxiety right now. I looked over to reach for my phone and when I looked back there was someone standing in the middle of the road. 

“SHIT!” I screamed, turning my wheel harshly, sending me off the road and into a ditch. I slammed on the brakes, making my body slam forward into the steering wheel. I felt the cracking of my ribs against the hard plastic of the wheel. Pain washed over me in waves as I tried to catch my bearings. I felt dizzy and nauseous on account of the whiplash. I looked back towards the road and the mystery person was gone. It was around that time that my airbag went off, slapping me in the face. 

“Nice.” I grunted, opening up my car door. I turned to look out when I froze. The kanima was staring me right in the eyes. But it didn’t make any sense, unless the kanima can turn without moonlight. 

“Jackson...” I whispered, “Jackson, if you’re in there I need you to listen to me.” I swallowed, watching the creature tilt his head to the side. It seemed to recognize my voice. 

“I can help you, Jackson. I don’t want to hurt you. Just please... Don’t...”

“(Y/N)...” The creature’s voice said. I didn’t even know it was capable of speech. But the voice wasn’t exactly reptilian, as if that was possible. It wasn’t Jackson’s voice either. It was a voice that seemed so familiar, but not. 

“Well... That’s not good.” I said, just starting to move to get to the other side of the car when I felt Jackson’s whip-like tail slice across my side. 

“God....dammit.” My voice was strained since my entire body became paralyzed within seconds. The creature reached out, pulling me out of the car. 

Ah yes, a roadside killing for the kanima, how wonderful. Okay, maybe thoughts like this weren’t the best. This is how I died, alone on the side of the road. I took a deep breath, watching the world go by as Jackson’s scaly hands dragged me down into the ditch further. 

A loud roar cut through the air and I felt Jackson drop me, hissing before I heard him take off into the woods. Derek’s face filled my vision and relief washed over me.

“It’s alright, I got you.” He said, picking me in his arms. I saw my car out of the corner of my eye. 

“Is she totaled?” I asked. 

“No, she’s fine.” He chuckled, “Your transmissions probably shot though.” 

“Awesome.” I groaned, closing my eyes. 

- By the time I woke up, it was later in the day and I was back home on the couch. With Derek and Uncle Noah... talking. My eyes widened and I sat up, I hissed in pain and laid back down. My head was still killing me. 

“Woah, slow down there, kid.” Uncle Noah came to my side, kneeling down beside me on the couch. He smiled and smoothed back my hair from my face, “I thought I told you when you saw a deer in the road, you can’t swerve. Just slow down and if you hit it, you hit it. It’s sad, but there are more deer, there’s only one you.” I glanced up at Derek, who had his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed not at all concerned around Uncle Noah. 

Uncle Noah followed my line of sight and smiled, “It’s okay, secret’s out.” My heart almost stopped, why in the hell would Derek tell him I was a werew-

“And it’s okay. I am... okay with you seeing Derek.” I blinked at him. 

“What?” 

“Is that where you’ve been? At a friend’s house.” He stood up and chuckled, patting Derek on the shoulder, “Derek, here, explained it all to me.” 

“I told him that you didn’t want to disappoint him by dating someone who was a murder suspect.” Derek said, smiling a bit at the sheriff. 

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine now. Just for the future, you can always tell me anything. No matter what.” He smiled reassuringly. Well... I guess that was one thing out of the way. 

“Your car’s in the shop, it’ll be there a day or two. So for now, Derek has volunteered to take you to work.” Uncle Noah smiled, then looked down at his phone, “I gotta take this.” He excused himself from the room and left out the front door. I sat back up again, looking up at Derek’s with my eyebrows raised. 

“How did that whole situation go?” Referring to ex-con Derek Hale telling the chief of police that he is dating his pseudo-daughter while she was unconscious in his arms. 

Derek shrugged, coming to sit on the edge of the couch, “Well, I was threatened with the gun at first. But after explaining some things... He understood.” He reached out, holding my hand, “He also said he was glad that we were friends again.” 

“Does that mean my parents told him that I wasn’t friends with you anymore and not to bring you up?” 

“Seems like it.” He sighed, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. 

“God.” I breathed out, feeling tension rising in my shoulders, “I understand why they did what they did but... They had a total disregard of the consequences. What were they going to say when I asked what happened to you, would they tell me they told you to go away or would they lie again? A majority of my life was stolen from me and when I try to remember my old lacrosse games where you could have been there... The only face I see is Michael’s. And I think he knew something.” 

“We’re gonna figure it out.” He said. I moved closer to him, leaning my head on his shoulder. 

Derek then explained the events of the dad, the kanima attacked Scott, Stiles, Erica, and Allison in detention and he had agreed to not kill the creature. 

“Why did the kanima go after me? Why didn’t he kill me immediately.” 

“You don’t have to cover for him anymore, I know it’s Jackson.” 

I sighed, “Good, because I didn’t like keeping it from you.” 

“Yeah, why did you keep it from me?” He asked, looking down at me. 

I gave him a surprised look, “Well, gee, I don’t know. Maybe because you would have killed him? Yeah, he’s a douchebag, but that’s a little much. From what you said, finding out Jackson was adopted at birth and that he literally had to be removed from his mother’s dead body... Maybe that’s what caused the bite to mutate.” 

“It’s possible.” The sound of the door slamming shut and the sound of familiar awkward footsteps made us both look up. Stiles halted in the living room, looking me over. I’m sure I looked like a wreck, still kinda felt like it, but the cracked ribs and head injury had healed by now. 

Stiles pressed his lips together tightly, moving with purpose. He fell to his knees in front of the couch, wrapping his arms around me. Trying not to cry for the second time today, I hugged him, resting my cheek on top of his head. 

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. Stiles hold tightened at my words but he didn’t say anything. Derek nodded at me, making his way out of the house. Leaving Stiles and I alone. 

----------------

Read part 17 here!

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[cxplqnce]

Liam Dunbar - Immortality

Word Count: 2,016

You’re a 600 year-old-vampire that has been a friend to the Hale’s for years and when Derek met Scott, you became friends with him too. Now Scott has to deal with a new beta that you accidently fall madly in love with after a promise to never love again.

Masterlist

“You guys are idiots, do you know that?” You whisper-yelled at Scott and Stiles outside of Scott’s bedroom – where a freshman named Liam was tied up after Scott had bitten him.

“I didn’t know what else to do!” Scott whisper-yelled back, a definite ‘I need help’ look in his eyes.

You sighed, a few possible solutions running through your brain, “He’s definitely going to turn, right?” The two boys hesitantly nodded their heads as you continued to think, “Then we just talk to him. I mean, he’ll understand. We just need to explain it right.”

The boys agreed and pulled Liam out of the bathtub and into a chair which they placed in front of Scott’s bed. They then looked to you as you leant forward to look in his eyes, “Don’t scream when we take the tape off your mouth.” You said, using your compulsion powers.

You moved and Stiles leant forward to peel the tape off his mouth, a pained groan leaving his throat. “Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?”

“Not really.” Liam replied with both you and Scott agreeing with his answer.

Stiles nodded his head, “Good. That's good.”

“I don't understand either.” Scott said, looking up slightly and trying to work it out in his head.

Stiles pointed to Scott and then to Liam, “Maybe you should tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Liam demanded as you rubbed your head and sighed.

Scott took a step forward and softened his tone as he spoke, “Liam... What happened to you, what I did to you, which I had to do in order to save you, it's going to change you.”

“Unless it kills you.” Stiles interrupted but quickly followed with, “Shouldn't have said that.”

“What?” Liam asked, his eyes widened and his heart rate speeding up. Liam’s eyes started to water as he let his head drop. You definitely felt bad for the kid, I mean he was even younger than Scott was when he was turned and younger than you were when you were turned into a vampire.

“Uh... Uh-oh. Oh-oh. Is he... Is he crying?” Stiles questioned as Scott kneeled down in front of Liam.

“Liam, it's okay. You're going to be all right… You're not going to die.” He consoled, as Stiles knelt next to him.

“Probably not.”

“Stop it.” Scott scolded.

Stiles nodded, “Okay, possibly not.”

“Would you just help me untie him?” Scott asked, the two boys moving to pull the tape off Liam and the chair before standing back in front of him, “Liam? Are you okay?”

Stiles looked down for a second before looking back at Liam, “We're sorry about that. We're really sorry.” He spoke, slowly and in almost a whisper.

Liam turned around and before any of you could do anything he grabbed the chair and whacked Scott with it, causing him to fall to the ground – taking Stiles with him. You snorted, a chuckle coming from your throat as Stiles pulled himself up just to get punched by Liam. Your hands flew to your mouth, trying to conceal the laugh in your throat as Liam ran out of the room.

You just watched while Scott and Stiles clumsily got up from the floor and stumbled out the room, following Liam. You shook your head and sighed following the loud noises before finding Scott and Stiles at the bottom of the stairs in a heap and the door wide open. “You boys okay?”

“What the hell were you doing?” Stiles shouted.

“Watching and laughing, a lot.”

--------------

You stood with the rest of your pack in Lydia’s lake house watching the chaos unfold as Kira brought Liam through the door.

“What the hell is this?” Liam demanded, a stern look covering his face.

“Think of it like an intervention.” Stiles began, “You have a problem, Liam.”

“And we're the only ones that can help.” Scott finished.

You sat down, pouring a blood bag into a glass and lifting it up, “This is going to be fun, cheers!”

-------------

You stood watching as Scott and Stiles held a very riled up Liam underneath the shower in an effort to calm him down after he went for one of the students at Devenford Prep.

“Okay! Okay!” Liam yelled, after his face had gone back to normal.

Scott and Stiles pulled back and turned the shower off as Liam slid down the tiled wall and onto the floor, “That car you smashed... I thought you said that was your teacher's?” Scott asked.

“He was also my coach. He benched me for the entire season.” Liam replied.

“What did you do?” You asked, intrigued.

Liam looked down at the floor, “I got a couple of red cards...”

“Just a couple?” Stiles remarked, earning him a jab in the ribs from your elbow.

Scott ignored your little disagreement and continued the conversation, “You gotta be honest with us-- what else happened?”

“Nothing. I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychologist for an evaluation.”

“What did they call it?” Scott asked, kneeling down to Liam’s level.

Liam replied while doing everything he could not to meet Scott’s eyes, “Intermittent explosive disorder.”

“I.E.D.? You're literally an I.E.D.? That's great. That's great… You gave powers to a walking time bomb!” Stiles exclaimed, earning him another jab in ribs from your elbow that seemed to put a slight smile on Liam’s face – however fleeting it was.

“Did they give you anything for it?” Scott asked.

“Risperdal. It's an antipsychotic.”

“Oh, this just gets better...” Stiles mumbled.

“But I don't take it—” Liam interjected.

“Obviously!”

You shook your head, “Shut up, Stiles.”

“I can't play lacrosse on it, it makes me too tired.” Liam said, looking down at the floor again.

“Okay. I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg is still hurting.” Scott suggested.

“No! No. I can do this-- especially if you're there.” Liam retorted, standing up from his position on the floor.

Scott sighed, “But Liam... this isn't just about the game. We think whoever killed Demarco may have been on our team.”

“Who's Demarco?” Liam asked.

“The one who brought the beer to the party? The guy who was beheaded, remember?” Stiles replied.

“We think the person who ordered the keg killed Demarco.” Scott continued. Liam looked down, thinking for a second. “Liam...? What, you know something?”

“I don't know who ordered the keg... But I know who paid for it.”

-------------

After Liam had told Scott that Garrett had ordered the keg, Scott and Stiles left the room – leaving you alone with Liam.

“You okay?” You asked, taking a step closer to him, from your position against a locker. “That was pretty intense.”

Liam nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay… you must’ve seen that before, right? With Scott.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen out of control werewolves millions of times.” You chuckled, sitting down on a bench in the locker room. “I mean, if you hadn’t have done something like that at least once or twice, I’d think there was something wrong with you.”

Liam sat down on the bench next to you, “How do you know so much about werewolves?”

“I mean, I’ve spent my extremely long life surrounded by the supernatural – mainly werewolves. And I’ve been helping the Hale family for decades… You pick things up.”

“Wait… decades?” Liam questioned, his brows furrowed, “I thought you were 16.”

You nodded, “Physically, yeah. But technically I’m six-hundred and… something – maybe like fourteen or fifteen. I don’t know – I’ve lost count.” You explained, the look of confusion still evident on Liam’s face. “Did Scott and Stiles not tell you that I’m a vampire?”

Liam’s eyes widened, “You’re a vampire? Those exist?”

“Yeah… They do.” You replied, chuckling at his reaction. “And before you ask, I have a ring that lets me walk in the daylight, the reflection thing is a myth and so is the garlic and holy water thing. Also, yes, I do drink blood.”

“That’s insane!” Liam exclaimed, “That’s really cool.”

-----------

For the next two weeks you ended up getting closer to Liam, helping him through his anger and then just generally spending time with him. Unfortunately, you had figured out that you had started to like him – so you started avoiding him. You couldn’t fall in love again, not after what had happened the last time.

It was 1749, you were living in London and had met a man, someone that you connected with and eventually fell in love with. You were about to leave town – as you routinely did every few years – when he found you leaving and you admitted to him what you were. He said he didn’t care so you continued to stay with him. Eventually, you had to leave but he decided to come with you – you found a place in the middle of nowhere, where you could live together.

You got engaged, then married and spent the rest of his life with him. When he died, it broke you and you made a promise to never love again, to never put that life on anyone else.

“Y/N!” Liam yelled from the end of the corridor you had turned into. You tried to turn around but he had already caught up to you, “Are you avoiding me or something? Cause I haven’t seen you in days.”

“No, no I’m not avoiding – I’ve just been busy. Vampire stuff.” You lied, however not very well, but before Liam could reply you made an excuse to leave.

------------

It was raining when Liam called you, you weren’t sure whether to pick up the phone or not but since it could’ve been some kind of emergency – you did.

“Hello?” You asked into the phone.

“Y/N, can you come over please.” He whispered, his voice was shaking and you could hear that he was nervous.

You thought for a second, debating in your head, “Okay, I’ll be there soon.” You hung up the phone and drove to Liam’s house, parking a few houses down and jumping up to his window. You saw him sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his hands together. You gently tapped on the window, his head whipping around to you before he stood up and came over to open it.

“What do you need at 2 in the morning?” You asked, climbing into his room and closing the window behind you.

Liam debated over what he was going to say before sighing, “I keep seeing the Berserkers, I can’t sleep and I keep going over in my head why you won’t talk to me.” He said, looking at the ground almost the entire time until he mentioned you.

You sighed, sitting down on his bed, “It’s not you, per say. I have been alive for a long time, Liam, and one of the worst things about immortality is love.” You started. Liam sat down next to you, giving you his full attention. “I will outlive everyone that I love, which is why I try not to love very many people. And I promised myself almost 300 years ago, that I would never fall in love with someone again… and then you happened. The reason I’ve been distant is so I can try to stop myself from falling in love with you because I know that one day… I’ll lose you.”

Liam’s eyes widened when you mentioned love and him in the same sentence, “Did it work?” He asked, “Avoiding me to stop falling in love with me?”

You looked up at him, staring right into his blue eyes. “No.” You said, simply, only now realising just how close you were.

“You can’t live without love, Y/N.” Liam said, “It’s one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

You smiled, leaning closer to him, “Then maybe I should give it a shot.”

“You definitely should.” Liam whispered, the small space between your lips closed as he leaned down to kiss you.

A/N: Hope you enjoy! Follow my instagram @cxplqnce :) also I take requests if you have any - for any of the fandoms on my masterlist and some others! :)

[bigskydreaming]

@spikeface

ohhhh hell yeah I have not forgotten, like I tend to keep the examples limited to interactions with Scott to point out the blatant double standards in play but also because I am so tired of the abuse apologism arguments that come with any criticism of Derek’s actions in regards to teenage characters in the first two seasons in general, like, I know the dude had a hard time that doesn’t mean paying that forward is an acceptable standard of behavior for interacting with scared and vulnerable teenagers. ALSO not to bring it back around to Scott AGAIN but also umm Im me so okay I will I have the go-ahead, but like......literally every single argument and justification people make about Derek’s behavior and choices in the first two seasons because of what happened with Kate and how he doesn’t trust people because of that and he’s traumatized is rendered null and void by their simultaneous bullshit insistence that none of this logic means anything when it comes to Scott and.....wait for it....what happened with Theo and trust and traumatized or does being betrayed by someone you were starting to consider a good friend and murdered not count as trauma? I forget.

You can’t have it both ways but people are like Yes I can *rolls up sleeves* watch me.

Aaaaaand since we’re already here, why not, I’m going for it, soooooo getting in on the ground floor before people are like WELL THAT’S DIFFERENT BECAUSE STILES TRIED TO WARN SCOTT SO HE SHOULD’VE KNOWN UNLIKE DEREK WHO COULDN’T HAVE, umm: 

a) that’s not how trust works, its not by proxy, you either trust someone or you don’t and someone else telling you that you shouldn’t does not in fact render a betrayal of trust any less a betrayal of trust, this is LITERALLY just victim-blaming the betrayed, something that people are absolutely aware of because just imagine the shrieks of protest if someone were to posit an AU where someone warned Derek not to trust Kate but he still did anyway and so that made everything else that happened all his fault. 

b) you do not owe even your best friends unconditional trust in every opinion they have OVER your own opinions, it honestly truly DEEPLY makes me uncomfortable how often people raise this point because Stiles could distrust Theo all he wanted, Scott is still entitled to his own opinions based on his own perceptions of his own interactions with Theo, which were different than Stiles’ interactions, and Scott was in no way, shape or form obligated to uphold Stiles’ perceptions and interactions of and with Theo as more important than Scott’s own, what even is that wtfuckery

c) Stiles’ distrust of Theo was unfortunately watered down and diluted by the fact that he was lying to Scott and keeping secrets from him for weeks, which was his right and he was traumatized himself by what happened with Donovan, but the flip side of that is Scott was keenly aware that Stiles was lying to him about stuff and even had a whole freaking monologue about it and how he wished Stiles would just talk to him and tell him what he was hiding and in what universe is someone obligated to unconditionally believe their friend and abide by what they’re saying and wanting WHILE AT THE EXACT SAME TIME being lied to by that same friend? 

d) Stiles’ distrust of Theo was additionally watered down and diluted by the fact that even after he had actual foolproof evidence that Theo was a liar and not to be trusted, he refrained from informing Scott of this because he prioritized his own feelings about what might come out about him in the process of telling Scott, which again, was absolutely his right to do and be worried about but it is NOT his right to be retroactively extradited from any role he played in Scott’s perceptions of events that season by not divulging this information even while actively still JUDGING Scott for not acting on information re: Theo that Scott literally did not have to act upon, just his own interactions with Theo where Theo was actively and continually working on being seen as not only trustworthy but INVALUABLE in Scott’s eyes, while everyone else was off preoccupied with their own stuff leaving Scott with no one BUT Theo to turn to. Which was literally Theo’s entire plan in dividing them in order to make Scott vulnerable in the first place, just as Scott ultimately was more victimized by Theo than any of the other surviving members of S5 as he was the one y’know, MURDERED, but again let’s talk some more about how it was Stiles and everyone else who was more betrayed and let down by Scott’s choice to trust Theo than Scott was himself 

(and so help me GOD if someone brings up Josh or Tracy like they give a fuck about them, lolol, fun fact, but most of the posts about Josh and Tracy in S5 while it was airing were mine, like, 90% of their tags was me posting, yeah c’mon guys we’re aware I can be prolific when I hyper-fixate I’m not exaggerating here lol I POSTED ABOUT JOSH A LOT OKAY lololol. So I keenly remember the weeks between Josh’s death episode and the episode which revealed that Scott got to Deucalion before Theo did, because that was two whole weeks of people being like who the fuck cares about Josh, other than like, me and some mutuals, until the SECOND fandom found a way to spin Scott as being tangentially responsible for Josh’s death, at which point suddenly it was like OMG JOSH WE LOVED YOU ALL ALONG, WE’RE SO SORRY THAT MONSTER DID THIS TO YOU. The whiplash would be hilarious if I didn’t hate it so much)

e) Stiles’ distrust of Theo was additionally watered down and diluted by the fact that he was WRONG about everything he initially brought up as WHY he distrusted Theo, his whole thesis to Scott at the start of the season was that he didn’t trust Theo because he remembered Theo from fourth grade and Theo wasn’t Theo but uh.....yes he was. He wanted Scott not to trust Theo on a basis that was flawed and had no grounding in reality other than Stiles’ own unreliable gut instincts with no care or concern whatsoever for Scott’s own gut instincts, and simultaneously, Stiles in the throes of being like THEO IM ON TO YOU YOU FAKER (Theo in the distance: Lol no you’re not, you just don’t like me, there’s a difference), ANYWAY, Stiles at the exact same time as being focused on not just Theo but what he felt Scott SHOULD be doing and thinking in regards to Theo and Stiles’ opinions, somehow managed to completely overlook and give no fucks about Scott’s ACTUAL thoughts and actions re: Theo, as if he had been paying more attention to the actual character of his friend rather than just his perception and assumptions about his friend, he would have noticed that Scott DIDN’T blindly trust Theo from the start, because Scott DOESN’T actually blindly trust anyone and actually has trust issues out the wazoo from all the times he’s been hurt, betrayed and let down by people he cares about from his deadbeat dad to the many murder and manipulation attempts of Peter, whom he has canonically never trusted despite Stiles’ insistence that he even trusts Peter (lol where? when? source?).....ergo, ipso facto, forsooth and all that good shit.....Stiles wanted Scott’s complete obedience and allegiance in S5 to everything he said and thought while at the exact same time giving no fucks about anything going on WITH Scott himself. Hashtag friendship goals, am I right guys?

f) the fatal flaw of the Sciles schism in S5 was not in fact the warring opinions on Scott and Stiles’ respective trust and distrust of Theo, but rather what S5 revealed about Scott and Stiles’ respect trust and distrust of EACH OTHER. In point of fact, the only thing truly revealed by the events of that season is that Scott doesn’t automatically trust just anyone, but that his trust must be EARNED - a process Theo invested considerable effort in doing, as he actually paid attention to Scott and the actuality of things he said and did and why - and that Stiles in contrast doesn’t just automatically distrust anyone, but rather makes snap judgments about whether or not to PUT his trust in others based on what he’s feeling. 

Basically, my point is that Scott views trust as a function of information gathering and ultimately a decision to put it to the test or not, to actually just say okay based on what I know and feel at this point, I am making the choice NOW to trust in someone. Stiles in contrast, views trust as something he doesn’t fundamentally NEED in his interactions with people, and as such he uses it to shore up and buttress various other things about himself and his interactions with people. 

This is why Scott started out the season WITH reservations about Theo, that led to him asking Deaton questions about how vulnerable he and his pack might be due to allowing a strange newcomer into their midst, but ultimately placing more and more trust in Theo as the season went on, BASED on Theo’s ongoing campaign to win Scott’s trust by seeming trustworthy and helpful and supportive. 

Meanwhile, Stiles started out the season WITH reservations about Theo, that informed all his actions regarding Theo UNTIL he got concrete proof that Theo was a liar, BUT continued to interact with Theo and even work alongside him even KNOWING he wasn’t trustworthy, because trust was not after all the most important element informing his actions because it never HAD been. More importantly, the reason this all plays more into Scott and Stiles’ view of each other than anything to do with Theo, was because the ONLY reason Theo was able to play them against each other was Theo keyed into the fact that Stiles, despite placing a lot of importance in the IDEA of trust, never actually fully makes the leap into actually PLACING his trust in ANYONE, even someone like his best friend Scott, who has proven MULTIPLE times how invaluable Stiles is to him.....because if Stiles ever HAD fully placed his trust in Scott, he would have been able to look at the concrete precedent of Scott saying throughout the entire nogitsune ordeal that he flat out didn’t CARE if people died because of the nogitsune, because of Stiles himself, he wasn’t going to sacrifice Stiles to save the lives of strangers he just simply doesn’t value as being more important to him than Stiles himself. 

And by extension, if Stiles HAD ever fully placed his trust in Scott after this, then his fears about Donovan would have fallen by the wayside as - just like it was ultimately proven out in 5B after Scott heard the WHOLE story and not the parts Theo told him backed up by the lies of ommission Stiles HADN’T told Scott and the fact that Scott had been keyed into Stiles’ feelings of guilt over something for weeks - Scott would then have expressed to Stiles just as he ultimately DID express to Stiles: that he can tell the difference between self-defense and cold-blooded murder, and Stiles killing Donovan in self-defense was not a problem for Scott and NEVER WAS OR WOULD HAVE BEEN.

In conclusion, the biggest issue in S5 is not that Scott trusts everyone, its that even after everything, Stiles still doesn’t even trust Scott.

And if you can’t trust the best friend who’s proven that he will literally do anything for you, at any time, just say the word, to such an extent that you’ll pull back from him and refrain from working with him and being around him AT THE EXACT SAME TIME as demonstrating that you will be around and work alongside someone you don’t even like and definitely do not trust.....

Then trust is not the be all and end all for you, and it never actually was, and if you can’t grant it to even your friend why does your friend owe you his, let alone UNCONDITIONAL trust in not just you, but every opinion and course of action you advocate for?

*bangs gavel* The defense rests. Or the prosecution rests. Fuck, I forgot which side I’m on. Am I accusing or defending? Idek.

Whatever. I rest.

[starshipsofstarlord]

That Pizza Place | Nolan Holloway AU (Set in S3A)

Your brother would disapprove, like he did of most things if he found out. But you should have suspected him to find out about your little secret one day. Apparently, the time had come for that to happen, because apparently, a certain someone could not help but blabber.

“She’s got another date tonight, that’s why she doesn’t want to come on look out with us.” At Isaac’s words, Derek froze, becoming as still as a statue, The only parts of him that indicated any life were the tenseness in his arms, the veins flexed as though he was preparing to kill someone, and knowing him he was. Also his nostrils were flared, almost exhaling smoke, and his eyes were rabid, dancing over you with offense.

“We’ve just got Cora back, lost Erica and Boyd, and that is your main concern?” From Isaac’s expression, you could recognise the regret that had just formed after his explicit slip up. But that didn’t matter as you gulped and your outline was burnt by Derek’s disappointed glare.

That wasn’t true at all though, you just needed a distraction. And the boy you were currently spending your time with did a good job at that. He was different from all of the other guys that you sometimes felt like you were forced to spend your time with.

Nolan Holloway was one of a kind. Similar to Boyd, at school he was mostly by himself, but there was a twist. Your late friend and pack mate clearly liked the isolation from people, and often got annoyed, for which you couldn’t blame him, when Scott and Stiles came by to ask him for a favour. However, Nolan wanted to know people, his anxiety just usually held him back, so in your friendship, you made the first move.

There were times that he reminded you of Stiles, there was a trait they shared. Knowledge. Each was a well of it, but mostly in different sections. The abominable snowman was focused on history and mythology, whereas Nolan excelled in science. Other than that, Nolan was much quieter, even when it was just the pair of you. But you didn’t mind it if a conversation went silent, it was still comfortable, and you could sense that he felt that too.

Like Scott, Nolan cared about people, although in his case those numbers were lower than the werewolf’s. And that was the main thing - werewolves, kanimas, hunters. He knew nothing, his mind was clear from the curses, and he wasn’t looking for a secret, so it was unlikely that he would find out the fact that you weren’t human.

Sure he was curious and all, but he had yet to grow into his boots of courage and go out and investigate. He said he liked finding new things out about you, but surely it couldn’t hurt if you left the whole full moon quadrant out of the equation. If anything, it could be seen as self preservation, the less people that knew, the less people would discover the cold hard facts of your life.

“Don’t you dare pull that card on me.” It came out as a growl, aimed at your sibling. You had every right to be offended by his statement, and you sure as hell were. “Of course I’m pleased that Cora is back, and sad that two of my friends are dead, I just need a break. I’m a kid! The innocence of it was taken from you, don’t take it from me.”

He was uncertain of how to respond to your outburst, but you didn’t give him the chance. You walked in a quick pace to leave the loft, and the two wolves remaining behind. Taking your phone out, you looked at your contacts, scrolling down until you saw that you had no messages. Good, he didn’t cancel.

Isaac became incredibly nervous under the tension that was still filling the room even after you had happily left. “Should we go after her?” He asked, genuinely worried, although he suspected you were meeting up with that quiet guy from school as you had originally arranged to.

Sighing, Derek lowered his head. This was definitely not his first argument with you, you’d always been a bit of a pain as a kid, especially when Peter used to sneak you into the high school as a teenager, but this was different. He had pulled the guilt card, all because he thought he’d need another pair of hands if push came to shove. 

 But he wanted you to be prepared and alert for anything that came your way, otherwise he feared that you would end up like Erica and Boyd. And he had lost enough family, he had thought Cora was gone up until recently, but instead, she had been used as a pawn. A captive by the Alpha Pack.

“No.” The man answered his beta, knowing how much his words had stung you. “She needs her time, we’ll see her whenever she comes back.” Of course a part of him was paranoid that you wouldn’t, that one of the rogue alphas would snatch you up and keep you prisoner, or even kill you but he had to have some faith.

You had made it to the pizza joint, and walked in, quickly finding the one that you had arranged this so called ‘date’ as Isaac had described it. You knew the pair were vaguely familiar with each other, Nolan had just joined the lacrosse team and really wasn’t doing half bad considering he was playing on the same side as a couple of werewolves.

“Hi.” You sat opposite him, dropping your phone on the table, relieved that you hadn’t been notified about your big brother trying to contact you. He must have known that he had struck a nerve, and that was probably the reason that he was leaving you be, which you weren’t mad for.

“Hey.” He smiled, all to aware and wary of his surroundings. It wasn’t the busiest of places during this time, but it wasn’t quiet either. There was a baby crying in the far right corner, wanting attention and nurturing from their parents, and then a couple of guys from your biology class by the window, discussing the newest assignment. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” You asked him, smelling the confusion and hint of hope that rolled off of his shoulders. It was awkward for him to see people from school, which he could considering the side of the table he was seated at. Too many people judged him for being introverted, the comments had just begun to die down only because of his choice of joining a sports team.

As for you, everyone knew you as a Hale. When Scott was first bit and he was untrusting of Derek, you spied on him around school, keeping an eye on the boy, following the orders given by your brother.

But other than that, it was no secret about what happened to your family, especially when the truth about Kate and her actions were unveiled. The fire of the old Hale has was an infamous piece of knowledge if you lived in Beacon Hills. Some people, those who had not lived here all of their lives were occasionally impartial to knowing the information, but others let them in, telling them about how children were turned to a crisp, and the fact that there were few survivors.

It had never bought you any friends, just pity. And then those pitying folk would go on to say that it will be okay, or that their cat got ran over last week. The worst thing actually was, they didn’t know why the majority of your family were charred to ashes, some people supposed there were faulty wires or so on.

But this was why you wouldn’t allow Nolan to know the truth. Because of what you are, it even cost the lives of your human family members, to that bitch of a hunter though, that didn’t matter. It was a sacrifice for the greater good in her eyes, she had deserved worse than death itself. As much as you liked him and appreciated his presence, there was no one that you could trust with that intel, he’d either think you were bonkers or run away screaming, only to return with an onslaught of werewolf killing methods.

“You only just got here.” He answered, although he was leaning forward to agreeing. A smile perked up on your face, nothing too flashy, enough to convince him otherwise though.

“I want to show you something.” Jumping up from your seat, Nolan was inclined to follow your actions, and also you. It was something personal, something that you liked to keep private, and if your brother knew, he would surely threaten to rip your throat out.

But in all fairness, it was a part of both of you, the stem of the Hales that had fortunate escapes, whether you thought of them as that or not. History one could say, the place that tied you to Beacon Hills. The Nemeton.

A/N: Probably be doing a part 2, hope you enjoyed it xx

[awyeahitssam]

Ella!EnchantedAU - Stiles has the curse of obedience. 

Scott smiled, taking his hand. 

Stiles pulled him to his feet.

The next three words the floppy-haired boy says make Stiles’ faint smile falter completely.

“Be my friend.”

...

Thing is, Stiles could have chosen to hate Scott McCall. Some days, he very nearly did.

But Stiles was compelled to be Scott’s friend. If they didn’t speak for a few days, Stiles would begin to get painful hand spasms until he at least attempted to contact the other boy. By the third day -- Stiles enjoyed nothing if not knowing the limits of his curse -- Stiles’ body moved automatically, typing out messages or walking to Scott’s house without his consent.

Stiles wasn’t a very kind child, but he never turned his acidic tongue on Scott. 

After all, even to people he liked Stiles was kind of a dick.

But when Scott said ‘let’s be friends,’ it seemed like the curse defined the word by Scott’s idea of ‘friends’ rather than Stiles.

That turned out to be a rather good thing, because Stiles was fiercely loyal and protective. Scott… wasn’t. 

...

“Behave, Stiles,” the Sheriff would snap, and Stiles would.

“Just make dinner tonight, son.”

“Tell me the truth.”

...

Stiles glanced around, trying to come up with something that didn’t have him keeping the oversized manchild afloat for another hour and keep an eye on the Kanima at the same time.  

Whiskey eyes landed on his phone.

Scott.

Derek followed his gaze, scowling harder than ever. “Don’t—“

Stiles dropped him before Derek could finish the order, swimming to the phone.

In the end, Scott was no help.

...

“You’re going to tell me where Derek is.”

Stiles grit his teeth. Like hell.

“Why would I help you?”

Peter stared at him for a long moment, eyes half-lidded. The mad glint has dimmed to something pitless. Hollow. Stiles didn’t trust it. 

“Because I’m ordering you to.”

Stiles feels his heart rate pick up, his breaths quicken, his palms start to sweat. He swallows through a dry mouth. 

Peter knows.

He knows. 

But he hadn’t actually ordered yet. 

As if hearing the thought, Peter goes on. 

“Find Derek for me.” Stiles remains still, staring Peter down, eyes condemning for the first time. There’s a vicious fury rising in his chest, wild and uncontainable. The last time Peter dealt with fire, it hadn’t ended well for him.

“Find Derek Hale as quickly as you possibly can,” the man modified, gazing back at him calmly.

Specificity. Stiles’ worst enemy. He’s good at getting off on technicalities, at disobeying the spirit of an order while still completing it, but even half-mad Peter’s too smart for that. 

Stiles’ body turned on autopilot. He snatched the laptop from Peter’s hands and swiftly logged in. He pulled up the browser with a keyboard shortcut and hacked into the wifi of the building next to them in a few short keystrokes. 

He had the tracking information off Scott’s phone inside two minutes.

Peter looked at him, looked at the results, and smiled.

...

“He’s going to kill me!” She shrieks. “You can’t let him hurt me, Noah, you’ve got to protect me—“

Claudia might be having one of her good days, and then she’ll get a glimpse of her son and have an episode. Stiles notices, of course he does, and tries to stay away. But he loves his mother. He wants to be there whenever he can, whenever she’s lucid. 

She’s the only one that knows about the curse. That knows him completely, and adores him whenever she can still recognize that he isn’t plotting to kill her.

On May 19th, Claudia looks at Stiles with tired eyes and says, “Kill me.”

It all makes a sudden, horrible sort of sense.

Claudia had known, had probably decided long ago, that Stiles would be the one to end her suffering.

Frontotemporal dementia doesn’t kill.

So Stiles does it for the disease. 

...

“Team Free Will,” Dean Winchester says from the laptop speakers. 

Stiles laughs so hard he cries.

...

He asks him. 

It’s something that eats at Stiles, even after the man is dead and buried.

Peter didn’t give Scott a choice, and he could’ve easily taken away Stiles’. Instead, he asked.

And Stiles--well.

Being a werewolf changed you fundamentally. Stiles was willing to bet that even your DNA was altered. 

He counted on it being enough. 

It wasn’t. 

He flashes preternatural blue eyes at himself in the mirror, a snarl curling his lips. 

Hates just that much harder.

...

“Shut up!” Isaac shouted.

Stiles mouth clicks. Isaac looks surprised, but he smells of terror at whatever Stiles’ face is doing. Stiles bares human teeth at him and the boy’s pulse jumps. Isaac sneers, all bravado.

Stiles leaves before he wets himself. 

...

Orders can counteract each other.

Sometimes, when Stiles really don’t want to do something, he’ll manipulate somebody into telling him to do the opposite.

The first time they’re alone, after, Peter looks at Stiles and says, “You don’t have to be friends with Scott McCall.”

A knot in Stiles mind relaxes, and then releases entirely. Stiles thinks of Scott, thinks of him without the shiny order that made him remember the good more than the bad. 

He doesn’t hate Scott, though by now he had more than enough reason to. 

But Stiles finds he doesn’t like him, either.

The black and white naïveté, the self righteousness, the way he ordered everyone around nowadays and Stiles was forced to comply.

Stiles stands abruptly, heart beating too-quick in his chest. 

Stalks forward, staring intently into the preternaturally-blue eyes of Peter Hale. The man looks almost wary until Stiles leans forward, sets a hand on his shoulder, and drags it down the line of his arm.

Scent marking him.

“Thank you,” he acknowledges, and it comes out a pleased rumble, octaves lower than his usual register. 

Peter blinks at him once, then quirks an eyebrow. He smells delighted and a bit astonished.

Stiles grins, eyes glowing. 

“I’m leaving,” he says lightly, half an offer. 

“Am I to presume that’s an invitation?”

Stiles flashes his fangs. “Presume away.”

He turns on his heel.

Peter follows.

...

Stiles’ life has never been simple, and that doesn’t change with Peter as a packmate.

Once, they stop mid-hike and Stiles peers over the cliff. There’s a few minutes of peaceful silence, and Stiles is enjoying the nature in a way he never had before, eyes closed, breeze fluttering through his growing hair.

He smiles. Steps that bit closer to the edge, enjoying the feeling of lightness and freedom. 

Then hears, “Never kill yourself.” 

Stiles feels the order snap into place. It is disproportionately light in comparison to the sensation of his stomach dropping out. 

It’s the first order Peter has given him since that night in the parking garage.

Stiles digs claws into his skin hard enough that he begins bleeding freely, and slowly turns to Peter.

There’s a glimmer of apology in his eyes, but something in his scent betrays him. Maybe he’s genuinely apologetic for betraying Stiles trust, but he doesn’t regret the order.

Stiles snarls. His wolf whimpers and snaps in his mind, wanting to turn tail and bite into Peter’s neck at the same time. Stiles feels his teeth elongate to fangs and pulls his eyes from blue, staring over the cliff once again.

The view doesn’t seem half as beautiful as it had moments ago.

It wasn’t like Stiles wanted to kill himself. If he did, he would have a long time ago. But having that option--

“How dare you,” he whispers to the open air. He’s too furious to look at Peter, too hurt to address him directly or acknowledge that this level of self-righteousness in the air could give Scott a run for his money. 

“I don’t mean to hurt you,” Peter says. 

Truth.

It almost makes it worse. Stiles bares his teeth.

“I decided to trust you,” he says. “And you just spat on it. Pack doesn’t betray pack.”

Peter meets his gaze steadily. He looks wary, but he doesn’t say anything in his defense.

Stiles wants to rage at him, wants to use words to cut into that calm facade until he bleeds. ‘You and your niece are very alike,’ he almost says, but Stiles isn’t that hasty.

Isn’t that cruel, though he wants to be.

“What if hunters capture me? Torture me? What if I go mad from it? I don’t even get the option of biting off my own tongue now, Peter?” 

“I would come for you,” the man says quietly. 

Stiles roars.

Peter’s eyes widen, and he takes a short step back before standing his ground. He smells concerned and surprised, but not apologetic.

“Don’t follow me,” he snaps, shaking with the urge to destroy.

Stiles is a very angry individual.

Having no say will do that to you.

...

“Take it off,” Stiles snarled, pulling Peter’s hair harshly. 

The man met his gaze, blue eyes dazed and dilated. Then, after another long moment of staring, shook his head.

“Can’t lose you,” he rasped from between fangs. “I won’t.”

Stiles’ laugh edged on manic. “You already have, you fool.” 

When Peter woke in Deaton’s shop four days later, Stiles was long gone.

...

There have been moments.

Moments when Stiles was absolutely certain he was about to die.

Like when Jackson sneered, “Kill yourself,” and Stiles’ hands found the closest sharp object and aimed it unerringly at his carotid artery. Like when his dad—

Well. He tries not to think of his dad. 

But somehow this—emotion—is harder to manage. The level of betrayal that can only mean he trusted Peter in the first place. 

Stiles’ world crashed down on a pleasant autumn day during a walk with his packmate. 

And the ruins continue to burn for a while yet.

...

“As you can imagine, I don’t like people taking away my ability to choose,” he says, almost lightly. “When I was nine my mother made me kill her. When I was twelve my dad almost killed me by saying something careless when he was drunk. I was forced to be Scott’s friend for eleven years.”

“None of them set out to hurt me,” Stiles acknowledged. “But they all did. I trusted each one of them, and they came so close to tearing apart the fundamentals of who I am.” 

Stiles’ eyes blazed red when he turned to Peter. 

“You know that kid who never did anything he was told? That’s who I am inside. The only person I should have to answer to is myself, but that was taken away from me a very long time ago.” Stiles sighs warily. He suddenly looks far older than his twenty-two years. “You’re the first person I willingly offered my trust to in years, and you shattered it. And you weren’t sorry, not really, or at least not until later, when you realized what it cost you.” 

Peter swallowed heavily. He smelled tired, and very, very sad. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice little more than a rasp. “I am, Stiles. You can kill yourself. You can do anything you want. I’m sorry.”

Stiles huffed a laugh, not sounding very amused at all, and Peter felt a displacement in the air just as Stiles appeared in front of him, red eyes boring down into his blue.

“You think I would return before breaking the curse?” he said wonderingly. “I trust no one that much, Peter.”

Peter swallowed heavily, awaiting the inevitable blow. He bared his neck, just a bit, even knowing what was coming.

Peter jerked when a cold nose brushed against his neck, rubbing up the line of his carotid. He felt like his heart was in his throat, jumping wildly and very audibly. 

“You…”

“I,” Stiles agreed, more than a touch mockingly. He sighed at whatever look was on Peter’s face at that, and pulled him in closer. “You’re an idiot. I can do whatever I want now, Peter.”

Peter shifted as fingers combed through his hair. Peter made a strange sound, a mix between a purr and an engine revving. “I love you, though.”

Peter stared at him.

“Oh.”

Stiles huffed a laugh, leaning forward to brush their cheeks together. Scenting. 

“And here I thought I was choosing such an intelligent packmate,” he said, more fond than mocking this time. When he pulls back the smile in his voice is gone, his eyes back to their normal honeydew. “Don’t think my loving you will change anything, Peter. Betray me again and I will rip your throat out.” 

Peter whines, high and embarrassing. Stiles makes a low, rumbling noise in response and leans in, kissing his forehead lightly. 

“And I’ll rip out the throat of anybody who threatens you, of course.” 

The noise subsides, and Peter sighs, smelling content, confused, aroused. Stiles soaks in the scent without any intention of remedying the confusion for a while yet.

The arousal, however, he can do something about.

[domesticated-feral]

What a night. | Sterek One Shot written by me.

Squicks/Triggers: Injury and Blood, Homophobia

Read it on AO3

New York, February 28th of 1968.

It was Saturday, Stiles was on his way to a gay bar, he wore a skirt, flashy eyeshadow, and lipstick with his slightly wavy hair curled and tousled up. He reaches the gay bar that he frequented with a brisk ten-minute walk, the bouncer opens the door and he struts in.

Inside, music was playing, drinks were being served and Stiles spotted very handsome men he’d fancy.

He goes up to the bar and orders tequila shots, he drinks them up and goes to the dance floor. Dancing to the hottest songs coming from the radio, Stiles was joined by a man, they danced together until Stiles needed more drinks.

He sits down at the bar once again, using a tissue to dab sweat away, being careful to not smear his makeup which he spent a lot of time on. He drinks more shots and then orders an old fashioned cocktail.

He sits down at the seating and listens to the music as he sips on the cocktail. It was maybe twelve or one in the middle of the night now. He didn’t wear his watch, and even though it clashes with his outfit, he regrets that he didn’t.

Suddenly, he hears banging on the bar’s door.

“Police, open up!”

Stiles’ heartbeat rose up, he quickly stood up from his seat and went to the usual escape route he’d take from a back door. The police had barricaded it, they were trapped.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.’ Stiles internally panicked, his breath quick and shallow as the police came in.

A police officer came and tried to hold Stiles, he immediately moved away, it was the same officer from last time, the same man who frisked Stiles way too much. He had enough of these raids happening, it wasn’t like they were disturbing anyone.

Before Stiles could think his next move through, another police officer comes from behind and holds him. Stiles elbows him in the side of the rib and they stumble backward.

‘Oh no, what did I just now do?’ Stiles gasps, realizing what was going to happen next.

The other officer, the one who Stiles feared tackles him to the ground and starts hitting him with a baton. Someone throws a beer bottle towards the wall and it shatters, sending pieces of glass at Stiles and the police officer.

He felt pieces of glass pierce his head and neck as he stood up. He needs to flee the place before all hell breaks loose. He is able to run out of the bar and begins walking back home. His back hurt after some time so he sat down on a bench to recuperate before walking the rest of the way home. Something cold trickles down the back of his ear and he touches it with his fingers. He looks at his fingers to find blood smeared at the tips.

‘Damn it, someone just had to throw a beer bottle huh?’

Someone comes up and places a hand on Stiles’ shoulder, making him jerk a little. Stiles looks up from his blood-smeared fingers and notices the clothing the man was wearing all dark, black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket.

“Are you alright?”

“Well, except for the pieces of glass in my head and my back bruised up by being beaten with a baton, I’m just peachy,” Stiles looks up at the mysterious man who had approached him.

He looked intimidating, the essence of a bike rider with the slight scruff, the lean but muscular build, and the gorgeous hazel green eyes that glinted under the yellow streetlight.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Thanks, I haven’t noticed,” Stiles sarcastically said, slowly standing back up.

“You need medical attention, and my house is right there,” Derek points to a house that was two houses away, “my sister’s a nurse in practice. She can help you.”

“Thanks, but how do I know that you’re not one of those homophobes who’s gonna take me to your dingy house’s basement to torture and kill, then later end up in a ditch covered in trash bags?”

“Because I’m not?”

Stiles’ mind was going off with deja vu at this random stranger, he was intimidating but Stiles felt like he’d seen him from somewhere before. Somewhere meaning the gay bar he was just at.

“Have you ever went to the gay bar before?”

“I work there. I was out for a smoke break out back when the police raid happened. I sorta fled the area, till I saw you sitting here.”

“Like a damsel in distress? Oh please, you can’t be my knight in shining armor when you run away like a cunt back there.”

“You escaped too.”

“After getting tackled, beaten, and pierced by pieces of broken glass,” Stiles let out a whimper at the pain panging through from his back as he moved slightly.

“You’re hurt and I want to help you. Especially because I know you won’t be going to the hospital tonight.”

“Hey, how could you assume that?”

“Because you sure as hell won’t.”

Stiles sighs, he needed medical attention before he bleeds out, and this guy seemed pretty genuine to help, “fine, let’s go to your nurse sister.”

Derek walks with Stiles to his house and he unlocks the door.

“Laura, get your first-aid kit.”

“Raid at the bar again? What happened this time, Derek? Was it harsh?”

“Not me, I brought someone, they need help.”

“I’m, um, Stiles by the way,” Stiles mutters to Derek.

Laura comes down from the staircase holding a red bag with a white cross on it. Derek gestures to Stiles to sit down on a chair backward. Stiles rests his arm on the top of the backrest and tries to ignore the ticklish and cold sensation of blood trickling down his neck and side of the face.

Laura puts the first aid kit on the coffee table and looks at Stiles’ scalp, noticing the blood and pieces of glass. She also notices red blotches on Stiles’ neck, fresh bruises she guesses.

“There’s a lot of glass in the scalp and cuts, um, it’ll be hard to treat the cuts with, y’know,” Laura faltered.

“With all my hair in the way, I sorta had the feeling that it would, well, I guess I could rock a buzzcut.”

“So, you’re fine with me needing to cut your hair so I can take a look at the cuts caused by the glass shrapnel?”

“Yeah, completely fine, just get it done quick. I’d like to sleep the night away as soon as I can.”

“Ok, um, Derek, could you get me the scissors and go tell Cora she has to sleep, it’s late and she's still awake.”

Derek nods and Stiles watches him go up the spiral staircase to the loft above.

“Are you able to take the shirt off or does it hurt to lift your shoulders up?”

“I think I can take my shirt off, I’ve dealt with bruises more than this,” Stiles slowly slides his shirt above his head, being careful not to move any pieces of glass in his hair.

He takes it off and holds it in his hands, Laura gets up and Stiles assumes she went to get ice. Laura walks back into the living room and she places a bag of ice wrapped in a towel on his back which was red with new bruises scattered everywhere from the top to bottom.

Derek climbs back down, a scissor in his hand and a teenage girl hopped down the stairs behind him.

"I thought I told you to tell Cora to sleep, not bring her down with you."

"But I'm not sleepy," Cora whined.

Derek puts the scissor down on the coffee table and Cora flops down on the couch.

"What do I have to do to make you go to sleep?"

"Hot chocolate."

"Fine, Derek, apply the ice on his back while I go make Cora her hot chocolate."

Derek nods again, he isn't a man of words, Stiles thinks. Derek holds onto the bag of ice and continues icing Stiles’ back.

“Soo, do you just to bartending at the gay bar or?”

“I have a day job as a mechanic at George’s Auto garage in Lower Manhattan.”

“So you like cars, huh?”

“Not really, but I’m pretty interested in fixing them. I don’t own one though, yet.”

“I don’t own a car either, you don’t really need one if the work commute is a ten-minute ride in the sub.”

“What do you work as?”

“A fraud analyst at an insurance company.”

“Hmm,” Derek hums, he moves the pack of ice down to ice the bruises on Stiles’ lower back.

Laura walks back in a while later, Cora trailing behind her with a big mug of hot chocolate in her hands. Cora sits back down on the couch and Derek hands the ice pack to her. It was slowly melting and Laura put it down on the coffee table.

“Damn, stranger’s got some hot core body temperature if the ice pack’s that melted,” Cora remarks.

Stiles hears Laura sigh from behind him at Cora. He feels Laura beginning to take out the bigger shards of glass from his head, she slowly takes them out and places them on the coffee table.

“Well, I think that’s all of the big ones, now to find the tiny pieces.”

Laura slowly looks through and picks out the small pieces with a pair of tweezers. Most of the cuts were on the back and top of Stiles’ head, one looked like it had to be stitched up.

“One of the cuts is deep, I’ll need to stitch that up.”

Stiles hums, he was exhausted and was in a can’t-give-a-fuck type of mood. Laura uses the scissors and snips the locks around the cuts, rubbing each cut with a cloth dabbed in disinfectant. She gets around to the big cut where she uses a sterilized needle and thread to stitch it up. The back and top of Stiles’ head now had patches of short fuzzy hair amongst the long waves he had.

“I'm sure I look like I escaped a circus now," Stiles said, running a hand through his uneven hair.

"Not if we don't fix it up,” Laura said.

Stiles turns his head to look at Laura from the corner of his eye, Derek was standing with his arms crossed, he was looking at Laura too. Stiles knew what Laura was suggesting.

“First of all, it’s usually me or the same hairdresser who cuts my hair, and second of all, I don’t trust anyone else with it unless they are a hairdresser.”

“How do you think I pay for my college degree?”

Stiles raised his eyebrows in satisfied surprise, “ok, have at it, I guess,” he said as he turned his head back to face front.

Laura leaves the room and Cora loudly sips on her hot chocolate to gain Stiles’ attention.

“Wait until you meet uncle Peter,” she said, leaning forward.

“Uncle who?”

“Peter wherever-the-hell-he-is Hale, our uncle.”

Stiles nods, “that middle name alone is interesting in and of itself.”

“He literally will pop in out of the blue here and will either stay for 2 hours or 2 months, there’s no in-between, and then he leaves just as he came with no explanation.”

“That’s not always true, he sometimes calls up when I’m home,” Derek interjects.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re his least-disliked nephew.”

“I think the word you’re finding is favorite?” Stiles asks.

“Nope, he describes it like that, he has no favorites, only dislikes varying from most to least.”

“Derek, no offense, but your family is a Hale-of-a-lot.”

Stiles looks over at Derek who was hiding a smile, “I can’t lie, that wasn’t not funny.”

“And that’s another one of those reasons why I’m eligible to become a clown in the circus.”

“Well, you sorta tick all ‘em boxes. Flashy makeup and clothes, weird-ass hair, funny, lowkey mutual pining between you and my brother, it’s the full package,” Cora said, setting the empty cup of hot chocolate on the coffee table.

“I am Not pining for your brother,” Stiles whips his head at Cora, ‘but was that true?’ he asked himself.

“Look, stranger, from the few minutes I have sat here, I can firmly say that my brother is pining for you. He literally never brings an adorable brown-eyed puppy like you home unless he has a little crush.”

“I do not have a crush on Stiles,” Derek said, Stiles could see through his lies and couldn’t help but giggle.

“Damn, way to break a guy’s heart, Derek,” Stiles shook his head.

“You’re a horrible liar, Derek.” Laura chimed in as she entered the room, “it’s so easy to tell when you are.”

“How could you say so?”

“You avoid using conjunction words, and your voice becomes shriller than it already is and you lose your calm and composure.”

Derek was dumbstruck, “god damn it, I’m going to get a glass of water.”

Cora coughs, “I think you meant beer. Anyhoo, thanks for the hot chocolate sis, I’m heading to bed as the agreement requires me to.”

Derek turns around to face Cora who smirks at him while he glares at her one more time before heading into the kitchen. She skips upstairs and Stiles was alone with Laura.

“Is every night like this?” Stiles asked Laura.

“Yep, all night, every night.”

“I’d lose my fucking mind if I were you.”

“Nah, the roles rotate every so often, so I’m not the tired older sibling at all times.”

“But still, I can’t imagine a life with siblings.”

“Only child?”

“Yeah,” Stiles played with the hem of his shirt, “my mom died when I was 9, she was sick long before that and she also had trouble getting pregnant. It’s a miracle I was born.”

Laura keeps quiet, as she trims Stiles’ hair.

“Yet here I am, gay and self-deprecative as fuck, which is the opposite of a miracle child.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with being gay,” Laura adds.

“Society begs to differ.”

Laura hums, her hum barely heard as she turned the electric trimmer on. Derek walks in with a can of beer, he stops under the kitchen door frame, leaning against it as he watches and sips on his beer.

Stiles raised an eyebrow at Derek, his smile growing lopsided. Derek looks away, disappearing back into the kitchen. Stiles could see a glimpse of him as he glanced out the kitchen window.

She turns the electric trimmer off and uses the towel which was previously covering a bag of ice to clean off the hairs on Stiles’ neck and shoulder.

“Well, you’ll need to pop back in here after 10 days to get those stitches out, it’ll be better than going to the hospital and getting charged about a thousand to get five measly stitches out.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver, Laura.”

“It’s what I do, Stiles,” she takes a broom that was leaning next to the cupboard on the wall and begins cleaning up the mess.

“Now once you go home, in the morning, ice the shit out of your back, no hot showers in the meantime and just keep on icing it and rest. Oh and stitches, keep it dry for the next 48 hours and no baths, showers only till you get them out.”

“Will do.” Stiles stands up and wears his shirt. He rakes his fingers through his freshly shorn hair as he looks at his reflection on a mirror hung up on the wall.

His makeup was smeared though, looking like he paid a three-year-old to do it. He looks around trying to find something he could wipe his makeup off with.

“Here, I believe you’re looking for this,” Derek approached Stiles from behind and handed him a packet of wet tissues.

“Thanks,” Stiles takes one out of the packet and wipes his makeup off.

It wasn’t going to totally rub off, he needs makeup remover for that but it was muted enough that no one would notice in the middle of the night.

“The buzz cut suits you,” he compliments.

“Well, it’s majorly different from what I looked like 20 minutes ago, but I like it,” Stiles ran a hand through it again, it was that satisfying to do.

“I’ll walk with you, to your house,” Derek said, not really giving any space for Stiles to speak his opinion, not that Stiles was objecting to it.

“Ok, my knight in a leather jacket.”

Derek rolls his eyes and Stiles puts the used tissue in the dustbin and they walk to the front door.

“Bye, Laura, thanks again, but I can never thank you enough.”

“Goodnight, Stiles, and you’re welcome,” she waves.

Derek walks out and Stiles follows him. The walk home was silent, the roads were silent and empty, and Stiles felt Derek’s hand brush against his as they walked. The small, seemingly insignificant touch, his heart fluttered and he couldn’t help but crave for more. Derek and Stiles stopped at an intersection, the light was green and late-night buses were passing the road. Stiles felt Derek slowly hold his hand.

Stiles doesn’t stop and actually accepts his hold, softly holding his hand in return. Stiles looks at Derek who was looking forward, his lips curled to a small smile.

The light was still green but nothing was passing the roads, Stiles holding Derek’s hand pulled him as Stiles began to walk on the crosswalk.

“The light isn’t red yet!”

“Do you see any vehicles coming?” Stiles stops in the middle of the empty road, his skirt twisting around even though he stood in place.

Derek looks side to side before looking at Stiles, “I just don’t like taking chances,” he said as he joined Stiles and walked across the road.

“C’mon, I’ll protect you,” Stiles held Derek’s hand firmly as they walked.

Stiles slows down as they approach his apartment building, he goes in the building and Derek follows him up to the second floor.

“Well, this is my apartment, small and quaint, but it’s alright.”

“Goodnight, Stiles.”

“Night, Derek.”

Stiles and Derek lingered in the hallway for a moment, Stiles wasn’t sure of what he was feeling or what he wanted to do. That was until Derek made a move, leaning forward and kissing Stiles passionately. Stiles was taken aback by how quickly Derek leaped in, but he himself was quick to reciprocate by slowly closing his eyes and kissing back. Lips fought, teeth clashed and lips moved in sync.

Stiles never wanted the kiss to end but, all good moments come to an end. Derek looked down on the floor, he was clearly ashamed.

“Derek, if it’s alright with you, maybe we could have brunch together at this new seafood bar that opened near the coast?”

“Sure, I’d like to go out with you,” he looked back up at Stiles.

“Ok, how about next Saturday, I’ll pop into your house at 11?”

“Yeah, I’ll be waiting.”

Stiles smiles as he unlocks his house door waiting under the doorway, he didn’t want this night to end, but at the same time, he desperately needed to shower.

Derek slowly walked down the stairs and Stiles waved as he went. He slowly closes the door and rests against it.

“Damn, what a night. What a fucking hell of a night that was,” Stiles couldn’t help but say.

[theb1te]

Hostage Hearts and Patchwork Love

Chapter 1: Like a fish out of water

Stiles Stilinski x Peter Hale || Espionage AU || Chapter 1/? : 1754 words || Rated T

Summary: 
Mieczyslaw Gajos is an FBI agent. When he gets on the second big case on the new taskforce he was recruited for, it changes his life. For better or for worse, he doesn't know that either. What he does know, is that not only his life has changed, but so does the life of suspected criminal Peter Hale.

————

I wrote this story for Steter Secret Santa 2020 (@stetersecretsanta​)! It’s a gift for @kcmski​, who requested some spy action. I hope you like it! I had no knowledge about espionage when I started this, so I’ve learned quite a lot too. Happy Holidays!

(title from the song Patchwork Love by As It Is)

Read on AO3 or

Stiles was strapped to a chair in his new home, leaned all the way back. A wet cloth was draped over his mouth, and he woke up, gasping for air through the water that was splashed over his face. When he could finally open and focus his eyes, he saw above him, his own lover, Peter Hale, his lover’s nephew and his assistant, Derek Hale and Scott McCall. He was being waterboarded by the man he was in love with. The man who was in love with him.

Now you probably wonder how Stiles ended up in this situation. Let’s explain...

It all started when Mieczyslaw Gajos, often called Miesko, got a call from his boss on a Sunday, exactly three years ago. On a Sunday? Sure, Federal agents worked 24/7, but he'd never been called by his boss on a Sunday. When he answered it all got even more suspicious. He couldn't meet him on Monday, or at his boss' place or office. “I’m outside of your apartment building,” and Miesko had to meet him in the man’s vehicle. Strange, but he couldn't do anything other than comply. Once inside the car he found out what this was all for. 

"We've got a new job for you, kid," was the first thing his boss said as soon as he’d closed the car door.

He'd been recruited for a new highly secretive taskforce. It would handle supernatural cases from that moment on, since they had grown more and more frequent over the past few years. Somehow his boss had found out that Miesko already knew about the supernatural world, so he couldn’t do anything else than recruit an experienced and knowledgeable agent for the team. Almost a year of training followed, in between cases. They were few and far between at that point in time, but Miesko loved it. They were the most interesting cases of his life.

Not more than a year after finishing his training, he got assigned to his second big case. It was focussed on a family of werewolves that had been known to live in a small town called Beacon Hills for years. The Bureau had been keeping eyes on them due to some suspicions, and now it was finally time to make a move. They were suspected to be domestic terrorists. Recently they suffered a major attack from the Argent family and associates, a group known to be werewolf hunters. It seemed to have only made them more aggressive, turning teenagers and an increase in ‘animal-attack’ victims ending up in town, and the family of wolves had established contact with a known person of interest. 'Deucalion' had been a familiar name even before the supernatural taskforce had been established. He was an uncatchable, very strong werewolf with several aliases that always seemed to leave a trail of victims behind wherever he went. 

The more desk-ridden side of the taskforce had done their research on the family of wolves and advised for an agent to win Peter Hale's attention. Miesko was one of the only gay man on the taskforce and most qualified for the job, so he was sent out. Of course he needed a new name and identity to start his undercover mission.

And so Stiles Stilinski was born.

A nice, jittery, unsuspecting gay young man, moving to Beacon Hills to get away from the busy city life of Los Angeles. He was outgoing, and actively looking for a new love life to have fun next to working on his own start-up business.

This was, by a giant margin, the most dangerous thing Stiles had ever done. As an investigative specialist, more commonly known as a spy, his job was to always be grey. He was to not stand out, blend in with the crowd without looking like he was trying too hard. People would see him, but forget him a second after. This time was different. He had to stand out and quite literally get up in the face of his target. This was a whole new level of undercover work he'd never done before.

That love life Stiles was looking for, he first found while going out in the local gay bar, Jungle, for a few nights until he ran into his target. Peter Hale. He'd memorized his face before he even moved here. So there he was, dancing over to Peter in the middle of the night with a tempting smile on his face. 

The intelligence that was helping him on this case had told him that Peter wasn’t the person to buy a drink for, but he had to make him buy a drink for Stiles, which made it only harder to do this right. If he missed his shot now, he wouldn’t even be able to start his mission. He took a seat next to Peter at the bar, looking over at him like he’d never seen him before and acting impressed. ‘Stroke his ego. He wants to be the best.’ He remembered all the advice clear as day.

His acting didn’t have to go far when he actually laid eyes on Peter though. The man was hot, not exactly Miesko’s type in terms of looks, but he definitely wasn’t hard on the eyes. He refocussed to the task at hand and flashed Peter a charming smirk and wink before ordering himself a drink from the bartender. It was actually his first alcoholic drink of the night, but it wouldn’t hurt to pretend that he’d already had a few. It would even be suspicious if he hadn’t, since it was already so late into the night. 

Once the drink arrived, Miesko’s plan had proved to work. Peter turned to the bartender and didn’t let Stiles pay, instead paying for Stiles’ drink and ordering a new one for himself. He turned further toward Stiles then, “Nice to meet you. You’re new here.” He showed Stiles a smirk of his own. His eyes lit up, sitting up straighter and taking a sip of his drink before nodding excitedly. 

“Yeah! I actually just moved here a few weeks ago. Thought I’d check out if this club was anything good!” Stiles explained over the music, his excited smile never leaving his face, making him look quite innocent and oblivious. He leaned his side against the sleek bar, subconsciously making the bright, flashing lights color his face from blue to purple and back again. 

Stiles noticed Peter raise one of his expressive eyebrows and the man leaned against the bar casually. Peter asked about his move and they fell into a simple yet flirty conversation easily. Miesko hadn’t gone over his backstory no less than fifty for nothing. It didn’t seem like long before they decided to go onto the dancefloor, but Peter had asked a lot about Stiles. It seemed like the man was just showing interest, but Stiles noticed it was more than that easily. The questions had underlying suspicion written all over them. It wasn’t anything strange from a man working in his family’s domestic terrorist association.

Miesko enjoyed himself on the dancefloor, being able to let go a little bit. He didn’t have to focus as much when they weren’t talking, just being his charming self like he was actually just trying to pick Peter up. He knew it was going to work when he wrapped his arms around Peter’s neck and he felt Peter’s hands land on his ass. He smirked at himself, but let Peter see it too. It wouldn’t raise suspicion.

--

In the morning, Miesko woke with a yawn and placed his forearm over his eyes. As soon as the fog cleared out of his brain he realized he wasn’t in his own bed. In fact, he was in a bed much comfier than his own or his new one. He rolled his shoulders to get the light ache out before squinting over at the man beside him. Peter Hale. Not that the ache in his back needed anymore explaining, but now that he got a good look at the man’s defined chest, Miesko definitely wasn’t surprised. He was glad to note that Peter didn’t seem awake yet, and he carefully slipped from under the soft, silky sheets to find his clothes and something to write on. Once he was dressed back into his clothes that had been carelessly strewn around the room, thanks Peter, he found a note and a pen in his own back pocket. 

Call me, hot stuff. +1(323) 555-6782 x Stiles

He stuck the carefully written note to the dresser and stepped back. Miesko checked around the room if he didn’t leave anything damning behind before carefully starting to tip toe out of the bedroom. 

“Did’you leave a note?” A groggy grumble came from the bed, startling Stiles into turning back around to the bed and looking at Peter who hadn’t even opened his eyes. “Yeah.” He confirmed, deciding that if Peter didn’t even seem to be moving he would just continue out the door and so he did.

“Phone number?” The same voice came again right when Stiles was opening the door. He just looked over his shoulder this time, but did wait to leave. “On the note.” He confirmed, staring at the bed to see if Peter would actually do something this time. He did, but it wasn’t what Stiles had expected. The man just turned around in the bed, showing his back to Stiles. “M’kay.” He said, and like Stiles had needed any sort of incentive to leave, he waved his hand toward the door half-heartedly. 

Miesko stepped out of the room and made his way out the door of the penthouse, only sighing when the doors of the elevator had closed. He shook his head as he thought out of the interaction, even letting out a soft chuckle as he leaned his back against the cool wall of the elevator, sagging against the rail. Egotistical, check. Rich, check. Fucking amazing at sex, ch- Wait, that wasn’t on the list of descriptors. He rubbed his hands over his face and raised an eyebrow at himself accusingly in the mirror next to him. He noticed the terrible sex hair that was still decorating him and pushed his hand through it to sort that out just before he was already at the ground floor of the apartment building. He stretched once he was out of the lobby and blinked away the brightness of the morning sun before heading back to his new home.

[thatfanficstuff]

My Favorite Weapon - Part 4

Pairing: Chris Argent x Reader

Warnings: nope.

****

You didn’t go far. After all, you still had a pack to save. You left because you were hurt and didn’t want to hear Ric and Damon’s excuses when they realized that outweighed your anger. Assholes. In actuality, you didn’t really leave at all. You simply made your way around the house and sat in a chair beneath the open window so you could still listen to the conversation. You sent several texts while you listened to Ric and the Salvatores explain all about the originals and hybrids. The pack was justifiably concerned that Klaus had set his sights on them.

“I really think the best thing for you all to do is just remain calm. Leave Klaus to the three of us. We’re used to dealing with him,” your brother offered.

You snorted in disbelief. You wouldn’t consider anything they did ‘dealing’ with the hybrid.

“You can’t just expect us to stand aside and do nothing. It’s not exactly our style,” Chris argued.

“Well, that explains how Y/N fell in with you then,” Stefan said.

“Be that as it may, baby brother,” Damon interrupted. “I think we can safely speak for Y/N when was say that she would be happier if you all just let us handle it.”

You typed out a quick text on your phone. A moment later a sudden burst of laughter came from inside followed by a “Y/N says you’re a fucking idiot.”

“Stiles,” his dad corrected immediately.

“Well, she did. Look.”

Several voices started speaking over each other and you turned your head when the back door opened. Chris stuck his head out to smirk in your direction. “Why don’t you join us if you’re going to pitch in your two cents anyway?”

You sighed dramatically and got to your feet before grinning at him.

“You really thought Stiles was the best choice for that message?” Chris said lowly as you stepped past him.

“If it makes you feel any better, I meant to send it to Scott.”

He licked his lips and shook his head as he placed a hand on the small of the back. The two of you stepped into the living room and everyone immediately quieted down. “Thought you left,” your brother said after a moment.

You shrugged. “Thought you weren’t an asshole, so I guess we were both wrong.”

Melissa grimaced. “Can we tone down the language? They’re still kids.”

“Really, mom?”

“Don’t mom me, Scott McCall. God help me, but there has to be some decorum around here.”

“We should have rethought the guest list then.” Your words may have been for your boyfriend but you made sure you were loud enough for the pack to hear. Their laughter eased some of the tension that had been clouding the air since you arrived with the vampires in tow.

“Y/N,” Scott said getting everyone’s attention. “You know everyone on all sides of this. What do you think we should do?”

You pursed your lips. “I think we should all just take a minute to breathe here. We don’t even know if Klaus is in town yet. I’m waiting to hear back from some people so we have a better idea of what’s going on with him. Ric, I’m not going to tell the three of you to go home, but I am going to tell you to stand down. At least for now.”

“And if we don’t?” Of course, it was Damon who spoke up.

“Did I mention I’m the Sheriff around here?” Stiles’ dad piped up.

“Or that I’m fully stocked on vervain?” you added.

Damon took a step back to lean against the wall behind him. “Fair enough.”

“As for the rest of us, the pack stays together. That means everyone. Us non-werewolf types are probably safe to go about our usual business, but stay with someone. That means no solo patrols, Sheriff. No late night shifts in mostly barren areas of the hospital, Melissa. Deaton, I’m going to assume you have your own array of protections. Use them.”

“And what are you going to do?” Derek asked.

“I’m going to buddy up with the resident hunter and find us a hybrid.”

***

Surprisingly it was Klaus you heard from first. And instead of responding to your message asking him what he was up to lately, he’d sent a text that said simply: What on earth are you doing in Beacon Hills, love?

You tossed your phone to Chris and he snatched it out of the air. “Guess that answers the question of whether or not he’s in town.”

He read the message and handed your phone back. “What do we do now?”

“Now we ask him the same question.”

After some back and forth, Klaus agreed to meet you at a diner in town so the two of you could ‘catch up’.

You sat your phone on the table beside you and looked at Chris. “I think it’s better if I go by myself.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Chris—”

“You said it yourself. The pack stays together. Even us non-werewolf types, as you put it, stay with someone.”

The silence stretched as you contemplated your choices. “Fine, but just you. And try not to let Klaus get under your skin. He can be irritating to put it mildly.”

***

You and Chris arrived at the diner at the appointed time and you were unsurprised to see Klaus waiting for you in a corner booth. A glance around told you that was probably a good thing as the place was packed. The hybrid smiled as he met your eye. He stood and opened his arms for a hug. “It’s good to see you, love. Mystic Falls is too quiet without you.”

You huffed a laugh and slid onto the bench next to Chris. “I find that unlikely, but thanks for the sentiment.”

He sat and turned a tight smile on your boyfriend. “And who is this?”

“Klaus, my boyfriend Chris Argent. Chris, Niklaus Mikaelson, the original hybrid.”

The two shook hands and when Chris would have let go, Klaus maintained his grip and leaned forward. “Y/N and I need a moment to catch up. Why don’t you wait in the car for her to finish like a good boy, hmm?”

Chris pulled his hand away. “I don’t think so.”

Your friend turned his attention on you looking almost betrayed.

“Oh, don’t even. Of course, he’s on vervain. What do you take me for?”

Klaus spread his hands in a gesture of false innocence and gave a smile to match. “Well, I had to try. I do wish you had mentioned you were bringing a friend, Y/N. This makes conversation awkward.”

You rolled your eyes. He was such a baby sometimes. “Let me help you out then, Klaus. The local pack is mine. You can’t have them.”

He looked stunned but for a minute and then he laughed. “Is that so? And what right do you have to claim them? You are no alpha.”

You leaned back in your seat and tapped the table. You gave Klaus a cockeyed smirk. “I’m not, but he is.” You gestured to the counter where Scott turned and gave a little wave.

The hybrid snorted. “He’s a child.”

“He’s a true alpha. Even you have to respect that, Klaus.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You owe me,” you reminded him.

“It was Kol you saved, not me, love.”

You narrowed your gaze and raked your eyes over him. You knew him well enough to know that he was ready to leave your pack alone as soon as you claimed them. He just didn’t like being told what to do. And he wanted to see just how far you would go. You also knew damned well he would have been devastated to lose his brother.

“You’re not invincible, Mikaelson,” Chris said.

“I’m pretty damned close, human.”

“Argent. That’s something more than human, I think. You weren’t paying attention when I introduced the two of you.”

“Fine. I’ll concede he could make things difficult. That’s all.”

You shifted your gaze from him to look at the figure standing behind him in the hall. “He’s going to make me list all the assets at my disposal, isn’t he?”

“Are you really surprised?” the clipped voice answered. Elijah Mikaelson approached the table and pressed a kiss to your cheek before turning to his brother. “Do slide over, Niklaus.”

Elijah offered Chris his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Argent.”

Your boyfriend glanced at you with an arched brow even as he shook hands with his second original of the night. “Elijah is the polite one, but don’t piss him off.”

“You called my brother, Y/N? Do you think that was really necessary?”

“Correction. Brothers,” Kol spoke up from his spot beside Scott. He offered you a smile and a cheeky wave.

“Hello, Kol,” you greeted him while Klaus grumbled. You shifted your attention back to him. “I have a pack, Klaus. And it goes beyond what I’ve found here.” After a beat everyone in the diner was turned to face your table. The pack, Deaton, the Sheriff, Parrish, your brother, and the Salvatores.

“And I feel it prudent to remind you that Y/N is the owner of the last white oak stake in existence. It’s location undoubtedly known to her boyfriend, or her brother, in case something should happen to her,” Elijah spoke up.

“Now, Elijah, that was just rude. Klaus was already planning on leaving my friends alone.”

Chris shook his head beside you. He was either admiring your brazenness or wondering how you managed to not get yourself killed yet. You were betting on the latter.

“Quite right,” Klaus said. “They aren’t at all the right type of wolves anyway. Really, you worry too much, brother. I would never anger our dear Y/N.”

Sure, he wouldn’t. “On that note, it’s time for us to leave.” You stood and Chris quickly followed. “Elijah, Kol, coffee before you leave.”

They both agreed and you dragged your boyfriend out of the diner.

You waited until you were halfway home before breaking the silence. “Was there anyone you didn’t call to come to the diner?”

“Melissa. She’s a good nurse but not very intimidating if you aren’t a teenager.”

You sighed. “Chris, I’m serious. We agreed, you and me.”

“No. You said you and me. I did not agree to anything. If you recall, I said the pack stays together per your order.”

“And if things had gone badly?”

“All the more reason for them to be there.”

“Do you think I’d be able to live with myself if something happened to one of them because I was trying to talk sense into the original hybrid? There was a reason I didn’t want them there.” You didn’t want to yell, didn’t want to fight, but you’d been terrified when you walked into a sea of familiar faces.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not your decision to make. You can’t protect everyone all the time without expecting them to return the favor when you need it.” His voice was quiet but firm. “I made sure they knew what was going on, the made their own decisions about what to do with that information.”

“But why even give them the option, Chris? We could have told them everything after.”

His hand settled on your thigh and gave a little squeeze. “Because I wasn’t about to lose my favorite weapon, Y/N. I couldn’t risk it, not now that I’ve found you.”

You didn’t even know what to respond to that so you just linked your fingers with his.

As you pulled into the driveway, Chris turned to look at you. “Speaking of weapons, what exactly is a white oak stake and why do you have it?”

[teenwolffan-with-nolife]

The Witch and The Wolf Pt.58

Word Count: 2,427

Characters: Derek Hale, Braeden (someone plz tell me her last name), Stiles Stilinski, Malia Hale (mentioned), Scott McCall, Deaton, Jordan Parrish, Noah Stilinski, Melissa McCall, Kate Argent (mentioned), Peter Hale, Meredith Walker, Reader

Pairings: Derek Hale x Witch!Reader

Warnings: angst, cliffhanger

A/N: i don’t want anyone to @ me i’ve had the ending planned before i started writing the series

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You laid awake on your bed, feeling Derek’s body moving slightly with every breath he took. His arm was wrapped around your waist, with his back against yours. It was somehow impossible for you to be able to fall asleep.

You stroked Derek’s arm, before carefully turning to face him, trying not to wake him. Seeing him there with you always brought you comfort, even when you felt terrible. This was by far the longest you two had been together for, without any fighting or arguments. 

You could feel sadness rising in your chest, watching his powers leave him. He was still dying. You ran your fingers through your hair, trying to shake off that thought, it was the only thing on your mind. 

He opened his eyes, tilting his head downwards to make eye contact with you.

“It gets creepier and creepier every time you watch me sleep,” he replied.

You scoffed, wrapping your arms around him tightly.

“You just ruined a good moment,” you replied.

“Yeah, okay. What time is it?” you turned to check your phone, before shooting up.

You had texts from Scott and Stiles, and Lydia, along with a couple of missed calls.

“What? What is it?” Derek asked, moving next to you.

“I need to go,” you said.

“Wait, I’ll come with you,” he nodded.

“No, don't. Just stay here. I’ll see you in a bit,” you began to get out of bed, quickly grabbing a pair of clothes.

“(Y/N),” he started.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” you pressed a kiss to his cheek, before grabbing your phone and wallet, running out.

---

“Stiles!” you ran into his room, wrapping your arms around him.

“I should've gone with you two! Are you okay?” you asked, immediately scanning him for injuries.

“I’m fine! Melissa isn't letting me go,” he shook his head.

“Why not?” you asked.

Melissa walked in, crossing her arms.

“Brunski hit him in the head repeatedly. He says he’s fine but the doctor ordered more tests and I think he needs to rest,” Melissa explained.

“I’m fine!” he groaned.

“Stiles, sit down and shut up. Listen to her, she’s literally a nurse,” you replied.

“But-”

“No buts,” you flashed your purple eyes at him while he groaned, sitting back on the bed.

You rolled your eyes, before walking out with Melissa.

You put your arms around your stomach, holding in a gag.

“Are you okay?” she put her hand on your shoulder.

“Mhm… what is that smell?” you replied, strained.

“Well, I don’t smell anything that could make you sick,” she shook her head.

You inhaled, before sighing.

“It smells like blood,” you shook your head.

“Well, I mean we are in a hospital,” she laughed softly before patting your back.

“Are you sure you're okay?” she asked again.

“Yeah, I just feel a little sick. But it's nothing too bad,” you said.

She nodded, giving you a look before shaking it off.

“I will text Malia. She could probably get Stiles to stay here for a while,” you explained.

“Where are you gonna go?” she asked.

“I’m going to Deaton’s and then probably to the station, it looks like Kira found Satomi’s pack,” you explained.

“Are you sure you don't want to rest for a little bit?” Melissa asked.

“All of these kids aren't getting any sleep, why would I?” you shrugged.

She sighed, before patting your back softly.

“Stay safe,” you gave her a small hug before making your way to Deaton’s.

---

“I think we should leave now,” Scott replied.

“I still think we should wait for the sun to come up,” you stood in front of him, waiting in the clinic.

“I agree with (Y/N) on this one, we don't know how many hunters and assassins are still out there, and after what happened yesterday, we don’t know who’s safe or who’s not,” Kira nodded her head.

You looked inside, taking a quick look at Satomi, Brett, Lori, and the rest of their pack. They were all gathered, talking in whispers.

“Fine. Did you text Argent yet?” Scott asked.

“I texted him but he hasn’t replied. I’m sure he won’t mind,” you shrugged.

“Yeah, okay. Oh, also, Deaton said he wants to talk to you,” Scott motioned to the room in the back, Deaton’s private office.

You raised an eyebrow, before nodding softly, making your way to his office, knocking softly on the door.

“Come in,” he replied.

“You wanted to see me?” you asked, poking your head in.

“Oh, yes. I’ve gotten about ten texts from a certain someone about you,” he started.

You raised an eyebrow, while he showed you his phone screen. 

“Oh my god, he’s crazy,” you muttered, running your fingers through your hair.

“Well, is he wrong?” Deaton asked, leaning on his table.

“I mean… he might not be wrong,” you muttered, avoiding his gaze.

“I’m going to run some tests on you, okay?” he asked.

“What? No, there’s no reason. I feel fine,” you shook your head.

“Well, Derek’s not gonna take no for an answer,” he raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s my body, not his,” you gave a fake smile while Deaton sighed.

“Let me prove that it’s nothing to him, and maybe he’ll leave you alone.”

You groaned, crossing your arms before sighing.

“Okay fine,” you said.

“Good, now follow me.”

---

“Lydia,” she jumped up as you called her name, opening her eyes.

“Did you go home last night?” you asked, taking the seat next to her in the sheriff’s station.

“No, I’m not leaving Meredith here,” she replied.

You peaked inside Sheriff Stilinski’s office, seeing people with equipment talking to her.

“What’s going on now?” you asked.

“Sheriff Stilinski’s trying to get her to talk, but she isn't talking to anyone. He won’t let me talk to her either.”

“Why not?”

“Something with her being unpredictable and whatnot.”

“But… you’re a banshee and she’s a banshee. Don’t you guys like, trust in each other or something?”

“Tell that to him.”

“Yeah, I will.”

She raised an eyebrow as you saw Sheriff Stilinski come out of his office, turning to you and Lydia.

“She refuses to talk to anyone,” he crossed his arms.

“Well, why not let us talk to her?” you asked.

“I already said no to Lydia, don’t make me explain it to you too, (Y/N),” Noah replied in an annoyed tone.

“But Meredith has talked to Lydia before when she wasn't talking to anyone else. And Meredith can't hurt her if someone else is there and she’s protected,” you replied.

Sheriff Stilinski sighed, before shaking his head.

“Forget it. The two of you aren’t going in.”

---

You heard Noah sigh from behind the two of you, while Lydia took a seat across from Meredith.

“You used Brunski, right?” Lydia started.

Meredith continued looking down, away from everyone else.

“You knew he’d killed people and he’d do it again. He used my grandmother’s code for the Deadpool, and he’s the one who put it online,” you continued to look at Meredith, raising your eyebrow slightly as she remained stiff.

“He took the money from the Hale Vault, and then he turned the bearer bonds into cash. He made the payments,” you looked behind to Noah and Parrish, shrugging.

“Did you fake your death because he got you nervous? Because you helped?” she asked.

“I want to help,” Meredith spoke.

“Then do it. Tell us,” Lydia sighed.

“I want to talk to Peter,” you tensed immediately, sitting up before getting out of your chair.

“What?” you asked.

“I want to talk to Peter Hale,” she said again.

You shook your head, pulling Lydia aside.

“How does she know Peter?” you asked softly.

“How am I supposed to know?” Lydia raised an eyebrow.

“Well, we’re not calling him here,” you scoffed.

“She said she wants to talk to him. What if she doesn't talk to anyone else?” Lydia replied.

“What's so bad about Peter Hale?” Parrish asked while the two of you walked to him and Noah.

“What isn't bad about it? In simple terms, I would rather get stabbed by every single supernatural creature out there, I'd rather die 1,000 times than spend longer than 5 minutes with Peter Hale. He’s evil, he’s cold-hearted, he’s terrible, he’s-” you continued, anger pouring out of you before Lydia stopped you.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Lydia sighed.

You looked back at Meredith, then at the time. You needed to be back at Argent’s hideout by night, and it was already nearly 3. You bit your lip, holding back your frustration before you nodded your head.

“Fine,” you said softly.

“How are we going to find him?” you asked.

“You don’t have his number?” Lydia frowned.

“Why would I? Do you?” you replied.

“He tried to kill me. Of course, I don't have his number!” she scoffed.

“And? Chris tried to kill me too, and I have his number memorized,” you replied.

“When did that happen?” Lydia frowned.

“Oh, it was-”

“Not helpful right now. (Y/N), text Derek or something and find out Peter’s number. Parrish, you can take Meredith to one of the interrogation rooms,” Noah interrupted you.

You sighed, before nodding your head, sending a text to Derek.

---

You bit your nail, looking through the one-way mirror to Peter sitting across from Meredith, and Parrish standing nearby as a guard.

You, Lydia, and Noah continued to watch their interaction.

“I can just have what's left of it,” Peter said, referring to his money.

Meredith reached forward, putting her hand on Peter's face while you saw him tense up. 

Don't screw this up, Peter

He grabbed Meredith’s hand, before Parrish pulled out his gun, pointing it at Peter.

“Let her go! Now!” he yelled.

Peter clenched his jaw, before letting go of her hand.

“Your burns. They’re all gone,” your eyes widened, looking at Peter again.

“She does know him.”

---

“Are you two still training?” you asked Braeden, rubbing your neck softly.

“Well, not at the moment,” she replied.

“Okay… how is he doing?” you asked softly.

“He’s pretty weak, if I’m being honest with you,” you ran your fingers through your hair nervously, before pacing around the empty office.

“That's… okay,” you took deep breaths.

“There’s no reason to worry, though. He doesn't go anywhere without you or me. I have my guns, you have your thing. You’re getting really-”

“I know I worry a lot but how can I not?” you cut her off, before sighing.

All that was on your mind was Derek, and it was difficult to focus on anything else. 

“Just take a breath. Look, we're gonna get back to training, okay?” she said.

You nodded before rolling your eyes, realizing she couldn’t see you.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” you hung up the phone, receiving a text from Deaton.

You heard Peter yelling, while you dropped your phone, running back into the interrogation room. Within an instant, Peter pushed Parrish aside, digging his nails into Meredith’s neck.

Shit!

You ran into the room, pulling Parrish back.

“Don’t touch him! He could kill her if something goes wrong,” you warned.

Noah and Parrish both placed their guns back into their pocket before Lydia walked next to Meredith.

“Can you hear her?” you asked.

She shook her head. You ran your fingers through your hair, before walking next to Peter.

“Cogitationes revelare,” your eyes glew purple as you put your hands on Peter’s head, looking into his mind.

“I told her, I warned her. I knew they were planning something and now everyone’s dead!” you heard Peter yelling, seeing Meredith in a hospital bed next to his paralyzed, scorched body.

You could see as Meredith covered her ears, trying to block out Peter’s words, while some form of Peter, possibly his soul, reached out for her, grabbing her hand.

“Talia made the family weak and weaker! We used to be feared, we used to be the Apex predators till Talia turned us into sheep,” he yelled.

“I swear on it… I’ll kill all supernaturals of Beacon Hills, witches, werewolves, wendigoes, all of them. I’ll create my own breed, and we’ll be on top!”

“With the money from the vault. I’ll pay them. Professional assassins, people like The Mute, The Chemist, I’ll even call in the Desert Wolf. When it comes to it, anyone can be corrupted by money.”

You took a step back from Peter, staring at the scene in shock before you felt your head began aching, pushing through more flashbacks.

You saw glimpses of Kate before you tensed up.

“Don’t kill Scott yet. That'll screw up the plan,” you heard him say.

The two of them stood in the sewers, while you clenched your jaw, breaking away from Peter.

You gasped softly, putting your hands on your head as you stumbled back. Your vision blurred, barely making out Lydia rushing to you before you fell out of consciousness.

---

You jumped up, immediately looking around the hospital room.

You exhaled softly, feeling a slight sense of relief as you ran your fingers through your hair.

You turned, about to get out of your bed before Melissa walked into the room.

“Mrs. McCall,” you said.

“It’s good to see you’re awake,” she gave you a small smile.

“Yeah, I feel fine,” you replied.

“Can I leave?” you asked.

“In a minute. Derek’s currently outside, I told him he could come in after I talked to you,” you frowned slightly as she motioned for you to get back in bed.

“I ran a few tests on you while you were asleep, per Deaton’s request. He’s going to be away for some time and sent me a call before,” you could feel slight panic rising in your chest as she stood in front of you.

“You’ve been getting sick, right? How often does it happen?” Melissa asked.

“Not… I mean sometimes in the morning, like right when I wake up, but sometimes it happens when I’m upset, I thought it was stress,” you replied.

“It’s not stress,” she said softly.

Your heart rate quickened, every aspect of Melissa’s words was causing you to worry.

“Am I dying?” you blurted out.

She laughed softly, shaking her head.

“Quite the opposite.”

You gave her a look, before raising an eyebrow.

“What the hell is the opposite of dying?” you asked.

“You really haven't figured it out yet?” she scoffed.

You gave her a confused look once again, before shaking your head. She sighed, crossing her arms.

“You’re pregnant, (Y/N).”

[maxineswritingcenter]

You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 17

------------------

That night, Scott and I were meeting with Derek to discuss what our next plan of action was. Scott had said that he had found Jackson walking around downtown where there was an old abandoned warehouse that was primarily used for raves. The only problem was tickets were sold out and way out of Scott’s high school budget. 

“What’d you get from your dad?” I asked Stiles over the phone. 

“We figured out that all of the victims knew each other in some way, Harris’ class.”

“What about Isaac’s dad?” 

“We think maybe it has to do with Isaac’s older brother.” 

“Camden right?” 

“Right, he was killed in active duty but he would be the same age as all of the victims.” 

“What does that have to do with Jackson though?” I asked, parking outside at the same time that Derek had pulled up with Isaac in tow. 

“Not sure yet, but I’ll keep looking.”

“Alright, keep me posted.” I hung up, getting out of the car and walking with Derek and Isaac to the front door. Scott finished unlocking it, staring directly at Isaac. 

“What’s he doing here?” Scott asked suspiciously. 

“I need him.” Derek said. 

“I don't trust him.” 

Isaac scoffed, “Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you, either.”

“(Y/N) is indifferent.” I said, rolling my eyes. 

“You know what? Derek doesn’t doesn’t really care.” Derek said sarcastically. We made our way inside the lobby. Isaac sat down in a rolling chair in the corner of the room. I was happy just leaning against the front desk while Derek was content with staying annoyed.

 “Now, where’s the vet? Is he going to help us or not?” Derek asked. 

“That depends...” The veterinarian came around the corner, crossing his arms over his chest, “Your friend, Jackson... Are we planning to kill him, or save him?”

“Save him.” Scott and I said while Derek said: “Kill him.” 

Scott stared Derek down, “Save him.” He looked back at his boss, “Save him.” Happy with that answer, we were brought back into the operating room. He placed small bottles in front of us on the operating table. Being back here reminded me of the day Derek almost died. Sensing my distress, Derek pulled me closer to his side. 

Ever curious, Isaac reached out to touch one of the bottles. Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed his wrist before he made contact. Both alphas stared him down. 

“Watch what you touch.” Derek warned. Isaac backed away, turning his attention to Deaton. 

 He leaned against the table, “So, what are you, some kind of witch?”

“No.” Deaton said drolly, “I'm a veterinarian.” He went back to searching the cabinets for more vials. 

“Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin.” He said. 

“We're open to suggestions.” Derek sighed. 

“What about an effective offense?” Isaac asked. 

“We already tried. I nearly took its head off, and Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up.”

“Has it shown any weaknesses?” Deaton asked. Derek and I shared a glance. 

“Well, one: it can't swim.” He said. 

“He acted like the water burned.” I added. 

“Does that go for Jackson as well?”

“No. He's the captain of the swim team.” Scott said, leaning back against the wall. 

Deaton looked over all of us, “Essentially, you're trying to catch two people: a puppet, and a puppeteer.” He pulled a metal medallion from a drawer, holding up and flipping the sides. He placed the medallion on the table, “One killed the husband, but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?” Deaton was referring to the latest victims. A married couple, pregnant with their first child. While the husband had been killed on the scene, the wife had been killed in the hospital.

“I don't think Jackson could do it.” Scott said, “His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else.”

“How do you know it's not part of the rules?” Isaac asked from the corner of the room, “The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies, too.”

“Does that mean your father was a murderer?” 

“Wouldn't surprise me if he was.” Isaac said grimly.

“Hold on-” Deaton interrupted, “The book says they're bonded, right?” Derek nodded Deaton grabbed a glass bottle of black powder, the label read Mountain Ash, “What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson, but from the person controlling him? What if something that affects the Kanima” He opened the vial, making a circle around the coin with it, “Also affects its master?”

“Meaning what?” Isaac asked. 

“Meaning we can catch them.” Scott looked back, mostly at Derek, “Both of them.”

-

Walking through the halls after lacrosse practice, I didn’t think I would see anyone. But when I heard the sound of an angry individual, I wanted to check it out. I turned the corner, seeing Coach Lahey with a young kid backed against the wall near the boys bathroom. 

“You didn’t say anything, did you? Huh, you little punk.” He said through his teeth. 

“No...” The kid whimpered. This wasn’t right. Why the hell was Coach Lahey getting in this kids business. 

I rushed up to them, “There you are.” I grinned. Coach Lahey and the kid looked at me, “C’mon, mom’s waiting for us in the car.” I held a hand out of the kid. He looked between Coach Lahey, then me before quickly taking my hand. 

“Thanks for finding him, Coach Lahey.” I smiled, tilting my head to the side, “My mom’s been really worried.” Coach Lahey stood up straight. 

“Well, you’re welcome.” He mumbled, turning on his heels and walking towards the pool. I held the kid’s hand tightly, walking him through the school. 

“You okay?” I asked, looking down at him. He nodded, keeping his eyes towards the ground. He was practically trembling. 

“Lahey’s pretty scary, huh?” I asked. 

“Yeah.” I leaned over to look him in his eyes, they were pale blue.

“Well, if he ever corners you like that again, just tell him that your big sister is waiting for you with Coach Finstock. Lahey might be mean, but Finstock is crazy.” I smiled, “What’s your name, kid?”

“Matthew.”

-

The next morning, Stiles drove Scott and I to the high school seeing as my car was still in the shop. We looked over and saw Matt locking his bike to the bike rack. Matt for sure had tickets. We got out of the car, walking towards the building.

“There's got to be some other way to get tickets, right?” Scott asked.

“It's a secret show, there's only one way, and it's a secret.” Stiles said, gripping the shoulder of his backpack. 

“Even if it wasn’t a secret, we couldn’t afford them anyway. I would get them but my parent’s estate isn’t settled yet. If it was, do you think I would be working as an assistant coach?” I said. Working with Coach was a blessing and curse. 

Matt walked up to us, “Hey... Either of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?” I had completely forgotten that Matt had been there for the attack too, but he seemed to miss  seeing Jackson as a lizard man.

“Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt.” Stiles said evasively. 

Matt narrowed his eyes, “I-I had a concussion...”

“Well, no one got seriously hurt.”

“I was in the ER for six hours!”

“Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt?” Stiles snapped irritably, “Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now.” He bent over, holding his hand above the ground. I rolled my eyes, grabbing him back the strap of his bag and pulled him back up. 

“Are you okay?” Scott asked sincerely. 

“Yeah, I'm fine now. So, you didn't get any tickets last night either?” Matt asked. 

“Are they still selling?”

“Uh, no, but I managed to find two online. You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's gonna be there.” He started to walk away. 

“I’ll tell coach to take it easy on you at practice!” I called, he held up a hand, continuing his walk inside. 

“I don't like him.” Stiles grumbled, staring daggers into the back of Matt’s head.

-

It was time for afternoon practice, which meant explaining a few things to Coach. 

“Where in the hell did you go last game, (Y/N)? You just disappeared.” His eyes were somehow even wilder. I should probably tell him to look into an endocrinologist. We hadn’t gotten a chance to talk this morning since morning practice was about drilling new plays and him asking where Jackson was every fifteen minutes.

I rubbed the back of my neck, “I’m sorry, Coach. It’s just a little hard to explain.” 

“No, having to explain to your wife that you lost her favorite testicle is hard, explaining where you went during the semi-finales? not hard.” At this point I think Coach was just a little too comfortable telling people things. 

After processing and hopefully blacking out what he just said, I came up with a lie that would definitely make him drop the topic. 

“I uh started my period.” I lied. Finstock closed his mouth and nodded. 

“Say no more.” I gave him an awkward smile, putting on the eye mask and heading out into the locker room. It was easier to find Scott and Stiles than it was before since I could pick out their scents. 

“Hey, are you sure about this?” Stiles asked. 

“Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job. So, what do you think he's going to do this time?”

“Be there to make sure it happens.”

“Can anyone tell me where the hell Jackson is and why he missed morning practice?” Coach Finstock’s door flew open, slamming against the wall. 

“I thought I told you to keep an eye on him!” Stiles leaned in to Scott. 

“Stilinski!” Coach shouted, “Jackson?” Was he not aware of the restraining orders?

“Sorry, Coach... I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him...” He said nervously, causing me to elbow him in the side. 

“Oh, and when was that?”

“Last time I saw him... was definitely the time I saw him last...” He said evasively.

 “Yeah. Again, Danny, tell Jackson no missing practice this close to the championships, okay?”

“Sure, Coach.” Danny was near, maybe a couple feet. I hadn’t really “seen” him since he was attacked at the nightclub. He was another victim that didn’t make any sense. Danny hadn’t seen anyone get murdered by Jackson, while I had definitely watched Jackson attack people.

“That goes for all of you.” Coach’s shoes squeaked against the floor as he turned back to his office, “I should be coaching college.” He mumbled under his breath, slamming his door shut.

“Sooo Danny.” Stiles said in his smooth voice, or at least I think he meant for it to be smooth, “Got any extra tickets for the secret party this weekend?”

“Sorry, but I only got two myself.”

“What-- do you even have a date yet?” I smacked Stiles’ in the back of the head blindly. Still accurate. 

“I'm working on it.” He said, clearly offended. 

“Okay, okay... Hear me out. You give us the tickets, and you devote your life to abstinence, and just-” Danny walked off. 

“How do you two losers even survive?” Isaac’s voice appeared.

“What are we supposed to do? No one's even selling.” Scott said. Two players were walking by, talking about the tickets they scored. 

“Isaac,” I grinned, “Be a dear, would you?” I motioned my head towards the players’ general direction. 

“...Wait here, boys.” Isaac walked off.

“What is he gonna-” Scott said before being cut off by the sounds of scuffling and shouting.

“Ow. Oh, my-” Stiles commented, ”Yup, that's excessive....That'll bruise.”

“Ow.” Scott winced.

“Wow, okay...” Stiles said grimly. I heard the sound of paper against their jerseys when Isaac came back.

“Enjoy the show.” Isaac said, walking back to his locker. 

-

After practice, we made a stop by the vet office. We were inside the operating room, watching Deaton grab a vial of clear liquid from a cabinet and a syringe.

“Ketamine?” Scott asked. 

“It's the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage. If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time.” He set the syringe and vial on the operating table, turning back to get the familiar bottle that held the dark mountain ash. 

“This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier. This part is for you, Stiles-- only you.” He set the bottle on the table in front of Stiles

“Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure... Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?” Stiles looked at me. 

“Don’t look at me, I can’t do this.” I held my hands up. 

“Why can’t she do this?”

“It's from the Mountain Ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott or (Y/N) to cause me any trouble...”

“Okay, so, then, what?” Stiles asked, “I just spread this around the whole building, and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?”

Deaton nodded, “They'll be trapped.”

“Doesn't sound too hard.” Scott shrugged. I leveled him a look. Wasn’t he the one to say don’t say something was too easy?

“Not all there is...Think of it like gunpowder-- it's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles.”

Stiles started at the vet in bewilderment, “...If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that.”

“Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind, and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish.”

“Force of will...” Stiles whispered. 

“If-if this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it.” Stiles hummed and exhaled loudly. 

-

After getting a few more things ready at the house, Stiles and I were about to get into Roscoe when Uncle Noah pulled up in the driveway. I paused, watching him get out. He seemed down and lost. The other thing I noticed was that his sheriff badge was missing. 

"Hey! Can't talk gotta run." Stiles said without looking. I grabbed the back of Stiles’ shirt, causing him to be jerked back. He looked at his father, taking him in.

“Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait-- what's wrong?” Stiles’ voice stopped Uncle Noah from going further up the driveway. 

“Nothing.” Uncle Noah said evasively, not meeting either of our eyes. 

“Oh...Where's your gun?”

“I left it at the station... along with my badge...” He breathed out. My mouth dropped open, then closed quickly. 

“What?” We asked in unison.

“It's all right. You know what? We'll talk about this later. You both seem like you’re going somewhere.”

“Dad-”

“Don't worry about it.” He started walking towards the house again. 

“Dad!” Stiles shouted. Uncle Noah stopped and turned back towards us. 

He sighed, “It was decided that the son of a police chief stealing police property and having a restraining order filed against him by one of the town's most respected attorneys did not reflect well on the county...”

“They fired you?” Stiles asked, stunned. I looked down at my feet, I couldn’t look at either of them. Stiles was going to blame himself for everything and that wasn’t a Stiles that I ever wanted to see again. But what were we supposed to think? This whole situation with Scott was starting to affect home life. He shouldn’t have asked Stiles to steal that van. 

“Nah. Look, it's-it's just a leave of absence. It's-it's temporary.”

“Did they say it was temporary, or...?”

“Actually, no.” He sighed, “You know, I- It's fine. Don't worry about it, though.” He started walking back towards the door when I looked back up at him, “Hey. We're going to be fine.”

“Dad, I don't get it... “ Stiles was beginning to feel overwhelmed, “Why-why aren't you angry at me?”

“I don't know. Maybe I just don't want to feel any worse than I already do by having to yell at my son in front of my daughter who I’m sure is tired of any violence...” He didn’t yell, but his words still stung. Not intentionally though. We watched him walk into the house, a broken man.

“Oh, shoot.” Stiles mumbled. 

- 

After picking up Scott, we parked outside the warehouse of the party. There were a bunch of people outside waiting to get in, oblivious to the events that were going to take place. Stiles opened the back of the Jeep, pulling out huge sacks of mountain ash that were given to him by Deaton. He didn’t look okay, he had been tense our whole drive over here. 

“You okay?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, why?” He avoided the question. 

“You just didn't say anything the whole way here...”

“No, I'm fine. Just grab the other bag.” Scott and I shared a glance. 

“I can't.” Scott said sheepishly, “Remember, Deaton said you have to do it alone...”

“Okay, this plan is really starting to suck!”

“No. Not here. Not now!” Scott groaned. 

“What?” Stiles asked as Scott ran towards the main entrance. I followed close behind. 

Scott and I went our separate ways once inside, apparently Allison was here which completely ruined the plan because she really wasn’t supposed to be. While he was talking with Allison, I kept Matt distracted.

“Hey.” He smiled, “You got tickets.” 

“I did! Took some convincing but I’m pretty good at getting what I want.” I smirked. 

“Really?” He said, narrowing his eyes in a playful way. I inhaled deeply, getting the familiar scent of spearmint gum.

“Yeah. Like I can get a stick of your gum.” I held out my hand. He dug in his pocket and produced a stick of gum.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” I took the gum from his hand and started chewing it. I looked around him, seeing Allison coming back. She seemed a little upset, so I decided to bail. 

“I’ll see you around.” I waved and walked back into the crowd. I walked around the best I could, pushing through sweaty bodies, grabbing a water bottle while I was walking through. I hadn’t seen Jackson yet so that was both good and bad. We needed a visual of him. Soon enough Isaac and Erica were supposed to be here, Derek probably wouldn’t though. 

“Derek definitely isn’t a party person.” I took a long swig out of the bottle. 

“But I was.” I froze, looking over my shoulder. Michael... but how?

“Don’t you remember?” He stepped forward, “Hm? My parties lasted well into the early morning and we always had a good time, didn’t we?” 

“Am I? You wouldn’t know, would you? Because after your little mutt boyfriend clawed my jugular and left me to die, burying me under the dirt, you didn’t check, did you? DID YOU?!” I decided now was the time to run. I don’t know if I was drugged or if he was really there but I wasn’t waiting to find out. My heart felt like it was going a million miles a hour and my eyes burned with tears. This wasn’t like Michael’s apartment, Derek wasn’t outside in the parking lot to save me. Even when I was supposed to be so powerful, why did I still feel so helpless? I found a corner of the warehouse and pressed my back against the cool bricks. Trying to regulate my breathing. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to calm down. 

“You’re dead...” My voice trembled, the water dropping from my hand. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook my head, “Just thought I saw someone.” As a group, we found Scott, going into a secluded area where he showed us the syringe filled with ketamine. Since Scott had to keep the hunter’s at bay, it was Isaac’s job to stick Jackson. 

“(Y/N)?” A soft voice asked. My eyes shot open, seeing Isaac and Erica staring at me.

“Are you okay?” She asked. Letting out a shaky breath, I nodded.  

“Why me?” He asked. 

Scott sighed, “Because I've got to make sure that Argent doesn't completely ruin the plan.” Isaac didn’t look completely convinced, “Okay, look-- you better do it intravenously, which means in the vein. When you find him, you pull back on this plunger right here. In the neck is probably going to be the easiest. So, you find a vein, you jam it in there, and pull back on the trigger. Be careful.” He added intently.

Isaac scoffed, “Oh, I doubt it'll even slightly hurt him.”

“No, I mean you. I don't want you to get hurt.” Scott took off through the crowd to find the Argents. I sent Isaac and Erica off to find Jackson, keeping behind them at a safe distance. I made sure to check all the surroundings as I walked, making sure that Michael didn’t show up again. No, he wouldn’t. He’s dead. Very dead. 

Pain in my side made me wince, squeezing my eyes shut. 

Derek slammed his body into the side of a concrete beam outside the warehouse, keeping Boyd close to him. Hunter’s gunfire ricocheting off the concrete. 

 Gasping, I opened my eyes, looking over in the direction that Isaac and Erica had gone. They had found him. Erica was using her looks and her body, grinding against Jackson’s front. Isaac came up behind her, dancing with the two. 

“Keep your eyes on Isaac and Erica.” Derek’s voice echoed through my head. 

“What about you and Boyd?” 

“We’ll be fine.” I guess that answered that question. As I began walking towards the group, I tensed up. The familiar pain of electricity shocked through my system. But it wasn't’ me who was getting the zap, it was Derek. When I opened my eyes again, Isaac and Erica were on the ground. Jackson still stood there, staring at me with eyes that were solid like stone. 

“You won’t stop me.” He growled in a disembodied voice. Jackson took off quickly. I rushed forward to Erica first, who was breathing erratically. She had this reaction before to Jackson’s venom, it seemed that it triggered her epilepsy. I kneeled down beside her, turning her on her side. 

“Erica.” I said, trying to get her to look at me, “Erica, you need to breathe. Look at me.” Isaac reached out, trying to make a grab for the syringe that had been dropped, but it got kicked away. Isaac struggled through the crowd, trying to grab the syringe. Once Erica’s breathing regulated, I helped her to her feet. 

“Come on, you’re okay.” I said, reassuring her and myself. I watched Isaac finally inject the ketamine into Jackson’s system. In the chaos of the party, no one saw Jackson drop and get dragged away. We followed Isaac into a small room of the main. 

“You get out to Stiles, I need to help Derek.” I ran out the back door, seeing a hunter taking aim at Derek. I roared, knocking the weapon out of his hand and shoving him to the ground. I looked back to see Chris and Gerard staring. I was breathing heavily, fangs poking from my lips. Chris was holding a gun on me, one of my father’s guns. We seemed to have a silent agreement as I ran to reach Derek and Boyd. 

“Why didn’t you shoot?” Gerard glared. 

“It jammed.” Chris said, his voice hardened. 

I found Derek and Boyd’s cover, seeing the blood on their clothes. In the distance, I picked up a voice, one I didn’t recognize. 

"They're going to think it was an accident. Like you had an asthma attack and couldn't get to your inhaler in time. Your school records shows that you have a very severe case." Scott was in trouble, Derek and I shared a look. 

"I think I stopped healing." Boyd swallowed thickly, holding a bleeding wound on his side. 

“The bullets. They're laced with wolfsbane. You gotta go. Take the car.” He handed me the keys to the Camaro. 

“What about you?”

“I have to find Scott. Go. Go!” He shouted, I helped Boyd to his feet, helping him across the parking lot away from the hunters and out of sight. I helped him get inside the backseat and got into the driver’s seat. As I was about to start the engine my blood went cold. 

"Jackson, is that you?" Stiles’ voice. I looked back at Boyd in the rear view mirror. He was in rough shape and needed to get back to the depot. But Stiles.... Goddamit, I hate stupid trolley cart problems. I would hate myself forever if something happened to him but Boyd needed help now. I started the engine and sped out of the parking lot. 

“Boyd? Talk to me, buddy.” I glanced at him. He seemed drowsy, his eyes fluttering shut. 

“Come on, stay with me!” I pressed my foot down on the gas, going well over the speed limit. 

I screeched to a halt outside Deaton’s clinic, the vet was already outside, ushering us both inside. 

“I think you got more wounded on the way.” I huffed, laying Boyd down on the operating table. 

“That’s why I’m always prepared.” He said, grabbing a pair of long pliers and a bottle used for flushing out wounds. 

-

After listening to Boyd scream out for a while, he was finally free of all the mountain ash so he was able to heal himself. I sent him back out to the car to sleep. I decided that in between the chaos, I could ask Deaton about the bottle. 

“That is definitely the spell and it was meant to stick.” He pointed to the lock of my hair inside the bottle, “By adding your hair, it made this spell specific to you in a powerful way.” He handed the bottle back to me, “It’s probably why you haven’t gotten your memories back.” He rolled up his sleeves and started washing his hands. 

I sighed, “Great.” I leaned back against the brick wall, “So there isn’t anything I can do but live like this.”

Deaton looked back over his shoulder and sighed. He turned off the sink and turned around, wiping his hands on a paper towel. 

“The supernatural world works in mysterious ways. You never know, they may come back slowly or all at once.” 

“I’ve gotten bits and pieces. The name of Derek’s mother and a girl I was friends with but that’s not enough. And it’s not just me who’s suffering because of it. I can’t imagine how Derek feels.” 

He for thought a moment, “Maybe he can share some of his memories with you. Werewolves are able to do that, you know. With just the simplest touch.” The door to the clinic brought both of our attention towards the lobby, “We’ll talk later.” We both rushed out to help Derek who was carrying a very unconscious Scott. 

“Wolfsbane gas.” Derek said, laying him down on the operating table. Deaton worked hurriedly, grabbing a gas mask hooked up to an oxygen tank. Eventually, he started breathing again. I let out a smile of relief and brushed his curls off his forehead. 

“Thank you.” Derek said to Deaton. 

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack.” I sat back in a chair beside Derek. Deaton excused himself from the room. Derek was tense and rigid, his emotions running high. I rested my head on his shoulder, hoping my touch would make him breathe a little easier. 

“Erica and Isaac okay?” I asked, looking up at him through my lashes. 

“They’re okay.” 

“And Stiles?” He nodded. 

“I told him to go back home.” He glanced down at me, “I know it was hard for you to leave him there. But I’m sure Boyd is grateful to be alive right now.” He paused, “It was Victoria Argent who attacked Scott.”

“Allison’s mom?”

“I bit her.” The confusion on my face made him elaborate, “She lived through the bite.” For a hunter, the bite was always a death sentence. Whether it killed them, or their group did. 

“I know you did it to save Scott... But something tells me you did it on purpose, as a battle strategy.” 

A small smile pulled at his lips, “That wasn’t my intent. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t good for our side.” 

“Good? Derek, Chris was the only person who was holding back. Now that they have to kill his wife... I don’t think he will follow the code either.” 

He turned to look at me, “Then it’s time we teach you how to fight. Unleash the beast.” 

------------

Read part 18 here!

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[sparkwhorunswithwolves]

“The next day Scott apologizes to Allison, who’s a little bit upset. But hey, Scott’s a werewolf, so I mean, what are you gonna do, say no?”

//

Of all the things that confused me for a long time, among the most confusing was Scott/Posey Stans’ simultaneously held beliefs that Scott McCall would be the bestest werewolf ever and yet somehow remain a toxic human disaster worthy of pity. All the things that make Scott McCall that disaster – his insecurities, his lack of empathy, his bigotry, his hypocrisy, his abusive tendencies and behavior, his possessive instincts – also make him an absolute horror as a werewolf.

How many times did Scott lash out in anger at people he professed to care about just because they didn’t do what he wanted them to do? How many times did Scott lie and conceal important information from others for his own benefit? How many times did Scott’s mother, girlfriends and friends complain about not being able to help if they don’t know? How many times did Scott charge headlong into situations with no plan whatsoever solely focused on fulfilling his own emotional needs? If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have been killed off by the hunters and by Peter Hale after exposing his own kind during one of his jealous fits/dick measuring contests with Jackson in Season 1. If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have hurt Allison and killed Jackson out of jealousy.

Scott knew that becoming a werewolf gave him the power to protect the people he cares about (which includes managing their image of him) and the power to force said protection on them. Teen Wolf S5A and B proved that Scott McCall will lie and manipulate and cheat and gaslight and commit premeditated murder to keep things under his control until he can’t any more; then he’ll explode, whine, throw another one of his self important temper tantrums, and attempt to blame others for his own failures. Why do you think Scott McCall’s body count is higher then the villains’?

Remember how Scott reacted when he found out that Isaac liked Allison? Isaac was a goner the moment he interacted with “HIS” woman. Scott never ever had the slightest hesitation (or any regret) about physically punishing him. Dead man walking. In fact, the only reason Scott stopped abusing Isaac in front of Melissa was because he started preying on the new girl on campus and, quoting Tyler Posey’s own words, “Kira is a good distraction for Scott.”

Perhaps that’s what Scott stans mean when they wax lyrical over how much of an incredible wolf and ‘true alpha’ Scott makes in self-insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction after self insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction: they admire how many innocent people Scott murders and how many abuse victims Scott maims, abuses and violates while working out his delusions of grandeur, pathological jealousy and emotional issues.

Scott McCall had that 10-episode span where he plotted/conspired with Deaton and Gerard Argent against Derek Hale and his Pack behind everyone’s back; which culminated in self proclaimed hero and ruler of Beacon Hills Scott violating Derek’s boundaries, bodily autonomy and consent and committing premeditated attempted murder just because: “He threatened my mom! I had no choice!”

And yet, the Scott McCall defense squad trolls are adamant that Scott immediately flipped an emotional control switch and resolved all his issues. Of course Scott McCall wouldn’t lash out and savagely attack the moment his friends chose to kick his whiny ass to the curb for good or suggested that Scott didn’t have the right to make their decisions for them. Nope! Ice-cold control. Clear loyalties, superior morality and leadership skills. A good, nurturing friend, boyfriend and werewolf and a true blessing to the pack. /sarcasm

While canon shows us that Scott McCall is a flop wolf (even his only beta Liam and his girlfriend Malia called him a failure to his face in Season 5), everything in canon confirms that Stiles Stilinski would make a magnificent werewolf. Born Wolf Peter Hale has always known this – that’s why he offers Stiles the Bite in Season 1 and then shamelessly admits that he NEVER stopped fantasizing about biting/turning Stiles in Season 6.

In conclusion: if Teen Wolf had revolved around the Hale Pack and family and werewolf Stiles and/or Dark Stiles & Void Stiles like viewers wanted, it would have been a better and much more interesting show than whatever Scott/Posey crap-show we got (and it would have lasted longer, too.)

The Teen Wolf writers and producers should have killed Scott McCall off in Season 1 Episode 1 and replaced him with Vernon Boyd or Kira Yukimura instead.

~•~

https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/623259473284399104/another-thing-fandom-claims-a-story-about-the#notes There. Fixed it for you canon and reality wise @ princeescaluswords

---

Ohhh, do I have opinions about… all of those things. So, in no particular order:

Hale pack; Hale pack 2.0; werewolf Stiles; pretty sure I answered Boyd as the MC before; Kira; 

Did I ever actually post that TW would have to deal with fundamentally different themes if Stiles/Allion were bitten instead or did I just go nope NaNo project?

Okay, let’s see, how would a show that actually focused on worldbuilding, werewolf dynamics/culture outside of “I’m the alpha now”, and pack-as-family be more interesting than a show about what is either the most hilariously bad excuse for a Good Guy™, or an unsatisfying good guy turned villain story that didn’t realise that we were actually interested in the character’s lives outside of Scott?

With the Hale pack 2.0, the show would be about rebuilding that, about human and werewolf norms clashing, and finding a middle ground that isn’t “you’ll heal/werewolves made them do it”.

Because TW does have so much potential for all those things, but Scott’s not interested in them unless it directly affects or benefits him; but we never see non-abusive pack dynamics.

And this might just be because I grew up with wolfblood/still haven’t finished the order, but actually seeing that kind of pack bonding/history outside of “let’s save the day” is so much more interesting. 

-

Werewolf!Stiles is interesting, because I can and have seen it both ways with a pretty even split?

(I’ve also answered Stiles saying yes to the bbite at least twice now, and that answer hasn’t changed. Unless it’s time travel. post5a/b Stiles asking Peter or Derek for the bite would be hilarious.)

First off, “Stiles would kill everyone he lies about giving a shit about!1!1!” is absolutely hilarious, given that Scott was the one who tried to kill Stiles, hurt and only didn’t kill Jackson because Derek and Stiles interfered, hurt Isaac, because of “control issues”. But sure, Stiles is the one who would kill everyone on sight. /sarcasm

Okay, so. Stiles wants to be part of this world, does everything he can to learn about it and knows when you can’t do something because werewolves. He has also shown that he’s willing to make sacrifices (skipping the lacrosse game in 1x9(?)/Eichen House in 3b/the relationship with his dad) if it meant keeping people safe, because he knew not doing those things would hurt people more than they could benefit him. 

(Meanwhile we have Scott “being bullied” into playing lacrosse/not caring if The Darkness™ hurt anyone— Isaac or anyone at school/lied to his mom, Allison, Kira constantly. Go figure)

Other than that, I honestly can’t tell how much control I would want canon!Stiles to have. Because with fic, I could go either way, for obvious I need to fixate on something other than adhd and werewolves, please, reasons, but canon? I don’t think perfect control on at least the first full moon is something that's actually possible given, you know, canon. And depending on if you go with Stiles being bitten instead of Scott, it’s not a particularly interesting story. 

But everything in canon suggests that he would be self aware enough to know that, and not go to a party like a certain other person I will not name here. 

-

But that’s one of the main— issues I have with this line of thinking. It’s always how would this compare to Scott. You always outdo the other, when you can’t really compare it in the sense they are both very different people, who are going to handle the same situation very differently. Scott’s go to response when Shit Happens is to avoid it for as long as possible by distracting himself with school/lacrosse/gf of the season; while, despite for that throwaway line, Stiles always needs to be there— he researches werewolves, stalks Theo, helps the Hales. 

As I said before, neither is the most thought out or safe option, both are a normal response, but you can’t— It’s hard to compare them because Scott got bitten “because of” Stiles, and didn’t have any how to werewolf 101 he really listened to. While with Stiles it’s either a) him getting “himself” bitten that night and being excited about it, b) him wanting the bite, knowing what to expect, with a lot less trauma, c) getting bitten without consent but with that understanding of what is happening. 

-

Now, Kira’s story is something I would pay good money to actually see done right. Because can you imagine of they did kill off Scott in 3a, and Kira had to navigate a) BH’s drama, b) coming into her own powers, c) actually dealing with not being fucking told about that, and d) not being fucking lied to end just getting yeeted into the desert?

[anxiousstark]

S2 05 | Venomous

BIG MASTERLIST | TW REWRITE

Stiles Stilinski x Reader! Half-sibling!Mccall

Word count: 2305

Warnings: Mentions of injuries, murder, swearing (always).

↪ PLEASE RESPECT MY WORK. DON’T COPY, TRANSLATE OR CLAIM THEM AS YOURS. NOT ON THIS WEBSITE OR ANOTHER. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.

"All right, I only found one thing online called a kanima. It's a werejaguar from South America that goes after murderers." Stiles grabbed his backpack with one hand while the three of us left class.

"That thing was not a jaguar."

"Yeah, and I'm not exactly a murderer." I chuckled as Stiles threw his hands in the air.

"Yeah, but you did see it kill somebody, which is probably why it tried to kill you. And it's still trying to kill you, and it probably won't stop until you're dead." Scott gazed at me. "Especially, not until she is dead." Thank you for the reminder, dear Scotty.

"You know, sometimes I really begin to question this 'friendship."

"Hey guys," I stopped walking, both of them doing the same thing, peering at me. "I will catch you in the next class. I need to talk to someone." I glanced at Jackson who was resting his side against the lockers, talking to Danny.

"Are you sure?" The Hazel-eyed boy questioned after he followed my gaze. "Do you want me to go with you? Because last time he-"

"It's okay," My hand rested on his right arm, rubbing my finger through his shirt. "Jackson is acting suspicious, more than normal. He has been talking to this guy from class." Both boys waited for me to continue talking. "He asked that boy for his camera, to record himself at night."

"How did you get that information?"

"At the lacrosse game the other night, he started talking and didn't shut up." I chuckled while rolling my eyes to add a little more of dramatism. "He told me that Jackson gave him back the camera, but it was broken. He didn't give any explanation of what had happened. Just told him to send him the bill, rich boy things I suppose."

"Okay," Scott nodded. "We will head to class, then." His hand grabbed my wrist delicately. "If you need help, let me know." I nodded at him, smiling. Then, I grinned at Stiles, knowing that he didn't feel comfortable with the situation. I didn't either, Jackson was hiding something. Something bigger than me.

I walked to Jackson and Danny, putting a sweet smile on my face. "Hi boys!" Danny winked at me. "Uhm, Jackson I need to talk to you about," I bit my lower lip. "About the swimming class!"

Danny nodded at us, saying he was going back to class. Then, I was left alone with the smirking boy.

"You aren't good at lying." He smirked while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Neither are you, Jackson." The smile disappeared from my face. "What is going on with you? You can't tell me you don't have a little idea of what you are." I mumbled, getting closer to him.

"Do you have any idea of what you are?" He got me there. "There's your answer. I don't either. But I know one thing for sure, Y/N McCall." I hated that last name, it came from someone who probably wouldn't even recognize me if he saw me. "Whatever I am, you are too." I shivered.

"I don't think so." I swallowed. "We might have been scratched by the same thing. But you," I pointed my finger to his chest. "You got scratched by a wolf, and you aren't one." Of course, I did have my suspicions. They only thing we knew for sure was that we weren't werewolves.

"I told you," He glared at me. "Shit going on in your life can affect the bite or scratch. Anxiety and depression can affect the outcome of being scratched by a wolf. You aren't one neither. It means you were also affected by those side effects."

"Flash me," I said. Jackson smirked, getting closer to me. "Your eyes, stupid asshole." I slapped the side of his head.

"I don't know how to do that, but they are yellow." He grabbed his backpack.

"Slit and yellow?" I asked curiously.

"Yes," He started walking away. "Now, if you excuse me I'm going to be a responsible student and go to my class."

I did the same as Jackson, walking to my next class. When I entered, both of my boys were sitting next to Lydia. I was surprised by that as normally Scott would sit with Allison or Stiles, and Stiles would sit with Scott or me. The male McCall made a gesture with his head, Erica and Isaac were sitting behind them. Nice. Derek thought that Lydia was the kanima, but she wasn't. I needed more proof, but I was convinced that the strawberry blonde girl wasn't that beast.

Mr. Harris looked at me. "Grab a seat, McCall." I apologized, doing what he had ordered. "Einstein once said, 'Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.' I myself have encountered infinite stupidity." He put his hand on Stiles's shoulder. The poor boy looked up, pouting. "So to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one. Erica, you take the first station. You'll start with - I didn't ask for volunteers." Most of the boys in the class had their hands up, wishing to be put next to Erica. Horny teenagers. "Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr. McCall. All right, next two."

Allison ended up sitting next to Lydia, Scott next to Erica, Stiles got a random person from class while I got to see next to Isaac Lahey. "If you touch Lydia, I will kill you." I hissed.

"Let me tell you," Isaac looked me up and down while I tried to follow the instructions. He completely ignored my previous words. "You look so beautiful. I can't believe you and Scott share the same daddy." He bit his lower lip. "I could be yours tho." His hand stretched out to touch my hair.

"CHANGE!" We all turned around to stare at Stiles, who had screamed that. He was looking directly at me. "I-I mean, Mr. Harris is time to c-change, right?"

"That's my job, Stilisnki." He glared at him. "Switch."

Now I was sitting next to Allison. "You okay?" I ask while helping her mix whatever we were mixing.

"Are you asking because that bitch put her hand on Scott's thigh." She smiled while gritting her teeth.

"Scott doesn't feel anything for her," I affirmed. "He is a puppy in love with you, Al." She smiled while I used her new nickname. We both continued following Mr. Harris's instructions. Then, I heard Stiles's voice who was sitting in front of me.

"If you harm one perfect (h/c) hair on her head, I'm gonna turn your little werewolf ass into a fur coat and give it to her as a birthday present." His hands moved rapidly, trying to match the instructions given by Mr. Harris. "Actually no, I wouldn't because she doesn't wear clothes that make use of animals to sell more, but that doesn't matter, I will still kill you."

"Mmmh seems like she could kill me with her hands." He was trying to get Stiles even madder. "She told me she would kill me if I touched Lydia." He smirked. "You have a crush on Lydia, right?"

Stiles shook his head, looking up, meeting Isaac's gaze. "Don't touch any of those girls."

"Listen, Stiles," He touched his nose, sniffing. "I could help you get Lydia, and then Y/N will be fully available for me. I told her she was beautiful, and she ignored me." Stiles smiled proudly. "I told her I couldn't believe that Scott and she shared the same fucking dad." He got closer to his ear. "I told her I could be her daddy."

The Hazel eyed boy bit his lower lip, trying to control his rage. "Mm, unrequited love's a bitch. Maybe you should write about it in English class, you know? Channel all that negative energy."

"Nah, I was thinking I'd channel it into killing her. I'm not very good at writing."

Mr. Harris touched the bell. "And switch!" I moved, sitting next to Erica now. Fuck my life. Stiles didn't move from his seat, which made Mr. Harris hit him with a ruler.

"Aw, that must hurt," Erica smirked while resting her head on her hand. "You seem mad, babygirl." She peered at me, still smiling. "I didn't touch your boy this time. I touched Allison's."

I smiled at her. "True, you didn't touch my boy, so I'm going to let this pass. Next time you touch anyone close to me, you are a dead werewolf, Erica. And tell Derek that if he dares touch, Lydia, I will kill him myself. I won't hesitate." I continued grinning. "I won't hesitate to discover what the fuck I am while I kill the three of you slowly, Erica."

"Seems like you are quite similar to your mom." She grinned. "Must feel like shit when your mom was a murderer."

"You and my mother have something in common then," I replied while swallowing, a knot had formed in my throat. "You both murder innocent people."

"Time. If you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal. Now for the part of that last experiment, I'm sure you'll all enjoy - You can eat it." My eyes went to Scott to see that he was deeply studying Lydia and Isaac. Lahey has offered the crystal to Lydia, a thick liquid falling from it.

I rubbed my eyes, feeling frustrated. I couldn't help them. I couldn't entirely help them without knowing what creature was I. I yelled inside my head due to the frustration I felt. Next thing I know, the window next to Lydia shattered, the crystal fell to the floor due to the shock. The pieces of the window didn't hurt Lydia at all, but they hurt Isaac.

Scott looked back at me, mouth wide open. I did that?

After class, we parted ways. Scott went to 'talk' to Boyd and Derek to the lacrosse field, Allison went to talk to Lydia's psychiatric after she found out that she could be able to read whatever language the bestiary was in. Meanwhile, Stiles and I accompanied Lydia to the library, scared to leave her alone.

After that, we all reunited except Scott.

"If we're doing a study group, why didn't we just stay in the library?"

"Because we're meeting up with somebody else." His hand sometimes touched Lydia's arm, which made my heart ache for some unknown reason. He was just protecting her.

"Hmm, well, why don't they just meet us in the library?"

"Oh, that would've been a great idea. Too late."

"Okay, hold on-"

"Lydia, shut up and walk." I didn't like the idea of Jackson coming. Nobody was listening to me, Lydia wasn't the kanima. They wanted to protect her in case Derek would get a hold of her, but we needed to do other things, like discover who the fuck was the kanima. Even though, I had some ideas.

We got into Stiles's jeep, and when we arrived at his house, he closed the door, locking it and lying to Lydia, letting her know that there were some robberies on the neighborhood and a fricking murder. Great idea, Stiles.

When Jackson told Lydia that he wanted to talk to her, just the two of them, I didn't like that. But it was the perfect moment to tell Allison and Stiles about Jackson. "Guys listen," I started. "I think I know who the ka-"

I was interrupted when Allison noticed that Derek and the other were outside the house, ready to attack. She called Scott with Stiles's phone. "It's me." She was neurotic, like all of us. But they had to listen to me. "You need to get here now. Right now." When she hanged up, I tried to talk again.

"What are you doing?" I was interrupted by Stiles, who looked at Allison.

"I think...I think I have to call my dad."

"No, but if he finds you here - you and Scott -"

"I know. But what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, okay? They're here to kill Lydia."

"Guys, there's no need in calling your dad, Allison." I raised my voice. "I know who-" I was interrupted, again. Allison was thrown to one side of the room, while Stiles to the other.

I hissed at the person, he turned around, flashing his eyes. Isaac Lahey. "Allison!" I yelled while keeping my eyes on Lahey. "Take care of Stiles!"

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to get the Kanima."

I went into some rooms, trying to find anything that would help me find the kanima. One of the windows inside a room had some sticky fluid, which meant the kanima was there. I went out of the window, thankful that Coach had made us climb rock walls.

"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" I heard Lydia's voice, which meant that they were outside the house.

The kanima looked at me, trying to get away. "Jackson!" It turned around to look at me, he hissed. I groaned. Then, he jumped, pushing me down. I closed my eyes tightly, knowing that my body would hit the ground. Thankfully, I was caught my Stiles, more or less. I ended up on top of him, both of us on the ground. I panted looking around.

"Are you okay?" Scott ignored Derek while coming closer.

"I've been trying to say it all day." I gasped. Stiles sat down, I was still sitting on his lap. "It's Jackson. The Kanima it's Jackson."

What does that make me?

.

.

TAGLIST: @og-baby-ob14 - @savemypostcards - @cas-loves-pizza - @used-avocado - @mvrylee - @bilesxbilinskixlahey - @honeydoll-stark - @arieltheworldisamess - @softpeteparker - @kit-kat-katie99 - @thatsuperherosidekick - @bexbetterxthanxwords - @big-galaxy-chaos - @littlemiss-forgotten - @enchantedcruelsummer - @coldfreakeggsexpert - @merla123 - @sammypotato67 - @weirdowithnobeardo - @maggiesblogsblog - @itskindyl - @bobo-bush - @moongoddesskiana - @multifandxm353 - @irwxnhugsx - @xoprincessmel - @iclosetgeek - @andreagf956 - @niawoods - @anerroroccurrrrred - @perrytheplatypus11 - @trustfundparker - @nmriia - @steve-harringtonnn - @trustfundparker -

People in bold means it doesn’t let me tag them.

[lifebeginsbyleaving]

Everything but the kitchen table

The Hale house holds so much pain from the past for Derek, but it also holds so much potential for the future. Is he willing to let go of the charred remains in order to open the door and see it rebuilt? And what if all that pain and guilt is the only thing keeping him from the one thing he always gets lead back to. Is he really ashes in the ground or will Stiles be able to show him that he's a phoenix only in need of a spark?

This is part two to Totem poleing through the woods 101. This is also for sterek week 2019 the prompt movie night, but it kinda got away from me.

Derek heard something faintly coming down the driveway, so he turned his blaring music down. He was surprised to hear the old jeep rattling quite close to the house. Stiles was on bed rest for at least another week. The pack had been taking turns keeping him occupied during the days, and everyone found out quickly, operation 'keep Stiles off his sprained ankle' was no fun. Issac still will not speak of the day he ran out of adderall because he forgot to call the pharmacy. It was only two before the sheriff could run them his back up he kept at his office, but Isaac still gets a look of horror if you say 'I'm bored'.

It wasn't Derek's turn for a couple more days and Stiles wasn't supposed to be driving.

Derek quickly took off his dust mask, goggles, and dropped his sledgehammer while he heard squeaky breaks and gravel flying.

Derek took the steps two at a time, but by the time he opened the door Stiles was already out of his jeep and leaning against it.

"Oh haei erig. Ow es et oing?"

"What are you doing here? What have I said? Wait for help stupid!"

Stiles glared, and considering he was carrying a giant bag, filled with curly fries and burgers by stuffing it in his mouth, it lost some of its intended harshness. "Ood. I ough fouud."

Derek took the slightly slobbery bag of food out of Stiles' mouth.

"Ahh thanks man." Stiles, with one hand, kept stuffing things into a duffel bag that some how exploded mid drive, the other he used to keep his nonexistent balance.

"I'm not sure if whatever you just tried to pass off as words were words, but if they were, was it the answer to my question?"

Stiles stilled his shoving. "Derek it is too early in the morning for you to be confusing me like that. That was too many Ws for eight in the morning on a Saturday."

Derek rubbed his face in annoyance. "Stiles. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He gestured wildly except for 'you' he pointed at Stiles and for 'here' he pointed at the ground.

"And like I said before, Rude! I brought food." Stiles resumed his one handed shoving.

"Okay so you came over here to bring food, for yourself, to eat in front of me?"

Stiles looked offended. "I, unlike you! Have manners. I brought your favorite."

Derek rolled his eyes. "That is from a burger place on the edge of town. We've never been there together, and the teens that work there get cranky when you order more than seven burgers, so we don't do it for pack night. You don't know my favorite."

"Double cheese burger, no pickles, no mustard, extra onions, and ranch to dip it in. You heathen. Large vanilla shake with a medium regular fry. Bitch."

Derek looked stunned. "How do you possibly know that? We've neve-"

"I'm magic."

Derek gave him the 'oh yeah and I'm the king of leather jackets' eyebrows.

Looking back he didn't know why he named them that, he is the king of leather jackets. Hot damn.

"Erica mentioned it once. The no pickles thing really makes her distrust you, me, I'm more concerned about the ranch thing." Stiles finally finished packing and put the bag over his shoulder. He tried reaching his crutch in the back, but it had shifted in the drive. He couldn't quite reach it. Derek opened the back door and as Stiles' fingertips barely grazed it Derek pulled it out and brought it up to him.

"I had it. But thank you."

He propped himself up with the crutch, then he started looking for his phone which disappeared.

"Alright. Okay, off track. Why did you come to eat here? Why did you leave? You aren't supposed to be driving. I told you if you needed anything to text! I would've brought you food. Wait who was with you today?!"

"Here's the thing, I know your order and you don't know mine. Because you're a selfish prick that doesn't care about me." Stiles stuck out his bottom lip.

"Oh shut up Mr. Two large curly fries, diet coke, and bacon cheese burger! And I don't need you here if you'r- wait... Uggh, Stiles! You did that on purpose. You're trying to distract me, or trick me. You tried to make me angry on purpose!"

Stiles looked back up at him from where he was bent over to look under the seat. "Making the other angry is a defining characteristic of our relationship." He turned back. "And I don't see wh-"

"I want to know who you conned to get here, and I want it to be the next thing out of your mouth."

Derek could smell that Stiles was uncomfortable before he sighed and began speaking. "It was supposed to be my dad, but his days off don't always go as planned. Since he could be called in, Scott was on standby. So my dad Facebook messaged him, don't even ask why he won't text, and Scott still has all of his passwords as Allison soooo..." Stiles had been searching for an obviously not under that seat phone, conveniently crouched in a place Derek couldn't see his face.

"You logged on, pretended to be him, and deleted the messages to play Bueller. That still doesn't explain why you're here, this isn't the sears tower."

"Actually the dad not texting story is pretty funn-"

"Stiles!"

He leaned up quickly. "Fine! Okay. I just couldn't handle being in that house anymore it was driving me crazy. And I know they were only trying to help, but the pack babysitting me got on my nerves. I have a sprain, I didn't loose the bottom half of my body. And you're the only one that doesn't make me feel like I'm broken. I mean, you worry more than my father does, but you still let me do what I can without letting me do what I can't. Or letting me convince you I can actually do it."

Stiles scratched the back of his head. "And I knew you would start here today, so I wanted to be here. For you. You shouldn't be alone for this. So I came to listen, or to talk. Whatever you need. Whatever you want. If you want. I mean you might not want me to, but too bad. I'm here now. And I brought movies."

Derek took a deep breath. "Okay. Fine."

Derek paused in a defeated silence.

"Is that why there's a blow up mattress strapped to your roof?"

"I figured you still wouldn't have power yet, and I didn't think you would let me use the generator for it." He would have.

"Right. Do I even want to know how you got that up there?"

"No, not really."

"Okay. Inside."

Three mission impossibles later, Derek knew why it took Stiles so long to repack it, and why it looked so full. His old living room, and the air mattress that occupied it, was covered with stuff. There was candy all over, half eaten bags of chips scattered, and cords running from a battery bank to his computer and phone. Not to mention the surplus of blankets, sleeping bags, and quilts he must've mugged an old lady for that wrapped him in multiple layers like a mummy.

It was starting to get late and he was sweaty and dirty from the dust and work of knocking down the ruined walls of the left side of the house.

This was only the beginning of a long process, but Derek did feel like it was starting to heal him. The first few days after they got back from the woods that night, Derek watched over him and took the pain Stiles insisted was nothing. Even though he knew Stiles was joking when he said it was Derek's fault, he still knew Stiles wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't for him. He went out there for him to make sure he was okay, so the least Derek could do was stay with him to do the same. To keep him occupied they talked a lot, and Stiles kept bringing up the old Hale house and before the fourth day Derek had a contractor scheduled to come look at it by the next Thursday. Stiles had said something that had stuck with him and he couldn't sleep without it nagging him so much he had eventually called. The next day Stiles handed him papers on where to rent equipment and an industrial sized dumpster without Derek even saying anything and his words rang in his head once again.

'It's only closure if you're really closing something off. I don't think you ever really had closure with that house, because that book hasn't ended yet. Maybe the chapter did, but I don't think you're ready for it to be the end of the Hales. Are you ready to close that book when Cora or your pack could help you carry it on? They could be your future. Hell even Peter could. Derek, do you really want that to be where your story ends, or are you just too scared that looking at the next page is going to hurt knowing what isn't going to be written there. Who won't be there. Maybe you have to let go of them to hold on to who you have, and even what you could have. If you want it."

Stiles was right. He had been holding onto burning corpses for so long he forgot how to hold anything else. His hands were either too sensitive from the healing that it hurt him to hold on, or he chased people away with the callouses of scarred, harsh skin.

Stiles understood him in a way only his family ever had. Derek forgot what it like to trust someone to have your back and be able to take care of themselves before Stiles kept getting thrown in his path.

There was a small nagging part of him that thought maybe that made Stiles his, that maybe he had been resisting all this time for nothing. If he was being honest he had thought Stiles had been his the moment he jumped in that pool, but he needed to be sure.

Stiles was right he wanted to rebuild his future, he'd yearned for it for a long time, but he had to make sure it was the right one and that he had the right people. He had thought he was building something with people that only ever tore him down, so he was cautious. Maybe slightly over cautious, but the pack, his pack was involved.

He wouldn't trust the wrong person twice. Stiles wouldn't hurt him, but his past was like an old wound pulling his shoulder tight as his arms tried to reach out. It felt like a warning, reminder, and punishment all at the same time. Even as he tried to push the paranoia down he had to be sure. He wouldn't let silence fall on his pack again, even if he'd never been more sure of anything.

"Are you seriously starting the fourth one? Turn that off. I'm going to drive you home."

Stiles' eyes blinked rapidly to adjust from the computer screen to the dark. "Derek. Whoa! When did it get so dark?"

"It's like eight thirty. Get ready."

Stiles took a moment to focus. "No. I told dad I was staying at Scott's overnight, because it's too much moving to do just for a day. Plus he knows our gaming nights are always overnighters and most likely the whole weekend."

"Alright fine. You can come to the loft." Derek started gathering the duffel bag back together.

"No. I want to stay here."

"Stiles I'm not letting you stay here. It's cold, unprotected, and you're hurt."

"Well too bad it's not up to you. A shame really." He smoothed the blankets out on top of himself to prove his point, the little shit.

"I'm not letting you stay in this house yet. It's a disaster, it's not fit to stay in."

Stiles looked up defiantly. "This house is wonderful. I'm not going to get cold. The minute I got settled you boarded off this entire room to keep the heat from the heater in. It's not cold. Besides I came prepared, you are looking at every blanket in the Stilinski house except my dad's comforter. It's not unprotected, you're here, and so fucking what if I'm hurt? And what do you mean not fit to stay in? You stayed here! I mean I know it was a part of your holy self flagellation crusade to punish yourself, but you're still kickin so it must be okay. I'm staying here, are you?"

Derek sighed deeply, that was his 'I'm not changing my mind and you'll have to listen to me' voice. It sounded a lot like his regular voice to him. "Fine, but I get the big blue fluffy sleeping bag if I'm sleeping on the cold floor." Derek moved to grab the end of it to pull it from Stiles like a magician would a table cloth.

"Ah uh." Stiles shook his head them lifted the top corner of the layers of blankets. "I said it wasn't cold, not that it was warm. Come on, super heat please."

Derek internally debated till he saw Stiles start to lower the covers. "Fine. Only because your scrawny ass would freeze, and your dad has multiple guns."

"Atta boy."

This wasn't a couch, but with Stiles falling asleep next to him he easily imagined this happening more just like he had imagined that night in the woods. No matter how much of Stiles he got he always wanted more.

They watched a few more movies before Stiles' battery bank ran out and they both were tired. They both had seen them before so they talked throughout them about how the contractor said the only part that has to be completely demolished and rebuilt was the left side of the house which he was currently working on, what the next steps were, and they argued about whether or not Stiles would be staying tomorrow to watch more movies and occasionally shout, 'Oh nice one. I felt the walls rattle over here.' and 'Derek this is a good part!' while eating snacks.

He would be.

As they settled to go to sleep in the darkness Derek spoke, "Thank you. For today. The burger, the company, and the movies. I needed it and I didn't even know it, but you did. So thanks."

Derek heard Stiles's pillow rustle and he knew Stiles was looking where his human eyes thought his face was. It was oddly sweet that even now he wanted to show he was being sincere. "I'll always be here Derek."

There was a silence, then his pillow rustled again. "I'm like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, I'll stick around till you scrape me off."

Derek smiled into the darkness. "Goodnight gum eternally stuck to the bottom of my shoe."

"Goodnight inconvenient shoe that stole me from my sidewalk."

There was another pause.

"Good night Derek."

Derek's smile turned from amused to loving even if no one saw. "Goodnight Stiles."

Derek fell asleep with the soothing rhythm of Stiles' heartbeat and the pattern of his breathing in his ears.

Derek awoke from his slumber sensing danger. He half shifted and looked out with red eyes about to spring up. He searched his side of the room before turning and looking over Stiles.

His eyes caught a raccoon across the room that must've been used to this place being abandoned. It was snacking on a half eaten granola bar Stiles left out. Stiles turned in his sleep and drew the attention of the raccoon. It's beady little eyes were looking right at Stiles' sleeping face. Derek didn't like it. He pulled Stiles to his chest while growling with once again red eyes. Derek couldn't tell if the territorial tone of his growl was restaking his claim on the Hale property, or telling the raccoon to keep his grubby little paws off his Stiles. Either way it got the message, scampering away with the granola bar and snagging a bag of chips on his run out.

"Derek!"

Derek had just finished clearing out the charred remains of one of his cousins rooms and the dust was clouding his eyes and blurring them, even through his goggles, when he heard the shout. He made his way back to the room Stiles was in.

Stiles had called him at least a dozen times and Derek had come in to take breaks and catch parts of the movies when he got too tired or overwhelmed. Each time he would get whatever the other needed, and then each time Stiles would say what he needed to hear.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where my sour cream and onion chips are?"

Derek fought a grin. "By now? Eaten probably."

"I knew it! You ate my chips, you know they're my favorite! You bastard!"

"Second favorite, and I don't like sour cream and onion chips."

"Well then who took them? I bet you've been lying this whole time, so the pack trusts you and then bam! You steal their snacks. You fiend!"

Derek deadpanned. "Drats I've been caught. I've been lying this whole time to steal chips I could just buy myself."

"Seriously Derek I can't find them."

"I'll get you more. I have to go get some stuff for dinner anyway."

The theft was forgotten. "Will you get chicken fajitas?"

Derek nodded from where he was putting his mask back on. "Yeah I'll get some extra too, so you can take some for your dad tomorrow."

Stiles was taken aback by just how much that meant to him. Derek had sent Melissa flowers after she patched him up once and he sent all the cats of the little old ladies that seemed drawn to him and wouldn't stop talking about how worried about mister snuffles they were, over to Deaton to get them to stop talking, but this was him going out of his way to take care of his father. That meant the world to Stiles. It also didn't go unnoticed that Derek didn't put up a fight about Stiles staying again. He felt overwhelmed by all the feelings and the hope building in his chest.

"I love you."

Derek froze in his path back to the room he was working on.

"Shit no I- I meant thank you! Thank you that was very sweet."

Stiles noticed his tense shoulders slump.

"Yeah no problem." Derek resumed his path back towards the steps.

Oh fuck Stiles didn't mean to do that either. He basically said I love you then took it back. Shit. He couldn't let Derek misunderstand him.

"I do though."

Derek's arm stilled on the banister.

"I do love you." Even with the annoying dust mask blocking his view he could tell Derek was slightly smiling while he nodded softly. "You are a great alpha, a great friend, an-" Stiles hesitated for a moment that gave away what they both wished he could say next. "And a great contractor so go up there and show those walls who's boss!"

Stiles stayed the night again and watched the entire Bourne series. Derek caught the last two and they argued about their differing opinions about Jeremy Renner's acting choices. They both tried to pretend this wasn't going to become a thing.

Derek woke up wrapped around Stiles again and he couldn't possibly imagine how he thought he'd be strong enough to resist this.

After packing up his stuff Derek drove him back with the leftovers. He tried carrying Stiles up the steps, but that was met with threats of shoving a crutch somewhere it should not be. They did laugh again after Stiles said he wasn't two. Derek swore he could listen to that laugh forever and he could happily spend the rest of his life trying to cause it.

They didn't speak again until it was Derek's day. Then it was like the floodgates of planning opened.

Stiles told Derek he was bored and had nothing to do so he researched rebuilding houses and everything they needed to know. Which was a lot. He did have Derek fill in some holes though. How long do you want this to take was met with, I want the house ready as soon as possible, but there is no deadline. His various questions about the type of contractors  he wanted were more in depth. Then, when Stiles asked what the budget was Derek said I wasn't an issue. Stiles insisted he needed at least a guess estimate. Derek blankly told him he had five point five million dollars worth of life and homeowners insurance policies to cash in and if that wasn't enough he could get more. The way he said it told Stiles he hadn't touched the money yet, but he wanted as much of it used for this as possible.

Stiles swiftly moved on to showing Derek other things he had planned, like maybe a game room/den. There was something scribbled out next to it and Derek tried really hard to pretend he didn't read playroom with question marks by it, but he did and he was sure the next time he dreamed about Stiles they would have a little three year old in a room surrounded by toys.

Stiles was thorough, he said he was already planning the movie schedule. He outlined what movies would go best with which tasks. He even color coded how enjoyable the tasks would be to determine how great the movies had to be each day.

Derek was overwhelmed with just how much thought he had put into it, and how close this was to perfect. How close this was to Stiles and him building a home and future, together, for their pack. How close, 'You should do this.' was to, 'We should do this.' How close 'It's your house man.' was to, 'It's my house too babe!' This was the 'Hey I want one of the rooms right next door to yours.' kind of close, and Derek wanted nothing more than to just close that distance.

He snapped back to reality when Stiles showed him something about the plans.

"Why do the movies drop down to only two after two weekends?"

"Well I figure we'll be too tired to stay up for more than that, and I, unlike you, am not okay with just listening to movies even if I have seen them before."

"Why wouldn't you be able to watch them?"

Stiles looked at him like he was stupid. "Because I'll be helping. By then my leg will be healed completely."

Derek hadn't thought about his leg being healed. He was more disoriented than when wolf's bane was blown into his face.

He thought he was just coming over to get away from everyone else, once his leg was fine he didn't expect him to come back. He thought Stiles was just bored like he said, but he actually wanted to be involved. Stiles wanted to build a house with him. Stiles was in this for the long haul, and that meant something entirely different. Stiles was going to help him build a house. A house for his pack. He was stunned into silence as Stiles rambled for the rest of the day about plans. He couldn't imagine anything he wanted more than to hear Stiles talk about their future.

Stiles was a sweaty panting mess. There was dust covering him head to toe. He could barely get out his words. "I'm- I'm gonna ta- take a break. Water. Go and find water." Stiles pointed over his shoulder as he spoke like Derek needed a clue as to where he was going to find a water bottle.

Even down stairs he could still here him panting. Knowing he wasn't going to get any work done without maiming himself he went to take a break too.

When he walked into the room Stiles instantly smirked.

"What?"

Stiles didn't reply he just put both of his hands high into the air pointed towards Derek and made a grabby motion. Derek looked confused as he came closer. His hands moved to keep aimed at his head and Derek leaned his head down towards Stiles. He was still surprised when he felt fingers thread into his hair, then ruffle his hair.

"You looked like an old man with how much dust was in your hair."

He leaned up to catch sight of Stiles smirk.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Stiles threw him a water bottle.

"We could make today a half day, go get some lunch. You sound pretty tired. How bout we call it a day? You're human and still healing."

Stiles nodded as he swallowed a big gulp. "Yeah, I was thinking about that, what if we had more nonhuman muscle? And shut up I'm healed just fine."

"You mean the pack?"

"No, I was thinking of harnessing the workforce of the legion of dwarfs hidden in the forest."

"Oh I heard they unionized. Dang huh."

Stiles threw his hands up in disbelief. "Well, there goes that plan. I guess we could see if the pack is busy... If that's okay with you. It's totally fine if not, but we could use the help and I think they should be a part of this." Stiles tried to seem nonchalant, but he knew what he looked like when he was analyzing someone.

Derek wasn't wrong before, because he could never have imagined how great Stiles wanting to build a future with him and his pack was. "You'll have to factor them into your plan."

"I made two."

Derek nodded. "Okay. I think they should be here too."

"Great! Let's get back to work." Stiles jumped up with a surprising vigor.

Derek only rose an eyebrow and smirked at Stiles as he heard vehicles approaching a half hour later.

"What?"

"You brought your dad's extra sledgehammer in case one broke, huh?"

"I believe I said, 'Just in case one breaks, or something.' Consider this or something."

"What if I would've said no?"

"I knew you wouldn't."

"No you didn't."

Stiles rolled his eyes, then met Derek with a look so intense, even through two pairs of ridiculous goggles, he believed him when he spoke. "Yes I did."

That weekend the pack knocked down the rest of the scorched walls and watched Indiana Jones. The pack found some extra rope lying around and dared Jackson to use it as a whip and swing from a tree like Indy. When the rope slipped from the tree Stiles laughed as hard as Isaac did when Scott took down a walk by bursting through it like the kool-aid man. Everyone was in awe as Erica effortlessly used it to land perfectly on a branch, after tying a small log to the end. Stiles shouted that's my catwoman before everyone was yelled at to get back to work.

The pattern Stiles set was Derek was to work through the week and then the pack would help Friday nights till Sunday and watching movies after each day.

The next week they spent the entire time planning while watching the Ocean's movies, and were stunned to find out Lydia had taken an online introductory college course into architecture and structural support in freshman year.

"Wait, how? You had a full course load already."

"Well, technically Natalie Martin has the credit, but I was bored and I like mathematically correct buildings."

The rest of the weekend was filled with pizza, movies, and Lydia Martin looking at them like aliens for suggesting moving windows. She proved her genius status though, because as they argued back and forth she put together a beautiful plan that made everyone happy.

The first floor changes started as soon as you walk in the door, the mudroom was requested by Derek so they didn't track in as much dirt, and knowing them, eventually blood. As you looked straight the big set of stairs were going to be there. To the right was a living room that led into a large open concept kitchen, with a pantry tucked under the tall stairs. To the right on the other side after you walked into the front door, led into a library/ pack meeting room, with a bathroom tucked by the corner of the room and the stairs. From the library through elegant French doors was the dining room, right where the original was. Something Derek insisted on going into the plan. Off the dining room was an office sharing a wall with the pantry, also under the stairs.

The stairs to the second floor would lead up to a broad picture window to let in light, which was Allison's idea. There was a hallway in the shape of a lower case n, which the stairs were in the top part. Down the left side of the hall there were to be two bedrooms that shared a Jack and Jill bathroom. Going around the banister of the stairs the master bedroom was in the empty middle part of the n, which had an en suite. The right side mirrored the left in all except in the corner just as you turn right coming up the stairs the spiral stairs from Derek's loft were going there.

Something Stiles had fought them all for and ultimately used a pack decision veto for. Lydia said they were stupid which made Stiles scoff and go off about how cool they were. Malia and Cora agreed, but Boyd brought up they could be dangerous if there ever were any little kids, which brought a pause when all the couples looked at each other. Isaac then said they could wrap them in bubble wrap, with that the awkward pause was quickly pushed past.

Up and around the stairs on the right side of the house led to the same as below them, but in the middle instead of space for a large grand stairway and a master bedroom there was a regular sized bedroom and closest to the stairs a den. The den didn't have doors, just two entryways that led right through it to the other side of bedrooms and their bathroom. Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Scott all thought that was stupid that there was no other way to get to the other bedrooms besides through the den, but were eventually overruled. The fact that that's where the gaming consoles would go had nothing to do with their opinion, even if it was brought up right before they took issue.

The basement was accessible by a door in the side of the stairs on the first floor and had a laundry room, but there were no further plans for it just yet and no one commented.

All of the ten bedrooms were on the upper two levels. However, after fights broke out Derek made it very clear that no decisions about who got what room were to be made till the house was further along, even if by Sunday everyone would call unofficial dibs on a room. Since no rooms were for sure they decided to wait on figuring out decoration and paints, one thing at a time.

With the plans made Stiles went to the station on Monday and brought his father a horrendously greasy burger and side of fries which he snatched and pointed an accusing finger.

"What did you do? If there's a body I don't want to know where it is, just that you've taken care of it."

Stiles out his hands up placatingly. "Whoa, whoa! Pops I would never, ever, and I mean ever, tell you if I did kill someone."

He squinted his eyes and his mouth gaped a little. "That's a great comfort Stiles. I can feel my blood pressure lowering. Seriously though son... do I need to go get a loan to pay somebody off, because the bank clos-"

"Come on, can't a son just come to visit his old man? Who is looking pretty great today. Eh eh? Did you do something different with your hair? It looks great."

"A son can, and even you can. When you bring me something leafy and green and disgusting, but with that burger you're up to something. What is it?"

"Oh yee of little faith. I am merely appreciating my wonderful father. Who loves me very much and wo-"

"Miezyslaw!" He used his authoritative sheriff father tone. Which was scarier than his father tone and his sheriff tone.

Stiles shoulders deflated and he dropped the overly happy face. "I need a small favor, or rather the pack needs one. You know your old friend from school Normand? Lovely old fellow. Would invite you to dinner all the time and to play golf, and-"

"And wouldn't shut up about how many properties he owned and couldn't stop speaking for two seconds, and wouldn't take no for an answer, and wouldn't let me leave for hours?"

"And the one on the committees in charge of planning permission and building permits."

He sighed. "No. Whatever it is no. It took me a year to slowly phase him out of talking to me. A year! He doesn't get a hint. I'm not putting up with him again."

Stiles slumped into his chair and looked utterly dejected. "Okay fine. It's no problem, really. It wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just for the pack, that's why it was important to me."

John looked away from Stiles' big sad eyes quickly. He riffled through the bag and it had a large fry and a double bacon cheese burger in it. Looking back up to asking if Stiles really did kill someone was a mistake. Stiles was pointedly not looking at the sheriff with almost teary eyes and a lip pouting out. Damn it.

He knew this con, Stiles pulled it when he was eight. He sat looking sad on the floor until he came over and asked what happened. He had given Scott his bumblebee toy after his parents had a big fight to cheer him up, but now he had nothing to play with besides his hundreds of other toys. Stiles looked at him with little innocent eyes as he told him he was just happy Scott was happy, but he did wish he could've given him the new optimus prime toy instead because it was his favorite and Stiles' was the bumblebee he had given away. It was two weeks later before he realized what happened and it was too late to take the toy back because Stiles had already given it to Scott and lost his. He knew he was going to fall for it again. Damn it.

Lately, sometimes when he looked at his son he didn't even recognize him, but right now with his big brown eyes shining and his pouty lips he looked as much like his mother as he had when he looked at the world with nothing but hope and mischief.

He sighed. "What do you need him for?"

"You know the old Hale house? The one Derek's family tragically died in when he was young?"

He looked at him flatly. "I think I know the one Stiles."

"Okay well recently I convinced Derek to rebuild it, but we hit a road block. Since it was burned down, you know tragically, the committee has the right to seem it unsafe and not worth the time and money to rebuild and force us to tear it down. Buuut they wouldn't know that a bunch of werewolves are rebuilding it, sooooo..."

"It sounds like they might not even do that, and you are very convincing when you want to be. Believe me, I know."

"Buuut daaad once they deem it unsafe we can't overturn it! And Derek has been getting really excited about it. He hasn't said, but I can tell." Stiles' voice got softer. "And I think this is good for him. Finally moving on. I think it's good for all of us. We've had so much going on lately and I think the pack just needs a place that they can be themselves-"

"And a place that isn't mine where they eat all of my food, while blaring back to the future. Friggin werewolves."

"We watched it one time dad. They always appreciated you letting us have pack stuff there. But we do need a bigger place, one where everyone can be safe. It would do us and Derek good being able to be close."

His son's tone betrayed a too personal note when he talked about safety for his liking. "Do you not feel safe here? Do I not allow you to be yourself?"

Stiles looked ashamed. "It's not my safety I'm worried about." Stiles looked away from him. "I couldn't live with myself if- if someone came to the house looking for me an- and they-"

He circled the desk swiftly and folded Stiles into a hug. "Hey, hey. You stop that, I'm supposed to be the one looking out for you. Besides if someone comes looking for trouble I've got an entire clip dipped in wolf's bane waiting in my nightstand for them. Now that I know the truth that is." He said the last bit scolding even as he was scared to death of the world his son was wrapped up in. He wanted nothing more than to yank his son out of it and into safety, but he knew with the people he cared about still in it Stiles would run right back.

Stiles' voice came out muffled and stuffy from where he was pressed against his dad's shoulder. "You did before too. I took it when you were sleeping."

He pulled back and looked at those brown eyes once again, but now the tears were falling and his nose was running.

"You're always taking care of your old man. When and how did you grow up from that scrawny little kid into a strong man that takes care of everybody else?"

Stiles wiped his snot and shrugged. "I just watched you."

And there it was. He was getting worried he'd never see that look of youthful adoration in his eyes again. He pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "Even if I'll never stop, I don't think it's just my job to watch out for you anymore, maybe I should start watching you instead kid."

"Maybe you could start watching after we get the permits. We could use some help once it's time to start working on the basement. I don't- I don't think he should be there. We need the help, I mean I know you've got brittle old man bones bu-"

"Hey!" His hands shot down to Stiles' ribs and as he started tickling Stiles jumped away with a laugh.

They smiled at each other before he spoke. "You wouldn't mind it? Or would they? Having your dad around? Isn't this project a pack thing?"

"I would love to have you there, and so would they. Erica absolutely loves you. It is. You're pack to me so you're pack to them. That's how it works. And if Derek can invite Peter, I sure as hell can invite you."

John looked touched. "I'll get in touch with Normand, don't even worry about it. Tell me the time. I'll be there son."

Stiles smiled at him.

"One last thing. When you say it would do us and Derek good to be close do you mean, like you and him us or you and the pack us?"

Stiles squinted not understanding. "Boooth? It would be good for all of us."

"No son. Look would you be getting your own room?"

"Of course I wou- Oh! Dad no! I won't be moving! I wouldn't leave you by yourself! I'm not go-"

"Gee thanks for making it seen like I'm a two year old that can't fend for myself. That's still not what I meant." He looked uncomfortable as he looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked back up. "Would you be getting a room to yourself... or would you be sharing... with Derek?"

Stiles blinked a few times before he flailed.

The permit took a long four weeks to get approved, so good thing gutting was a long process. They had to take all of the old unusable walls, flooring, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, and insulation out. It was a good thing the house was built with such quality materials otherwise the process would be a doze and build from the ground up. Most of the fire burned hot and fast on the left side, and the right side was only in rough shape because of the smoke and neglect. Still he wanted everything possible, that had ash and burned air in it gone, while keeping as much of the bones as they could.

Gutting was strenuous so they were too tired to watch more than one movie. They watched one movie out of the underworld series, each night they all worked, for three weeks. Except the night they watched the shorts they spent most of the night debating whether or not the movies were offensive or so horrendously inaccurate that it was funny. Either way Stiles spent a good amount of time talking about how hot Michael Sheen was, and is in good omens.

On the fourth weekend there was nothing they could do, so Stiles went home. He spent some quality time with his dad, he complained about the pack and his dad complained about having to talk to Normand.

True to his word after he helped grease the wheels he showed up for adding support to the basement. Although he did decline staying for a movie. That might've been because he saw Stiles grab mean girls, and everyone had been wearing varying shades of pink, even Derek. He saw socks that looked strikingly familiar as he leaned up to hold a beam in the air. He had watched that movie so many times it wasn't even fetch, no thank you.

It was good having his dad there even if he knew with work it wouldn't happen often.

It was just Stiles and Derek now cleaning up.

"So how was today?" He was worried about Derek even if the pack wouldn't let him anywhere near the basement the whole day. He just cut the beams and helped with other things.

"Other than the disturbing fact that my uncle can quote Gretchen Weiners, not bad."

Stiles hip checked him as he went by with handfuls of garbage. "Are you sure? I was worried about it. That wasn't the best way to start off the project."

"Is that why you kept asking the contractor if we could start supporting the building from the bottom up somewhere else other than the basement? It was fine Stiles. Good even. Like he said, 'Kid if you want anything you build to stay up you've got to start at the bottom and support up.' Pretty good advice."

"Okay. Do you want to stay up to watch a different movie?"

"Nah I better get to sleep for tomorrow. You should too, are you staying?"

"Boo you whore. Yeah I think I will. It's too late to drive back now."

The after one weekend of Lydia commandeering movie choice to watch Nicolas Sparks movies, they watched John Mulaney specials the next, while finishing rebuilding the left side of the house's support, foundation, and walls. Even Peter showed up, although Derek cringed when he understood millennial humor better than he did. John shocked everyone when he quoted, 'Eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs.' They stared at him till Stiles explained he really loved when he showed him the Bittenbinder method and then became obsessed.

When the pack finished all the rebuilding of the frame of the left side, they watched both Mary Poppins in celebration. Isaac was ecstatic, because of his giant man crush on Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Allison spoke up after the first one, "We have to have a Julie Andrews marathon. I loved the princess diaries so much I only ate pears for a week. My dad had to cut me off, because I got stomachaches."

"Aww babe that's so cute!"

The dimple fest was as sickening as eating only pears for a week.

"Yes you're both adorable. Shut up. I think we should have a Anne Hathaway marathon, eh batman?"

He smirked. "Of course. She is my favorite."

They watched both of the princess diaries the next Friday night, and Scott and Stiles slid down the blanket covered stairs on the air mattress. Then they stayed up late to watch all three Christian Bale batmans. On Sunday when they were finishing putting the framing for the new walls up and nailing the outer boards to close all the holes in the house with a layer to keep the rain and cold out temporarily, Stiles couldn't stop quoting the movies.

"Stiles I asked for a cola two hours ago." Cora stared in disbelief.

Stiles merely held the soda out and lifted his chin. "A queen is never late, everyone else is simply early."

"More like drama queen." Derek muttered under his breath.

Stiles gasped and then smirked. "But I'm a cute drama queen I make all the other drama queens go rawwwr."

Several quite witty quotes, if Stiles had to say so, later and he could tell he crossed the, 'haha that's funny.' line into, 'I'll kill you if you say anything about pears again.'

"Stiles hand me the nail gun."

"'He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.'" Stiles quoted as he held up a hammer and some nails.

"Stiles this is heavy."

"Dude you're a werewolf. Suck it up. Besides, the air compressor is out of air. It needs a minute, so 'He's the hero Goth-'"

"Swear to god Stilinski if you quote Batman one more time-"

"Don't worry your pretty little head... the eagle has landed for the last time." Stiles dashed out of the house and Jackson after him.

"I swear to god Stilinski I'm gonna nail gun your mouth closed."

"It's a good thing the compres- oof!"

They heard him get tackled to the ground.

"Guys! Help!"

Malia yelled, "Don't break him, we still need him to work. But make sure he can't quote anything else."

"Scott!"

"Sorry bud. Even I get sick of batman."

"Traitor! Derek!" There was a pause. "Come on, you complete me!"

"You know I was considering it, but just for that one you're on your own."

Stiles started laughing hysterically. Through the breathless laughs he tried to speak. "Catwoman! Come help me!"

"Sorry darling, cats come when they feel like it. Not when they're told."

By the time he escaped they looked like they were almost done.

The roof needed to be replaced next to complete the rough dry in before they could start on internal things. Peter apparently drove over to help Derek prep the roof before the weekend, because when they showed up it was ready to be done and Peter was creeping close by. Well, Stiles imagined he showed up out of a ominous cloud of mist and whispered I'm here, but his car was there so it's anybody's guess.

Roofing went horrible. It was three stories up and as soon as Stiles convinced them to let him up he nearly fell off reenacting the scene from avengers went  Thor says, 'You want me to put the hammer down?!' He was then confined to the ground and drink duty. They watched Aristocats and Finding Nemo and Stiles with Erica's help made caramel puffcorn, rice crispies, and crème de la crème à la Edgar at the sheriff's house before bringing it over. Malia said it was just warm milk and Jackson scoffed.

"I'm the leader I'll decide what it is."

Stiles gaped at Jackson. "Seriously!" He flailed. "After all the shit you gave me! You asshole."

Jackson shrugged. "It was always one of my favorites." He looked like he was about to bolt and he wouldn't look anyone in the eyes.

Stiles nodded. "Good choice dude. It's a great movie."

Jackson nodded and he was biting his lip as he looked down.

Derek asked Cora to help him with installing the windows and doors the following week. Stiles was happy for their sibling bonding time, but then once the pack got there on Friday there wasn't much to do. They didn't end up watching any movies. Which disappointed him, but he did blare waving through a window and love is an open door on repeat till Malia threatened to smash his phone. Cora and Derek seemed happier with each other and closer, so Stiles was glad.

They picked a stone grey for siding and a beautiful day to put it up. It was sunny, but with a slight breeze to cool everyone off.

Stiles dad was able to make it. Argent even came, because he had to drop Allison off while her car was in the shop and he decided to stay and help. Stiles thought it was because he felt guilty that the whole reason it had to be rebuilt was his sister. Derek thought he was using it as an opportunity for an olive branch for the sake of his daughter. It was probably both, but Stiles still was impressed that Derek could let an Argent other than Allison back on his territory, even if he was tense every time he saw him. Peter was the same way except Stiles thought his eyes were watching his ass a little more than necessary and with too much appreciation for it to all be suspicion. They were so going to have angry hate sex, Stiles was calling it now.

Stiles made sandwiches, Lydia brought fancy blackberry lemonade that was delicious, Erica made a pasta salad, Derek made an old family calico bean recipe, John brought dessert, and Jackson brought chips and dip.

The day was filled with work, play, and so many laughs they could all get used to peace like this. Stiles was shocked nothing had happened yet.

They were all busy outside with putting up the siding and messing around. Stiles' father came up to him.

"Hey kiddo. Are there other drinks inside?"

"Oh yeah. I'll go grab you something." Stiles started putting what he was doing down.

"No, no. I'll go."

Stiles looked nervously at where Derek was alone in the kitchen. They were still on rocky ground, since he arrested him and Stiles wasn't sure if he blamed Derek for Stiles being involved in a lot of the danger he was. He started to protest again.

"Relax. I'm not going to arrest him... again."

The sheriff stalked into the house with purpose.

"Sir." Derek nodded.

"Derek."

"Soda?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay with Stiles seeing you handing me a soda?"

"He's busy, I'll take my chances."

"So has everything been quiet in town sir?"

"Let's cut the small talk. I'd rather not talk about my job or the weather."

Derek's nerves rose. "Is there something you want to talk about sir?"

"This pack bond thing. How does it work?"

"There's a lot to it, and I think you want to know something specific. Right sir?"

"You being the alpha they protect you right? With their lives?"

"In some packs, yes, but not normally, no. I'm their alpha it's my job to protect them, I care for them, provide."

"Hence the house." John used his hand holding his soda to gesture to the house around them.

"Yes."

"But they do don't they? They protect you with their lives."

"They do."

"Is it because of the pack bond are they forced to?"

"It's a little complicated-"

"It's a simple question Derek, are you using these kids as human shields or not?"

Derek looked startled. "I-I um." Derek let out a breath and nodded his head while looking apologetic. "Yeah I guess I was. In the beginning when I just wanted power to protect myself, but they changed me. When you're bitten the alpha that bit you can force you to obey him, but if you choose an alpha willingly it has to be because you feel they are worth protecting, worth dying for."

Derek looked out at everyone.

"I don't think I'm worth any of their lives, hell not even all of them put together. I just want to protect them, to me they are worth dying for. Every last one of them chose to be in my pack, I still don't know why, but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to them. I'm not living through that again." Derek spoke every word with conviction and emotion.

"And does that go for all of them? Do you have the bond with the humans? Can you force them to do what you say too?"

"The lore isn't clear how the pack bond translates to humans. Some people say yes, some say no. I don't think I could force Lydia, Allison, or Stiles to do whatever I said even if they were my betas."

"Is it different because Stiles is a witch?" He waggled his fingers.

"He's a spark. And no. He's more human than wolf so that doesn't effect it."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, what do you feel? Would you protect them like the rest of your pack? Would you protect Stiles?"

Derek looked John dead in the eyes. "I would protect him with everything in me sir. It's different with pack when you lose someone I wouldn't let it happen."

He nodded. "How so? How does it effect them if you die or get hurt?"

Derek thought for a moment. "My betas would be crushed. Some are even known to go mad with loss or kill themselves. It is an overwhelming feeling losing your alpha. It feels like you are lost and have no meaning, like you failed, and are utterly alone without guidance. But the humans, they would react like a regular person. They would feel the loss, but they would be okay."

"And you? If you lost one them?"

"I wouldn't live with myself. When you lose any pack it isn't like you lose someone close to you. It's like you lose a vital part of yourself. For an alpha it is tenfold. The worst pain I could think of."

"Okay that's all I needed to know. But I need to tell you some things."

Derek nodded. "Yes sir?"

"If someone hurts him, you'll feel it. I know that now, you'll take care of him. But if you hurt him-"

"You have wolf's bane bullets?"

"No. I have every faith you would pull the trigger before I ever could. If you hurt him, know that as his father, who has been a cop long enough to see too many horrible people do atrocious things, I could never make you hurt the way all the blame and guilt you put on yourself does. I know I can't stop him from getting into trouble as much as you can't. And now with all this crazy stuff he's in I can't be his big strong dad that can rescue him from anything. I haven't been for awhile, but I don't think he needs me anymore. I think he needs you, all of you. Even if he still will get into trouble. Just promise me you'll be there when he does."

"On my life and my mother's memory, nothing in this world could stop me from protecting him."

He seemed pleased with that. "Okay then I guess we're done."

They both started to walk away.

"Oh one last thing. If I ever, I mean ever, like twenty years from now you're married and have kids together ever, find out you had sex with my underage son under my roof, I will shoot you in the kneecaps with wolf's bane bullets."

Derek's eyes were wide and his mouth gaping. "What?! No! Sir I would never- me and him aren't ev- we're not! Never! I mean your son is a good man, but no!  Why-"

"Slow down there kid. I know. But I also see how you look at each other. I used to have a set of whiskey browns that looked at me the exact same way. And you're right, if he was any other son in the world I would correct you, but you're right. He is a fine man, he hasn't been a boy since he stepped up to deal with all of this shit. You can stop acting like he is one, he's almost eighteen and frankly he's been smarter than me for a long time And somehow wiser since birth. Even if he can be dumb as shit. So under my roof no sex. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Derek nodded like a toddler trying to convince an adult he didn't eat the missing cookie.

"But Derek, up until a point, what you do under your own roof is none of my business, once you get a whole house under it that is."

"Um sir?" Derek looked confused.

"One last word of advice son, everyday I wish I could've met her sooner so I could've loved her longer. You've met him, so what are you waiting for?"

Derek looked sure. "For him to be ready and for me to deserve him."

"I'm not saying you have to sodomize my son immediately, do not get me wrong. Just let him know how you feel at least, he's been ready for that a long time. Also you don't have to wait to deserve him, you're waiting until you feel you do. If Stiles chose you, you deserve him."

They shared a sincere silence, before John clapped him on the shoulder and continued, "God help your soul son."

They both walked out with wide grins, and John's hand was still on Derek's shoulder.

As soon as his dad went to help Scott and Boyd, Stiles flew over to Derek.

"What did he say to you!? What did you talk about?!" Stiles whisper shouted.

"You." Derek teased.

Stiles squinted. "I can't tell if you're being serious. I don't like it."

Derek rolled his eyes and pulled Stiles into a hug, before pulling him behind him by the hand back to work.

"Derek Hale did you give my father a soda!"

Once they had the bare bones of the house with exterior enclosing walls it was finally time to start actually building the inside of the house. Stiles couldn't wait to start the rest of the movies he had planned.

Derek did a walk through with the three contractors for the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems so everything went smoothly and no one got in the way of each other. Stiles insisted on being there so none of his research got forgotten and all of his questions got answered. Derek regretted letting him as soon as he saw the twenty something hot electrician and the in surprisingly amazing shape thirtyish year old plumber. Luckily the HVAC specialist was a portly old man who should've retired long ago to pass down the family business to his daughter long ago.

As soon as Stiles started to stutter out his questions Derek wanted them out immediately. When he caught Stiles ogling the perky bubble butt, that should've been an unattractive hairy plumber's crack, of the man bent over to take a measurement he squinted his eyes and almost growled at him. He put a hand on Stiles' lower back to guide them into the kitchen where Harrold the HVAC man was trying to keep their attention while smirking. Stiles was still staring back and Derek was resolutely staring right at Harrold, so they both missed the man also supervising the measurement taking he ran Stiles right into. The man turned bright red and stuttered apologies. Derek heard an almost inaudible chuckle from back in what would be the living room. Derek wanted nothing more than for them to be a couple, hell he'd be fine with one of them banging the other right on his floor in front of them if it stopped Stiles' drooling. Knowing him there'd end up being a lake though.

He was ecstatic when it was over. Well, that was until Harrold said he thought it was really beautiful that they were rebuilding the house together and that it was a really great project to take on together. In spite of their confused faces he continued and asked what they were going to do with such a big house and if they planned on adopting or fostering. Recognition struck their faces as they tried to back pedal, but he was already convinced that they made a lovely couple.

Most of the plumbing, electrical, and the HVAC systems would take a long time and had to be installed by 'Harrold and the hotties' as Stiles referred to them, so they decided to start a big movie series, the MCU.

Since they got out of the work they camped the weekend out at the loft to marathon as many movies as they could. When they watched the first Thor they teased him for nearly falling off the roof then, he made a joke about how the, 'Seriously jacked.' plumber should've been the electrician because he had the body of, 'A thunder God of super hotness and muscle.' to distract them. Derek made a point to exercise shirtless the next morning while Stiles was making breakfast in Derek's kitchen to show him, 'Seriously jacked.'

The swarm of contractors that invaded the house took roughly a month and a half to finish the rough in for the massive house. In the beginning they didn't  think they would finish all of the movies on time, but as their time off dragged on they flew through them. Derek couldn't even remember him many times everyone hit Stiles with their pillow because he kept saying Captain America's lines before he could. During Winter Soldier Scott put a hand over his mouth and didn't even flinch when Stiles licked him, but when he bit him Scott let out a yell.

"Damn it Stiles. Remember what your dad said!"

Good god were they actually five?

Cora suffocated him with a pillow, till he kicked her in the head and when that proved ineffective, shot sparks into her leg.

Stiles could tell Derek was getting a little stir-crazy having his pet project routine interrupted. He tried to come over as much as possible to keep him company. They were supposed to be finished on a Thursday, but due to a last minute plumbing problem it was pushed till Monday. They watched Flushed Away, then Ratatoullie Friday night and laughed so hard. Saturday and Sunday they watched The Pirates of the Caribbean series.

From that weekend on, anytime someone would hear someone coming in they would get in their way and screech like the slugs. Derek caught Stiles coming in with a bunch of tools and they got in a screaming match that lasted ten minutes.

Once they had the all clear the next job was insulation and drywall, since it had to be done in stages once the mud dried they came over weeknights after school to help for two weeks.

It was a lot of work because they decided to insulate the interior walls a little bit as well as the exterior walls for just a bit more soundproofing. Derek insisted on his bedroom being soundproofed completely, which made the pack tease him mercilessly, but in the end they wanted the rooms they had unofficially picks out soundproofed as well. Everyone agreed in a house filled with werewolves there are just some things you don't want to hear.

They only had time before they had to get home to watch movies on the weekend, so they watched Venom and another Nickolas Sparks movie one night, and then both Deadpools. Stiles thought ahead and made tater tot casserole, bought tissues, and there were unicorn pillows, blankets, and plushies he had gotten at the dollar store. Allison quoted every line about tater tots, which was pretty much the whole movie. Everyone grumbled loudly that Lydia got to choose another movie that nobody else liked, and they were about to switch it when Boyd spoke up and said he liked it. They were all too shocked they didn't realize they were watching it still till it was to late and they were reaching for tissues because Bobby died.

Boyd left the room halfway through with teary eyes, and when Erica and Derek both didn't follow him Stiles did.

The night air was warm on Stiles' face.

"You didn't have to come out here, I'm fine, Erica and Derek didn't because they know I'm fine."

Stiles put his hands in his pj pockets and nodded while rocking back an forth slightly on his feet. "Okay. Maybe they don't need to come out here because you're fine, or maybe because you've always been the strong one they believe you to be so strong you don't need help. But, Boyd sometimes when you're always the strong one you feel you aren't allowed to be weak. You are. You're allowed to be hurt, and break, and wake up tomorrow and be strong again. Everyone is weak sometimes. If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine, just let them know when you aren't alright. They can help you."

"And do you?"

Stiles looked confused. "Do I what?"

"Let them help you. Sure when we're in a fight you are protected, but when you're hurt or worried do you let people help you? For the longest time you didn't tell you're dad anything, and even still you shield him from so much. You are constantly tired from researching to keep the pack safe, you could ask Lydia to pause her college prep to help you. When you have nightmares do you tell your best friend? When you have a problem do you go to your alpha before trying to solve it yourself? No you don't do any of that. Because out of all of us werewolf, kanima, banshee, hunter you, Stiles Stilinski are the strongest of us. You take more pain than all of us combined to keep us from hurting. So do you allow yourself to be weak?"

Stiles seemed to take it all in. He nodded. "Fine. Fair enough. I still can't watch Halloween movies because I used to watch them with my mother and now they just make me sob." Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

Boyd looked away. "Fine. My sister used to pretend to love Disney princess love story movies so I could watch them with her, and I used to pretend to love action movies so she could watch them with me."

"Fine." Stiles nodded again.

Boyd sniffed a bit and Stiles could tell he was trying not to cry. He pulled the massive man into a hug and held him tightly against himself. He felt tears against his neck and shoulder.

He whispered with a small stuffy voice against the smaller man. "Fine."

When they came back Derek gave him a quizzical look, Stiles just brushed his arm as he went by with his hand to tell him everything was fine.

The next week each day after school Boyd went over to help Derek rebuild the front porch. Stiles thought it was so they could talk one on one, and he was proud of Derek for doing it.

Then they had another weekend of discussions about design. Although this time it was less about rooms and more about what they wanted the rooms to look like. Lydia had swatches and samples spread across the entire room.

Derek wanted all of the bathrooms to look similar, but not identical. They took a vote and the rooms would all be varying shades of grey with black or silver fixtures.

Everyone got to decorate their own room however they wanted. Erica said she was going to make her room a sex dungeon then and Derek did not look impressed.

The den on the third floor was to be a light beige with an enormous sectional couch.

The dining room was going to be a classy white to compliment the chandelier that was originally there.

The office was to be a light pastel yellow to not be too distracting, while the pantry was to be a bright pink because Scott asked and Derek didn't care. The stairs the rooms were under were set to keep their original wood just sanded and restained. The loft stairs were to stay as is per Stiles' request.

The library's color scheme choice was dueled out between Lydia and Peter. Lydia wanted a luxurious aubergine purple with a delicate pearl. However Peter won out with a bright, deep, and dark cobalt blue paired with a rich leather brown color, because they all agreed they were better for the mood of a library. Peter also requested they have a rolling ladder attached to the wall so they could built the bookshelves all the way up to take advantage of the first floors high ceilings.

The kitchen and living room were open concept, so the two rooms had to match well. For the kitchen Derek wanted clean colors, so they chose whites, greys, and touches of black with all stainless steel appliances. Isaac said they should get a large island with butcher's block on the top and everyone agreed. The floor was going to be a light grey tile with darker grey marbled in and dark grey grout to make it pop. The back splash was a simple white subway tile, and the counter tops were going to be soapstone. Since the kitchen was so nuanced the living room could be a bit bolder.

Stiles fought tooth and nail for a dark emerald green and they eventually had to concede. He bombarded them with color psychology. He went on about how green is known for health, calm, peace, growth, and safety. He also mentioned it was the color of nature and the natural world, plus it would go with the view out huge window out into the woods. He told them some researchers even found it improves reading ability, which would be great for the bay window they planned on putting in.

Lydia looked back through her notes there was no mention of a window seat, but by the time she was done looking and was going to interject Derek had agreed to both.

They had varying types of counters for the bathrooms that matched each room's back splashes and fixtures. Each Jack and Jill had two sinks, a shower, and a toilet. All the sinks were going to be white with those fancy faucets that had part of the pipe gone so you could see the water coming, because Cora thought they were cool.

For flooring they decided to do the bathrooms a grey tile with black striped in, similar to the kitchen. The mudroom would also be tile. The library, den, office, and stairs were going to be all wood. The hallways and living room were quickly agreed to be carpet, but once they got to the bedrooms things got a little heated.

"I will slaughter your first born if you even think about putting tile in my bedroom!"

Lydia looked at Stiles half crazed. "You are a man of intellect Stiles, you can at least on some level agree that tile or wood has practical reasons fo-"

"I agree with him. It makes no sense."

Stiles gestured to Allison like, 'Ha, there!'

"It does look nicer."

Stiles squinted and pointed an accusing finger at Scott. "You are dead to me."

"What if you want to lay on your floor? Carpet is way more comfortable." Isaac usually stayed quiet during arguments, but lately he's become more comfortable speaking up.

"Lay a blanket down."

"Great reason for a stylish rug."

"Why would you lay on the floor next to your bed?"

Boyd, Lydia, and Jackson spoke up, respectively, at the same time.

"You wouldn't have to worry about it if you just got carpet!" Stoke practically yelled.

Lydia responded in kind. "Carpet is hard to clean, and it makes your room look like a van from the seventies!"

"Cold feet end of story, bitch!"

"Wear socks you bastard!"

Derek stared in horror at his pack, which was about to tear each others throats out over flooring. "Okay everyone just calm down! It's late and we got a lot figured out today. How bout we stop here, everyone go home, and we'll pick it up tomorrow."

They slowly all trickled out. Only Derek and Stiles were left. Stiles was finishing up folding the blankets when he realized he hadn't seen Derek in awhile.

"Derek?" He called out.

"Up here Sti." The nickname gave him pause. He had only ever called him that when he was bleeding out, or needing comfort.

He went up the stairs and found him staring deeply in one of the rooms.

"What's up Der?" Stiles took advantage of the moment to call him a soft nickname back.

Normally he would protest and say he's fine, but he didn't. Stiles didn't know if he should take it as he really needed to get it off his chest that bad, or if it was because he was trusting Stiles more.

"This was Lillian's room."

Stiles didn't need any clarification. He knew all of Derek's family, but Lillian was the only one he'd heard of just from the Hale fire files. Lillian was Peter's oldest, she was three. Stiles guessed that they were really close. Stiles put his hand on Derek's shoulder.

"We can leave this one empty."

Derek smiled. "No. This is Scott and Allison's room."

"They can pick a diff-"

Derek turned the eyes Stiles thought would be misty, to face him with not a tear in sight.

"Stiles do you want to know why I wouldn't let them pick rooms before?"

"Because they were fighting?"

Derek tipped his head back and forth. "Yes, and no. Because while they were fighting about who got the room with the best window, or the one with the tree, or the one closest to the stairs, I kept thinking, 'That isn't your room, it's Lillian's so uncle Peter and aunt Darcy can be close to her! That isn't your room it is Laura's, so she can use the tree to sneak out. That room isn't yours it's Nan and Pop's, so they can look at the back yard.'"

Stiles felt horrible, maybe this all was a mistake. Maybe Derek wasn't ready yet.

"Do you know what I see now?"

"No. Tell me?"

"I see Allison looking out this window while drinking her morning coffee. I still see me and Lily on the floor playing horseies, but I feel this isn't her room anymore. This isn't their house anymore, it's ours. With some of the other rooms it's hard, to remember the old good memories, and to picture the new ones. In this one though, I know it's what she would've wanted. Sh-she ah-" Derek's voice was filled with emotion and he had tears in his eyes. "She used to make me promise to play with her ponies when she wasn't home so they wouldn't be lonely." Derek had a wistful look till he nodded with a look of certainty. "She wouldn't want her room to be lonely." He smiled. "I see Allison and Scott here."

Stiles hugged him and let his cries be muffled by his shirt. Once he calmed Stiles pulled back and took his hand to lead him.

"Where are we going?"

Stiles stayed silent till they were at the doorway of a room on the other side of the stairs. "What is your favorite memory in this room?"

"What?" Derek looked confused.

"You said it's hard to picture the good memories in some of the rooms, well I think you should try."

Stiles gave him time to think.

"This was my older brother's room. He taught me how to make paper air planes. One day we kept testing them by flying them out the window. We were having so much fun trying to out fly each other, we weren't paying attention to how many we flew." Derek let out a short laugh. "When we heard mom yell both our full names we knew we were in trouble. There had to have been a hundred paper airplanes scattered in the yard being blown around by the wind. We were chasing after them to clean up for hours."

Stiles' fond look mirrored Derek's. "Did she scold you about littering?"

"For weeks. It was respect the land this or you boys are so messy that."

Stiles nodded. "That was a good memory. What about something you picture happening here?"

"I picture teaching Isaac how to fly the perfect paper airplane."

Stiles grinned. "I think he would like that."

They went around the entire house like that. Derek remembering the old while picturing the new. Sometimes Stiles would say what he thought would happen in a room and Derek would say he agreed, but mostly he just listened. His favorites were that he once hid under his grandparent's bed till it was time to go to sleep, because Laura and aunt Darcy had dressed him up in a princess dress and put make up on him, but then they got a camera out. His Nan screamed so loud when he came out that his mom burst into the room in her beta shift. His other favorite was when they got to what would be the den, he said playing with our kids. When he heard him he nearly died, but then he clarified the packs kids. Stiles' subconscious still stubbornly hung on the fact that Derek and his kids would be considered pack kids, even as he drove home.  

The next day they invaded multiple home improvement stores, cabinetry places, mattress stores, and furniture shops to order what they would need. They had to go to a special place to get the island Isaac wanted, but then they got to have it made uniquely for them. Derek told them they could pick out their rooms and what kind of flooring they wanted, when it was time to decide.

The next week Erica came over alone after school to help with the next project. Her dad was an electrician, so she knew how to install the outlets, light fixtures, and fans. They still had some left on the weekend, and Erica said they would just he in their way, so they only came over to watch a movie Sunday night. Lydia brought The Notebook- again.

The next Monday Derek was surprised by a phone call when he was about to take a break for lunch. He put his paint roller to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi this is Beacon Hills high school. We are calling about one of the students here. They said th-"

Derek's stomach dropped out. He hurriedly grabbed his jacket.

"Are they okay?" Derek demanded.

"It's in regard of Jackson Whittmore. He apper-"

"Is he okay?!" Derek interrupted once again while starting his car.

"Yes, but-"

"I'm on my way."

"If you would let me get a word in sir, this young man struck another student. We can't release him till we talk to a parent or guardian. Both his parents are unavailable due to a work trip, but after many questions he finally told us he was left in your care. Is that true?" She spoke harshly.

"He is in my care."

"Well I can't see why he would do such a thing as to strike another student with such a polite man's example to follow." She sneered.

"I'll be there soon." He hung up on her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't have anyone else to call." Jackson was folded in on himself in the corner of the room. The receptionist was all smiles once he got there in person, but as soon as she realized he wasn't interested she went on lunch. The other student and his parents were in the principal's office with Lydia's mom. It was just them in the room.

Derek summoned his best alpha voice. "You hit another student?"

Jackson shrunk. "I listened to what you and Stiles said. I controlled my strength. I only hit him like a regular human."

Derek gave a withering glare. "That isn't better! Jackson you need to sto-"

Just then the door burst open and the pack and Danny came flooding in. Erica ran up to Jackson and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Derek barely heard the whispered thank you.

He glanced at Stiles with a look of utter confusion. He motioned for him to come over to the side of the room. When he met him over there Stiles started to speak.

"That douchebag in there was showing the old video of Erica having a seizure. Derek's eyes widened in understanding. When looked back he saw Erica pulling back from Jackson a bright red lipstick mark on his cheek.

Everyone looked to where Lydia's mom was exiting her office. She asked Derek and Jackson to come in.

"It wasn't his fault!"

"He deserved it!"

"Mom just let us explain."

The pack all started talking at once the room descended into chaos. Natalie looked overwhelmed, Derek yelled over their voices.

"That's enough!"

They fell silent.

"If you would please follow me Mr. Hale and Jackson."

The pack started yelling again.

Stiles interjected. "I think you might find it better to just speak out here. Does anyone object to having this conversation where multiple eyewitnesses can correct the narrative?"

The parents looked smug. "I don't see why not."

Natalie looked like she knew how to pick her battles. "Very well, but if you are too disruptive I will send you all to the cafeteria."

Stiles nodded.

"We are here because Jackson struck another student, Preston. It was a violent action that this school will not endorse nor tolerate. He-"

Stiles interrupted once again. "How about a student showing a video showing another student having a medical reaction? Does this school tolerate that? Does it endorse it?"

Natalie looked shocked, Stiles assumed Preston left that little tidbit out. His parents looked at him appraisingly, as if to figure out if he did.

"How bout a student mocking another by following them down the halls pretending to have a seizure?"

Preston replied indignant. "That wasn't today!"

Stiles turned to him sharply. "So you admit you did it?"

He turned beet red and tried to deny it.

His parents started yelling at him. Natalie tried to calm them.

"Alright, alright. Even if Preston did do those things, which this school does not endorse or tolerate, Jackson still used violence. That canno-"

Stiles nodded. "Yes that is true, and he will be properly scolded. By us, and his parents when they get back. You did call them didn't you? Mrs. and Mr. Whittmore the two premier lawyers in the county?  I'm sure they would want to know the situation immediately! That their son hit a boy for only mocking and publicly humiliating a fellow student because of a disability." Stiles played it off like it was nothing. "I mean what is that? Just a prosecutable hate crime, nothing warranting violence for heavens sake!" Stiles looked scandalized. "Yes they would want to know right away."

Preston's parents blanched, before his dad started blundering. "I-I think we can settle this now? I mean lest we bother them."

Natalie smirked privately at Stiles.

Stiles continued. "Oh wonderful! Now he did use violence so I think one week suspension is a necessity, and since Preston was the primary aggressor two weeks and detention for the rest of the month after he gets back. You know, to give him a taste of what a life of crime will get you, and to discourage him from this path further."

Preston started to object, but his other leveled him with a glare. "Yes I think that is adequate."

Stiles turned to Natalie. "Does that fit school guidelines?"

She nodded.

"Well, then I think that is all we need from Preston, thank you for coming in to resolve this with us." He stared at them till they got the hint and scurried out.

"Mr. Whittmore I better stop seeing this type of thing from you, you were doing so well." She halfheartedly scolded him. "I thought this change was brought about by good influences, I hope you stick by their side. It's good to have people to defend you and to defend."

Jackson nodded.

"Miss Reyes you may be excused from classes if you like."

Erica shook her head. "I'm good."

"Very well. Mr. Hale you're all set to take him home. He will be due back for school next Tuesday, and make sure his parents get in touch as soon as possible. The rest of you are dismissed back to lunch."

They all started to file out. Natalie called out. "Oh and mister Stilinski..."

"Yes ma'am?"

"You negotiate just like your mother."

Stiles smirked. "Thank you."

Once they were in the hallway Jackson spoke, "Thanks Stilinski."

He saluted before going to lunch with the rest of them after Erica gave one more grateful look.  

"I am sorry Derek. Our maid is on vacation. I didn't know who else to call. I didn-"

"Listen to me Jackson, you call me. Always."

"Still I know I'm not your problem."

"You're my beta, that means your mine. My problem, my happiness, my duty, my friend, my responsibility, my everything. So if you need something, you call and I'm there. No matter what. I'll always be there."

Jackson's eyes were rimmed with tears. "Th-" He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

"Now how bout some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" Jackson looked confused.

"Yeah. When I punched Gary Getzucci's smug little face off the swing he was sitting on after calling Laura a whore, my alpha took me for ice cream. Admittedly she didn't use me for free labor afterwards to prime the wall of her house, but you know."

Jackson spent the week priming the walls with Derek so they would be ready to paint on the weekend.

They entire time they were painting they were making fun of the noobs and saying things like, 'No like this.' They had the audacity to give each other long suffering looks when Stiles did something wrong.

Friday they watched 13 Going on 30 and Stiles shared his razzles with everyone except them. Then The Proposal.

The next day Stiles played music again, and when "Get Low" came on they belted out the lyrics from the various rooms they were painting and laughed so hard they had to take a break. Stiles blared T swift and Fergi and no one even complained.

They were painting the library when Derek realized Stiles wasn't singing along. Derek looked behind him where Stiles was supposed to be painting. He was beaming at his phone like the fucking sun. Derek frowned. Everyone the Stiles would text was in the house. His father was still anti-text.

"Something happen?"

Stiles didn't even slow his giddy texting.

"Stiles." He looked up after he finished his text.

"What?"

He was widely grinning at him, but knowing it wasn't meant for him it felt like he was frowning at him and had him responding in kind.

"Who are you texting?"

Stiles put his phone in his back pocket. "Nobody."

Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "Nobody must be pretty funny."

"What?"

"You were grinning like when Scott fell down the steps."

"Oh." Stiles seemed content to not give further information.

"Yeah." Derek turned to continue painting and to not have to look Stiles in the eyes. "New girlfriend?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

Stiles snorted. "After what he did for me, I'd marry him if he asked."

Derek's roller paused mid pass.

"I don't think it's likely though, so just friends."

"What did he do for you?" Derek asked while resuming painting.

"He found something for me."

Derek spun around. "Why didn't you ask me!?"

Stiles looked like a deer in headlights. "Uhhh, I don't think it's something you could've found." Stiles looked at him questioningly.

Derek seemed to process his outburst was unwarranted. He continued nonchalantly. "I just mean super senses. It would've been easier for me to find it, unless they also had them. Which they'd have to be a werewolf and-"

Stiles heartbeat sped up.

Derek's eyebrows rose. "-they're obviously not a werewolf, right?"

Stiles was quiet as he focused on his paint. "Why would I need a werewolf to find something?"

A question couldn't be a lie, he was hiding something.

"Right, right. And why would you ask a different on when you have a pack, an alpha? I mean it's not like you would go to a werewolf we knew for something I could do for you."

Stiles heartbeat ticked up. So we knew the man.

"And it's not like you would go to meet a werewolf not in your pack without telling your alpha."

Another uptick.

Stiles stopped painting with a groan. He yelled. "Scott, Derek is doing the heartbeat lie detector thing we said you guys can't do!"

"I was just as-"

"What dude?"

"Derek is being mean. He's reading my heartbeat!"

"Stiles is not telling the truth about his other werewolf friends."

"Dude! What other friends?! Not cool. You should tel-"

Stiles gave a meaningful look to him, and in order to be meaningful to Scott it was obvious to Derek.

Scott's face flashed recognition. "Oh. Oh! Yeah dude, not cool. Don't read heartbeats. We said that wasn't okay."

Wow, the best friend knew. Derek racked his brain trying to find the signs that Stiles had a boyfriend for long enough for it to be this serious. Scott never knew anything, but he knew this before Derek. Stiles must not trust him.

Derek turned to resume painting once again. "Okay, I won't pry."

Stiles' jokes and jabs went unanswered the rest of the day, as Derek was glumly pouting. Stiles had a boyfriend, and he didn't even tell him.

Afterwards they couldn't stay because of the paint fumes, so Stiles suggested they just go home.

Probably to text his boyfriend, Derek thought.

The next week after the paint had aired out enough he asked Malia to help him with putting the carpet in. When Malia mentioned the text at lunch it puzzled Stiles. Why Malia?

"Did he say why?"

Malia shrugged. "He mentioned it's easier with two people. Oh, and he had said that he could help me with social studies for the big test."

Stiles nodded. Derek was probably trying to bond with his cousin. It was nice of him, but Malia didn't get along with many people.

Stiles was shocked on Friday when the carpet Isaac picked out was beautifully installed and Malia was resting against a laughing Derek in the living room.

They helped them finish a few of the bedrooms before watching both Now You See Mes. On Sunday they had a studying day, and Malia was practically teaching Isaac.

Stiles had thought it was a little strange when he asked Malia to do a project with just him, but when he asked Scott to lay the wood and finish the stairs during the week he thought it was straight up weird.

Saturday while they painted the banister of the steps, Stiles drug Scott upstairs to a room.

He shut the door behind them. "What did you guys do?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's been doing a project with every pack member! I thought Peter, just showed up for the roof, but now I think he invited him. Boyd and him built the porch, Erica did the lights, Jackson primed the walls with him. Which I thought was just a coincidence because of the suspension, but I asked Erica and apparently Derek dropped him off, and planned on picking him up already. Now you with the floors. You didn't even know how to install wood flooring!"

Stiles had a crazed look in his eyes. "Oookay I'm going to need you to dial the conspiracy theorist down a few notches. Dude you're being crazy."

"Am I Scott? I overheard Derek and Allison talking- there's talk about Argent and my dad helping tile. My dad, Scott! And Argent! And Derek! And nobody else! Tiling!"

"By overheard you mean eavesdropping. Bro listen to yourself. There's talk? Who cares who helps him tile? He's probably just sick of having to work by himself during the week."

"Who cares?" Stiles flailed. "I care Scott! Guess who hasn't gotten in on the little paired project cult? Me!"

"Your dad and Argent won't be alone."

Stiles bawlked. "Of course not! My dad arrested him Scott! And Argent's sister is friggin Kate! Of course he's got a buffer!"

"Stiles you're being crazy and I'm going to leave now."

"You're in on Derek's freaky one on one project cult and it's not fair you won't tell me."

"Goodbye."

Later when Derek went to the kitchen to get more paint he felt Stiles creeping behind him.

"Yes Stiles?"

"It never stops sucking that I can't sneak up on you."

"Did you sneak up on me just to lament you can't sneak up on me orrr.."

"What did you and Scott talk about?"

Derek squinted at him. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want to tell me?"

"Why do you want me to tell you?"

Stiles groaned. "Because I want to know what you talked about."

"Why do you-" Oh Stiles wanted to know if Scott spilled the beans about Stiles' boytoy. "If you're worried about if Scott told me about your secret, don't worry he didn't." Derek brushed past him, leaving him to his thoughts.

What secret? Did he currently have a secret? He wasn't worried Scott told him a secret until now, now he was very worried.  Scott knew too many secrets about him for him to not know which one he told Derek. It better not have been the one about Kansas. He would kill him if it was. What other secret could it be?

"SCOTT!!"

After multiple assurances Scott told him nothing, not even that thing with the turtle and Mrs. Mia, Stiles still didn't believe him. Stiles stuck his tongue out across the room while cuddling Allison. Scott gave defeated puppy eyes at having lost both of his cuddle buddies for romcoms. They watched 21 Dresses and The Fault in Our Stars. Scott was making the best of cuddling Isaac though, he carded his fingers through his hair till he fell asleep.

Sunday they painted the porch, put in all the bathtubs, and went out to see Joker.

The next week tiling with Derek, John, Argent, and no body else was started.

Wednesday the sheriff came home to spaghetti dinner, with meatballs, and no zucchini noodles, he let out a sigh. "Kid, I'm tired. I just got done tiling Derek's house. I have to work in the morning. If this is a bribe it can wait till morning. If this is an apology I forgive you. If this is anything else I'll ask you who you are and what you've done with my son."

"It's neither of those, I just want to talk about my lovely father's day." Stiles had been worrying all day.

John appraised him. "Well then, I actually had a more eventful day at the office. Janice brought in-"

"Long john donuts. Yes I know. She does every Wednesday. I know what happens at the station. Were there any other eventful parts of your day?"

"If you count Argent cutting off Derek's hand with a power saw eventful, but Janice br-"

"What!?"

"Oh relax. It wasn't on purpose and he healed."

Stiles fumbled for his phone. "Just like the jackass to not call."

"I don't know why he didn't. His hand grew back like a dammed hydra, he has three hands he coulda picked up the phone with now."

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Apparently someone isn't too tired for jokes, wiseass."

"Relax Stiles. It's been going well. Jesus I don't think your mother stressed this much about me spending time with your dziadek, and we were dating already."

"Dad!"

There were jokes on the first Saturday about how quickly grout dries that made all three men laugh, and nobody else got.

Stiles tried to commiserate with Allison about how weird it was, but she thought it was cute.

It was a torturous three weeks.

The first week they watched The Matrix series. The second they watched The Avengers and Age of Ultron, then Infinity War and Endgame, because Chris had never seen them. That was another thing, sometime during the weeks Argent had become Chris.  

They still had to do a couple more bathrooms before they were done, but there could only be a couple people working at a time so the rest played cards. Once they were done they all joined cards, then they watched The Lone Ranger. Peter hadn't stayed for any of the movies since Mean Girls and had been busy a lot of the times they asked for his help, so Stiles was pretty sure he came and stayed because Derek said Argent was going to be there.

Sunday they put in all the toilets and shower fixtures. With all the flooring done Derek thought it looked like an actual house, almost like the original, but different. Not better or worse, just different, new was almost the right word.

The next week Derek asked Allison to help him with the trim and library, and Stiles tried really hard to not be offended he still hadn't been asked yet. Saturday they pulled up  the driveway to Allison excitedly teaching Derek how to throw knives, he failed at not being offended that he hadn't had his bonding moment yet.

The weekend they finished the third floor and watched The Expendables.

Stiles made a plan for the next week. It was Isaac's exclude Stiles week and they were getting and  putting up blinds. It wouldn't take them all week, and Issac had evening classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays so it was perfect. Stiles would show up Wednesday to drop off food for them, forgetting about Isaac's classes and boom! They would plan their project. It was perfect.

Well it was until he walked in on Lydia and Derek in the middle of a hard core design and decor planning session. They already met constantly to shop and talk, but apparently they needed even more time. They said it was perfect timing because they needed his opinion on some things. He answered quickly, dropped the carbonara off, and made his excuses to leave.

Well that was it. Everyone in the pack had officially had a week or project, except him. A tiny part of him whispered that maybe Derek was saving the best project for him, or maybe Derek viewed the planning and research as his. That was quickly squashed by the bigger part that was angry.

Derek had asked if they could push them meeting there Friday till Saturday since there was nothing much to do till the furniture was delivered on Saturday and Sunday, the pack agreed. Stiles had cooled down a lot, someone had to be last why not him. Also maybe there was some big super important task left, one that Stiles was completely forgetting even after racking his brain all night. That was entirely possible. Likely even. There was no reason to be mad. He decided to go early with a peace offering of cake to make up for leaving Wednesday so early.

When he walked in Friday night to see Danny installing TVs and a surround sound system with Derek, he walked right back out. He went home and ate the entire cake, so he didn't feel as bad about lying to the pack about being sick because he really did feel sick then.

With all of the texts he got from the pack in the morning he wasn't getting out of the day.

"Dude are you okay? You look like shit."

Scott's words were comforting, especially since he wasn't even fucking sick. "Gesh Scottie you really know how to make a gal feel special." Sure he hadn't slept much, and he had cried as much as something that makes you eat an entire cake warrants, but other than that peachy.

"You sound nasally."

Thank you Cora. Maybe he was a little stuffy and had a cough, but there was so much dust it's to be expected.

Derek came up to him and felt his forehead. "You feel hot."

"Whoa is batman sick?"

"Stop it. I am not sick."

"You were sick yesterday."

"That was different."

"I'm sorry mister mucus monster if you could repeat that?"

"Haha." Stiles deadpanned. "I-I'm not s-si-Aa...CHEW! ick."

He was sick.

Derek tossed Boyd his keys and wallet. "Get some duchess soup from Mamma Tammi's, and pick up some flu medicine too." Jackson walked out the door with him.

"I don't have the flu!"

Derek looked him up and down. "Okay, try convincing me when you aren't about to eat your own snot."

Stiles wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"And some tissues!" Allison shouted.

"That is disgusting." Cora sneered.

"I remember a time you ate your boogers."

Isaac laughed and Cora turned red. "You jerk!"

"It's perfect that you're here though batman, so we can take care of you. While we watch movies of course."

Stiles squinted. "What if I don't want to watch movies?"

Erica pouted. "You always want to watch movies."

Stiles raised an eyebrow.

"Uggh fine. We want to try out the new surround sound. Derek wouldn't let us try it without you."

"He needs rest."

"Do not, sourwolf."

Derek rose an eyebrow at him. "Sure."

"Besides this is the perfect opportunity to get Scott to watch Star Wars."

After a few more protests they settled in with the original trio. All of the pack was snuggled into him somehow, damn werewolves not being able to get sick, except Allison on a chair and Lydia across the room. When he walked past to get to the bathroom she covered her mouth with her shirt and sprayed him with Lysol. With how cozy he felt he drifted off. He woke briefly when the mattress people got there and Derek had to get up, he remembered being happy hearing they would set them up so nobody had to move before drifting back off as he heard Yoda say something about no trying and doing. If he wasn't so tired he could think of it. He woke back up again when they moved the air mattress to get the couch in. With all of them moving the two giant sectionals, various chairs, and end tables Stiles started to shiver. Even under layers and layers of blankets. The werewolves made quick work of the heavy furniture, but they still weren't back soon enough for Stiles' liking. As all the pack passed the slightly deflated mattress in favor of the new comfy couch he made grabby hands towards Derek.

"Come. Heat. Cold."

"I'm glad in those eloquent words there was a please."

Stiles frowned cutely at him. "Please."

Derek crawled under the covers and gathered Stiles against his chest. Stiles drifted back to sleep with his second favorite badass Padme scene playing in the background. Sunday passed similarly, with Stiles dozing and the pack fussing over him while watching space battles. The desk for the office and the table and desk for the library arrived along with lamps for around the house. Later the nightstands for their bedrooms came with Derek's personal bookshelf, despite having an entire library. The man making the island called to say it wasn't ready yet, which disappointed Isaac.

Stiles' dad didn't want him to come home and get him sick so he stayed with Derek while everyone else left. Monday he was feeling better. They were eating breakfast Derek went out to get when someone knocked at the door. Derek opened the door to see Deaton loaded down with boxes of books.

"This should be enough to get you started. I have the truck loaded down."

Stiles got up urgently. "Is there something that needs to be researched? Did something happen?"

Deaton peaked around the boxes. "Ah Stiles. I wasn't aware you would be joining us."

"For what?"

"Derek didn't tell you? We're stocking his library with some of my old lore books. He asked me to help arrange them."

"Sorry I forgot that was today."

Un-fuckin- believable! Deaton even got something before he did!

"Did he now! Well that's great! Well I should probably get going."

Derek moved closer. "Are you sure? This will only take a bit. Are you up to driving yet?"

"I'm sure." Stiles walked out without a single sign there was anything wrong.

"Okay, What was wrong with you?" Derek spoke while climbing through his window effortlessly.

Stiles kept his face neutral. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That." Derek pointed to his face. "And definitely all of this." Derek made a circular wide sweeping motion that gestured to his entire body.

Stiles looked down at himself. He was laid on his bed with his back against the head board. His legs were neatly crossed running down the center of the bed, and his hands were delicately intertwined and sat on his lap. "To what are you referring? Did you perhaps missmell a chemo signal? Even sniffer dogs are only right half the time."

Whoa mean dog jokes, he was pissed.

"What did I do?"

"You  didn't  do anything." No heartbeat jump. The truth.

"Are you mad at someone else?"

"I'm not mad at anyone." Heart jump, okay so he was mad at Derek. Otherwise he would've said no.

"Was it something I said?"

"You  didn't  say anything." There was that weird way he was saying things again, but apparently it wasn't something he said.

"Was it something you did?"

Stiles shot him a nasty look, and he immediately put his hands up.

"Okay so it's definitely me." Stiles wasn't saying anything about him reading his heartbeat, so he must've wanted him to figure it out. "Was it something I didn't mean to do, but did on accident?"

"You  didn't  do anything Derek ."

Why was he saying it li- Oh. "Was it something I didn't do?"

Just like that Stiles' arms and legs came uncrossed, and he was sprawled on the bed. "I don't know Derek what didn't you do?" Stiles was hoping he would be all like, 'Oh yeah I forgot to invite you for our super awesome bonding week, where we get closer like the rest of the pack. Were going to bedazzle the house walls.'

"I forgot to brush my teeth this morning?"

Not the time for jokes, I repeat not the time for jokes. Stiles flailed flail number 47, 'You done fucked up and I'm done.' he knew this one, he hated this one. It was a barely there flail, blink and you miss it. It reminded Derek of a dead fish's last flop. "You're right. I'm mad because of halitosis." Stiles turned away from him and pulled the covers up. "Turn my light off when you leave."

Stiles wasn't just mad, he was also hurt. What in the hell had he done?!

Derek moved closer to the bed and slid in behind Stiles. "I don't know what I didn't do yet. Can you tell me so I can apologize?"

"It's fine. I'm upset over nothing." The blankets rustled and Derek could tell that Stiles wiped tears away with his blanket.

"It's not nothing if you're upset." Derek burrowed into Stiles to try and stop his crying, but it only made it worse. "Tell me." Derek placed a kiss to the side of his neck. "Please?"

"Why didn't you want to do a project with just me? I mean I know it's silly, but you did one with literally everyone else."

Derek felt relieved. This was perfect, he could invite Stiles right now without it being weird. "Is that all this is about? Well then how about tomorrow? I've been meaning to swing by Ikea. It won't take long we can just pop in and out."

Stiles' tears were gone instantly.

To be replaced with rage. Pop in and out? What, were they getting throw pillows?! Oh wait no, Lydia gets those with her project. One that's taken almost a much time as the reno itself, and resulted in them saying things like, 'That back splash with that paint? Oh hunny no.' Maybe TV brack- oh no. Danny already installed those. Danny! HE ISN'T EVEN IN THE PACK! Argent tiled the god damn house his sister burned down, and Stiles gets a quick pop in Ikea?!

Stiles got up. "Actually, I think I'm going to lay on the couch. Lock the window on your way out."

That was something he said when he was done. Like I don't want to even see your face done. They both knew he couldn't lock the window from the outside, it was something Stiles said when he wanted him to know he wasn't welcome.

Stiles didn't even look back before slamming his door.

Derek was just back from his morning run and pouring himself a cup of coffee when he heard the doorbell. That's odd. Even if someone did try it out he was expecting them to just walk right in.

He opened it to see Stiles. An overly cheerful Stiles. "Mornin, mornin Derek! Can I come in?"

Derek's stomach rolled. "Of course, you can always come in. You know th-"

"Great. Cute bell. Last night?"

"Yeah." Derek eyed him warily.

"Cool, cool. Did Natalie help you install it? I mean you're trying to involve everyone right?" Stiles scrunched his nose and any other time it would've been cute, but not with the way his face was plastered with a fake smile.

"Nooo? I did it myself. Stiles, not that you aren't welcome, but why are you here? The counters aren't du-"

Stiles flailed number 78, 'I'm about to pretend to be fine, when I actually want to rip your face off.' "I'm here for Ikea silly."

Derek didn't think this was the best idea. "Are you sure you stil-"

"Great. Go get dressed."

Derek could tell there was no room for argument. So an hour later there they stood in Ikea.

"So Derek, what are we picking up? I mean you and Lydia already picked out the dishes and the silverware an-"

"The dining room table."

Stiles looked confused. "What happened to the one you ordered?"

Derek looked straight ahead. "I didn't order it."

"What!? Why not? It was perfect. Everyone loved it, it had enough space, it came wit-"

"You didn't like it."

"Yeah, but everyb-"

"You didn't like it."

Stiles stopped his protests. "Okay." Derek was pleased that Stiles seemed satiated with that.

"Good thing we didn't get it too, the dining room floor Scott picked wouldn't look as good with it."

He was back to grumpy. Derek just couldn't win.

Every time he would suggest something Stiles would grumble something practical, but harsh. All of his attempts at peace were misconstrued, and even his jokes and attempts at pronouncing the furniture were ignored.

Derek sighed. "Look we aren't finding anything. How about we eat quick and head home?"

"I'm starving and want to leave, perfect." Stiles pushed past him to where the cafeteria was.

Derek hung his head and let out a breath before following him.

"This food is good isn't it?" Derek tried to make small talk about a safe subject.

"I guess." Stiles pushed around his meatballs and gravy.

Derek tried to get him to meet his eyes. "What are you talking about, you love this kind of thing. Weren't you hungry?"

"I guess not."

Derek couldn't take this any longer. "Alright I'm done. I'm done coddling you! What did I do?"

"You di-"

Derek interrupted. "Oh don't start that 'You  didn't  do anything.' bullshit! What happened?! Tell me or stop acting like it's a big deal! I think you're making something out of nothing!" Derek whisper shouted, clearly not wanting to make a scene.

Well too bad. He started this, but Stiles would be damned if he wasn't going to finish it.

"You don't think it's a big deal?! Something out of nothing?!" Stiles shouted, drawing the attention of near by people. Derek blanched realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry if I'm a little upset that you're inviting everyone to do little fucking bonding projects when I'm the one you started this with! And then when I tell you this you just," Stiles lowered his voice to mock Derek. "'Oh, we could quick pop down to Ikea for a table.' Like I'm just some cheap whore you could take to olive garden to impress!"

Everyone that was staring quickly looked away and went on with their business, except one lady on the opposite side turned her chair around and held her tray in the air to eat while watching.

"Stiles can we do this at home?" Derek ducked down to whisper.

"Oh will that be my project?! Yelling at each other at home?! Or is it even my home?"

Derek saw red, Stiles knew that wasn't something to joke about. "Of course it is! You're the whole reason I'm building the damn house!" Derek was shouting back.

"Oh so now I forced you to build it, and you don't even want to have me involved anymore!"

"Stiles you're being ridiculous! You helped with the walk though with me! Of course I want you involved!"

"Oh really?! Then why does it feel like exclude Stiles from having a bonding week with Derek is your guy's inside joke?! And I was only there because I made you! That doesn't count! Danny even did the TVs! Danny! Deaton spent yesterday organizing the library! You don't even like Deaton!"

Derek scoffed. "I like Deaton just fine."

"Still! Deaton gets the library and I get a quick pop down to Ikea! You've already been here with Lydia! How come you didn't ask me to help with something bigger?! Am I not important enough?!"

The lady oooed and slurped a noodle.

"Oh yeah well how come you didn't ask me to help you find whatever you needed?! You still haven't told me what it was! You asked some other man to help you! Your little secret boyfriend!" Derek pointed an accusing finger.

Stiles looked confused, and the lady's mouth dropped open.

"My what?"

"Oh don't play dumb, I saw you smiling at your phone. It's another..." Derek was pulled out of the moment enough to catch his almost slip. "man like me! And Scott knows, but you didn't tell me!"

"I'm not dating anyone, and if you could pull your head out of your ass for two seconds, you'd see that."

Derek could hear his heartbeat so he knew it wasn't true, but he said it anyway.He knew it would get to him. "Whatever, Lydia thinks you are to get back at me. I believe her, because you're a liar."

Stiles face went wide with rage. He stood still till he used his spoon to flick a meatball at Derek in spite.

It hit him in the cheek and it left a gravy trail where it rolled down.

The rest of the cafeteria scattered like roaches once they started slinging food, but the lady just laughed and dodged a frisbee thrown cookie.

Turns out globby mashed potato hair and gravy face goes perfectly with a lifetime ban from Ikea. No really, the staff insists. Strongly. All the way to your car.

They didn't speak for several moments while they leaned against the car. Finally Stiles whirled on Derek and pointed a finger, before he could speak though a glob of mashed potatoes fell from his hair and landed on the floor with a splat. The both looked down at the poor pile of mashed potatoes and when they looked back up their eyes met.

They both burst out laughing. In between laughs they could barely get out scraps of sentences.

"Gravy-"

"Rolling meatball-"

"Banned from Ikea." After that one they laughed so hard they had to support themselves against the car.

They slowly stopped laughing. Their eyes again. They stood there staring and smiling at each other.

"We look ridiculous."

"And we definitely are not getting in my car like this." Stiles nodded. Derek unlocked his car and went around to the passenger side. He came back with a stack of napkins. He laid the rest on top of the car before starting to clean off Stiles' face. He gently grabbed Stiles' chin to keep him in place.

Stiles stared into his eyes as he wiped the gravy from his face.

He spoke in a soft voice. "I was mad because I felt excluded. The whole time it felt like this amazing pack thing, like we were all getting closer. And when you started doing individual projects I was happy that you were getting solo time with them, but then I didn't. The house was almost done and it felt like everyone had put finishing touches on the house, that made the house theirs, except me. I saw how close them doing things with you made you guys and I wanted that."

Derek's wiping stopped. "Sti, you are the only reason I even had the courage to start this. This whole thing is because of you. Yes, I did want everybody to have something they did to include them, but I never meant to exclude you. I was saving you for last. I wanted to get the table with you bec-"

"You just last minute threw that idea out there." Stiles rolled his eyes, and tried to look away.

Derek held his chin in place. "I didn't get that other table because you didn't like it. I decided when all was said and done I would ask you to pick out a table with me. The rest of the jobs were either they knew how to do it or it was just convenient, but with you I wanted to pick out the table. Because no matter what, no matter who was fighting, who was busy, who was tired when I was growing up we sat around the table for dinner. We were always brought together for dinner. We sat around that table and ate as a pack, even when we didn't want to be family. We sat around that table while we were at war with a rival pack. We did homework at that table, we made things, we helped my Pops with special dinners. We did everything at that table, and I wanted you to pick out this one because that's what you do. You bring us together. You brought me together, when I didn't even know this was something breaking me. No matter what is happening, you do every time. You help the pack with their homework, you teach Jackson how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, you, Stiles bring us together. So I wanted you to pick it out. That was your project. And you did it. I've never felt closer to the pack. I'm just sorry you felt excluded from that."

Derek let go of his chin and Stiles looked down. Derek could smell the tears salting the mashed potatoes on the ground.

"So- so what you're saying is, you got everything in the house but the kitchen table... because I'm the table?"

Stiles looked back up at him with tears in his eyes and an amused smirk, he still had mashed potatoes in his hair.

Derek didn't know how someone could be so beautiful.

"Yes. You're my kitchen table, Stiles."

"I have never wanted to kiss someone covered in gravy as much as I do now."

Derek froze.

Stiles kissed his cheek and got frosting on his lips. "But you still aren't ready, and that's okay."

Derek looked down at the pink frosting on his lips, and Stiles licked it away.

"Someone told me that even if I'm not ready for some things I should still tell you how I feel. I feel like I really want to kiss you right now, even if I don't feel ready for it." Derek still needed to know without a doubt. He knew Stiles wasn't Kate or Jennifer, he just needed to know that he wasn't Paige. Her loss changed him forever, but Stiles' would kill him. He needed to know that he was actually being led to Stiles and that this wasn't just another wonderful thing he would loose. He had lost too many things to not be sure.

"Alright. Let me know when you're ready."

The entire next week everyone was constantly in and out of the Hale house. Everyone showed up to help finalize. Everyone was moving their things into their rooms, and putting the finishing touches on the house. Cabinetry and counter tops arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, then Thursday all the kitchen appliances arrived, even Scott's specially ordered toaster. Stiles tried to not let his dad lift any of the counter tops, but when Argent and Peter started snickering he stared into Stiles' eyes as he helped lift it.

Friday they decorated. When Derek found out that Stiles' 'secret boyfriend' was actually an alpha that knew his mother that Stiles got a picture from, he nearly cried. When he walked up to where the picture was hung in the mudroom he did cry. He hadn't seen a photo of all of them together since before all their photo albums burned up in the fire.

"I know I said you had to let go but I didn't mean forget. I thought that even if you can't hold them it might be nice to wave at them. Just to let them know you still think about them as you walk through the house."

Derek spoke with a voice filled with emotion. "Ho-how did you?"

"I used a spell to locate it. When I sensed the location housed the supernatural, I asked Deaton and he put me in touch with the alpha there. This was taken wh-"

"When we brokered a treaty with them." Derek's fingertips ghosted over the photo with reverence. "Lillian was so little." He smiled looking at her. "Thank you Stiles. I could never repay this."

He shrugged. "It was nothing."

Derek looked at him with teary eyes. "It means everything to me. Not a single thing you do means nothing, to me. This is everything."

After Derek turned back to the photo he could tell he should leave.

He went to go through to the living room, but Peter caught him by the arm.

"Peter wh-" He hauled him into a hug.

"Thank you for letting me see them again."

Stiles would think he was never there if he didn't have a lingering wet spot on his shirt and clear sight of Peter walking over to hug his nephew. After Derek called Cora over he took one last look at them all leaning on each other remembering their family before he got back to work.

After a hectic Saturday morning, the pack thought they would be all set for their first night in the house. They had a peaceful quiet lunch. Afterwards they filled all of the cabinets with the dishware, silverware, pots and pans, cooking utensils,and other miscellaneous things they had gotten. Allison and Lydia were putting throw blankets and pillows in the living room while DJing. Issac and Cora installed the fridge yelling lyrics of duets and songs they made into duets to Boyd and Scott who were making all of the beds upstairs.

Stiles was grinning down at an equally happy Derek while he was handing him fancy plates to put on the top shelf.

"They're crazy. How is our pack so crazy?"

Stiles looked down from where he was stood on a chair with a fond look before speaking. "You wouldn't have it any other way, sourwolf."

Derek paused handing him the next plate, before setting it down. "No I wouldn't." Derek lit up like a Christmas tree, before getting a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Der- WHOA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Derek picked him up by the back of his legs. "Put me down!"

"No we're in the pack too. We have to be crazy too!" Derek started waltzing around in circles while holding Stiles up high.  Cora and Issac started laughing.

"Come on Stiles they finally played Christmas music for you, sing!"

Stiles shook his head. "You're so weird!"

"AND ALL THE LIGHTS ARE SHINING, SO BRIGHTLY EVERYWHERE!" They both laughed as Derek sang loudly and twirled them into the living room. "AND THE SOUND OF CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER FILLS THE AIR!" Lydia and Allison laughed like witches as they danced around with them.

Stiles belted out the next lyric. "AND EVERYONE IS SINGING, I CAN HEAR THOSE SLEIGH BELLS RINGING!" Erica and his dad came to watch them with grins and cameras.

They nearly ran into Jackson and Malia on their way to the steps.

They sang the next lyric together. "SANTA WON'T YOU BRING ME THE ONE I REALLY LOVE, WON'T YOU PLEASE BRING MY BABY TO MEEEE!"

Stiles sang the next lyric to Peter and Argent where they were working on a bathroom.  "I DON'T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS, THIS IS ALL I'M ASKING FOR! NO I- Whoa!" Stiles grabbed the back of Derek's neck for balance.

Derek ran them over to the doorway of the room Scott and Boyd were working in and continued the song. "STANDING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR!"

Stiles joined back in.

"I JUST WANT YOU FOR MY OWN." Stiles gestured to Boyd and then Derek motioned to Scott. "MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW! MAKE MY WISH COME TRUUUE!" They went even louder for the finale.  "YOU KNOW THAT ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS," Scott and Boyd reached out for them. They sang the next lyric even louder. "IS YOUUUUU!!!" Right as they did Scott and Boyd turned and reached for each other.

Stiles went to look down at Derek in disbelief, but when he did Derek looked up and sang the next lyric to him softly. "Is youuu." Stiles smiled back at him.

Promiscuous started playing.

"Derek get your ass down here! Batman had his turn, put him down! This is our song! You better not miss your next part!" She went immediately into singing. "You lookin' for a girl that'll treat you right, you lookin' for her in the daytime with the light."

Derek's singing was terrible while holding Stiles and running. "You might be the type if I play my cards right, I'll find out by the end of the night."

"You expect me to just let you hit it, but will you still respect me if you get it?"

"All I can do is try, give me-"

"DEREK! THE CEILI-"  

"One chance."

"THUNK THUNK THUNK!"

"OW!"

There was no more dancing while holding people in the air near ceiling fans.

Once Stiles was back on the ground they laughed as he held his head.

"Oh my gold that is gold Stilinski!"

"I'm sorry." Derek could barely get it out in between laughter.

"Laugh it up jackasses." Even Stiles was smiling.

They were all doubled over in laughter so long they had to restart it for Erica and Derek.

Later Scott and Stiles sang islands in the stream, while everyone rolled their eyes.

They just had finishing touches to do before they could start the movie. Derek was listening to his pack belt out the lyrics to happy, when he realized he was. He was truly happy in a way he hadn't been since the fire. He felt complete and at peace, like he had finally healed. Looking over to where Stiles was singing into a bottle scrubber, Derek felt it. All of this was because of him, he healed him. He made him want to be better. He made him want to deserve to be happy, to deserve him. He had never felt something as sure as he did that Stiles was meant for him. He was meant to be his, he knew it now.

He got up to make his way to the kitchen determined.

"I'm so happy happyyy!" They were surprisingly in tune as they all sang.

"Hey Alli your phone is ringing."

"I'm happy happy!"

The gleeful mood was cut through like a knife as Allison's chemo signals became discordant with theirs by flooding anxiety and discomfort.

The wolves noticed immediately.

Derek paused his walk to the kitchen.

Boyd turned down the music.

"Babe what's wrong?" Scott looked concerned.

"It's some old friends of my dad."

The room instantly was silent.

Isaac spoke. "Don't answer it!"

Peter came storming down, pissed. Derek guessed his own moment was interrupted. "I agree with the cub, don't answer it."

Her dad came trailing after. "What am I missing?"

"Dave and Maria."

Argent looked down at her phone with understanding.

"Hang up!" Jackson urged.

"Well maybe not. What if they want to see if she's in for a hunt, say for us? We could use the heads up!" Lydia spoke logically.

"They aren't like that! They're some of the good ones."

Peter spoke while edging away from Argent. "You want to answer it!"

Allison looked shocked. "NO!"

Scott came to her side. "She's not like that, you know that Peter. Back off."

Derek was overwhelmed with how fast the peace had turned to chaos. He didn't know what to say.

"Well then why hasn't she hung up!"

"They keep calling, it could be important."

"Not your problem. You picked your side princess, or did you ?" Peter snarled.

Argent pushed Peter back. "Cool it. If I remember correctly you also didn't have a side once."

The sheriff moved his hands up and down to calm them. "Settle down everyone."

"How can we?"

It was all too much. He felt like everything was crashing down. He felt the building crumble beneath him. He felt a warm hand slide into his. He looked and he saw Stiles. He held his eyes as he nodded up and down reassuringly.

Derek turned back to the argument. "Answer it."

All eyes turned to him.

"Derek are you sure? I won't if you don-"

"Answer it. I trust you." He nodded.

It was tense as she answered the call and spoke for several moments. When she hung up there was silence till Derek spoke again.

"Go."

Stiles pulled his hand from Derek's and stood in front of him. "What?! No! She didn't say anything. You told her to answer it! Alli what was it about?"

"Maria was in a hunting accident taking down a rogue omega a couple towns over. Dave needs to be with her, but they don't have anyone to watch the kids."

"Sure a rouge omega. Next thing you know we're classified as a rogue pack!"

"They aren't like that! They investigate. See both sides. They are good!" Allison defended herself from Peter again. "They wouldn't just kill someone." The last part she pleaded to Derek.

"Okay. I believe you. Go."

"Nephew! I-"

Derek roared. "Enough Peter! Even if they were those kinds of hunters, they are just children. Wondering where their mother is. Scared and alone. Are you willing to burn the innocent to punish the ones you think guilty?" They all listened the words, but what they heard was, 'Are you like the one that took everything from you?'

Peter settled and seemed ashamed.

Derek turned back to Allison. "Nous protègons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protèger eux-měmes. Go. Protect them."

"Thank you. You can tell me about the movie tomorrow." She hurriedly grabbed her things.

Stiles spoke up. "You're pack. We can't have pack movie night or the first night in the pack house without you. We'll do it tomorrow."

Argent and Allison left in a hurry, soon followed by Peter. Lydia and Jackson left with a mutter about extra time for college prep. Boyd and Erica offered to drop Issac and Cora off at the loft so Derek could stay behind and check a few things. The sheriff left after stealing another soda. It was just Scott, Stiles, and Derek. Once Scott left Derek could finally talk to Stiles.

"Oh shoot. Alli was my ride."

"Don't worry bro, I can drop you off."

"Thanks man."

Derek would talk to him tomorrow apparently.

The night stretched on, and tomorrow took forever to come. He laid awake wanting nothing more than to just talk to Stiles, but if it was right he could wait. It was right, he knew it.

Stiles took forever to get there, so by the time he did there was talk about going shopping to fill the empty pantry and cabinets. After they talked with Allison, they were off to the store.

"I swear to god if you guys don't decide on what cereal you want, nobody is getting any!"

"Why do we have to pick one, Stiles?" She whined.

"Because otherwise you eat all except half and open another one!"

"You're no even the one that's paying." Isaac brought out.

They all looked at Derek. He looked in between the pack and Stiles. "You can pick four cereals."

Stiles threw his hands up in the air.

"Does oatmeal count?" Scott asked.

Derek looked at Stiles as he crossed his arms. "Oatmeal counts." He looked slightly appeased.

By the time they finally got home it was early afternoon. Then they had to put everything away, so they were exhausted. They took a nap to test out the new couch. If Derek hadn't been awake almost all night he would've stayed awake, but slowly his eyelids drooped.

Derek awoke a couple hours later to see Stiles drooling on Malia. He sleepily smiled. Seeing him like that made him ache to talk to him, but it was right so he could wait.

They slowly woke up they wanted to start the new movies they got, once Stiles did he demanded the new Aladdin.

It was right. He could wait till the everyone fell asleep to talk to him.

"Hey  guys what if we did an all nighter? You now for the first night in the new house. Like a sleepover."

Derek was about kill Scott and shoot down the idea when-

"I've never had a sleepover." Curse Isaac and his adorable puppy eyes.

"Well me and Scott are pros so we'll teach you."

It was past midnight and Derek was crawling out of his skin. It didn't help that they were watching the notebook. Again! The sheriff, Argent, and Peter were long asleep, which he wished everyone but Stiles would follow. He went to the kitchen to get a drink.

"What do you really not like romantic movies? How could you not, we've only watched this one three times." Stiles started to pop another bag of popcorn.

Derek turned to give a tight smile. Oh god now that he was here this was so difficult. What if he said it wrong? What if Stiles didn't feel the same way anymore?

"What's wrong?"

Derek sighed and turned to lean back against the counter as he crossed his arms, which Stiles thought should be illegal for him when he's in joggers and a black tank top. His head hit the cabinets, but not before Stiles saw his face that means, 'I want to have an important conversation, but I'm emotionally constipated.'

With the quiet hum of the microwave Stiles settled against the counter opposite of Derek. "Are we going to talk about why you have constipated face? Orrr..."

"What would you say if I wanted to go for a run?" Derek's head was still tilted to the ceiling.

"I'd say that's something you normally would do even if I didn't know you, just because of what shape your body is in."

"No, not like a normal run."

"What? Do you mean now?" Stiles scoffed, but Derek didn't move.

"You mean now. Derek it is like two and pitch black out."

"The moon is out. And tonight is the best night for it. The only night."

"Why?"

"Well... I mean- uhh because I can feel my wolf pacing and it feels like it's clawing at my brain. I just- I have something on my mind and-and I need to know something. I need to do something, to prove something I've believed for a long time."

Stiles looked like he was trying his best to understand. "Okay. Then go. I'll make sure the pack is okay, and I'll clean up. I'll wait up to make sure you get ba-"

"No. No I don't want to go alone."

"Wait I don't understand? Do you want- Oh oh okay. You want the pack to come. This is like a wolf thing. Gotcha. Cuz for a second I thought-"

"No this-" Derek seemed reluctant to slowly interrupt.

"you meant me."

Derek stopped talking, so he continued.

"Which of course is crazy. I mean why would just you and I-"

Derek collected himself. "Stiles of course I meant the pack don't be stupid. And you're right it's a wolf thing."

"Okay. Yeah. Right. Alright let's get them then."

Derek looked like he was crazy. "Stiles it's the middle of the night they aren't going to want to just go out. It's cold out and they're in the middle of a movie."

Stiles rolled his eyes and scoffed with an air of superiority. "It's about tactics sourwolf. Also no one likes that movie except Lydia and Boyd. Watch and learn."

Stiles sauntered out of the room and Derek helplessly followed.

Stiles got the remote and clicked pause to be met with two disapprovals and a chorus of oh thank God.

"Alright pups I have an alternative to movie night. Who wants to-"

"Shut up Sti. It was finally my turn to pick a movie and I will not-"

"Who here wants to sign up for the mutiny against Lydia Martin's dictatorship over always doing The Notebook for her movie choice? Show of hands."

Lydia shot a glare at Jackson as everyone in the room except Boyd raised their hand.

"Okay. I propose a more exciting activity."

"Strip poker?"

"No, not exactly. Who wants to go for a run?"

Everyone looked at him like he had two fluffy ears and glowing eyes suddenly.

"What?"

"Oh come on it'll be fun!"

"Yeah sure whatever, but you Stilinski? You hate when coach makes us run more than literally everyone else in the school. And, oh I don't know, it's night."

"Well you know what they say, a good pitch black night is the best for a run."

"Sorry Stiles honey, but no. Now play my movie before I make you."

"Okay I didn't want to do this, but fine. Scott you're going. I could do this the long way and convince you, but we both know I will so just do it on good faith and awareness of the past. Allison you'll go because Scott is and because you love the woods at night. Derek's going so Isaac will. Erica you will go because you love me and because I agree to that favor you asked me, but I said no last Tuesday. Boyd you'll follow Erica. Malia you're always down for a run. And that leaves Lydia, you'll do this because of the business manager that I drove you to that night, neither of us will ever, and I mean ever, be able to forget that image, but I could've rejected your call but I didn't. So imagine this as pay back because you needed my car and for some reason to emotionally scar me. So Jackson will come because you do. Now are we all in agreement? Or do I need to repeat myself?"

Everyone sat in shock.

"And come on who hasn't wanted to go for a run as a pack in the middle of the night? It'll be fun. Like a secret party. Just us running with a thrill coursing through us. Now I'm going to run upstairs and grab my hoodie, last one ready to go and outside that door has to stay behind for five minutes and then catch up." Stiles dashed off.

They sat in silence.

"I don't know if that was scary or impressive." Isaac whispered slightly like maybe he could hear him through the floor.

"Both darling, but that's Batman for you."

Everyone still sat in quiet till Allison spoke, "Do you think he's joking? Or are we all going? Is he serious? He can't be serious."

Jackson spoke next, "This is so ridiculous. Why would we all just go running off into the woods in the middle of the night? It makes no sense. It would be stupid."

There was a shout. "I don't hear movement. Shall I make it ten? I've made it ten."

Derek could tell they needed a push. "You're right. You all wouldn't do such a thing. Especially with school tomorrow. What kind of childish, foolish group of kids would run in the woods this late?" Derek added one last thing. "It would be totally irresponsible."

Everyone scrambled up at once. There were shouts, shoves, and people slinging coats and scarves every which way. The door flung open as they all raced outside.

Lydia was the only one besides Stiles left. She walked up to him.

"Oh Derek? I totally know what you did there, but I am choosing to ignore it. M'kay?" She patted his cheek twice before turning and stalking out of the house.

Stiles was zipping up a coat from Derek's closet as he walked down the steps.

"Well that went well. I thought I would have more persuading to do once I got down here, but the elephant circus I heard down here was surprising and welcome. Thanks."

"Thank you, you're the one that did most of the convincing for me."

"No problem, but I do need forty bucks for the thing Erica asked me to do. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, I borrowed a jacket. Although I do hope this one isn't also the last thing you have left from a dead relative."

"Peter gave it to me so you're safe there. The bastard just won't die."

Stiles chuckled. "Alright well let's go. Don't want to be late."

"You already are. You're gonna be the last one out."

"Who says?"

Derek mock looked around. "They're all out there."

"You aren't."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I can get out the door faster."

Stiles brazenly gave a wide knowing grin. "Really? Want to bet on that?"

"No magic?"

"No magic."

"Well then, I don't have to."

"Good man. Not betting on a losing horse."

"I fail to see my disadvantage." Derek smirked and crossed his arms.

"Really do you? Well, would you like to? You see, your disadvantage comes from the same place as my knowledge that I could get my hoodie on, search for the right coat, find my hat and gloves, tie my laces, and still get out that door before the last person."

"And where is that place, oh wise one?"

Stiles smirked and tapped his head. "I know you Derek. And I know one other thing."

"Really? Should we put that knowledge to the test?"

"Ready on three big guy?" They both were starting intently into each others eyes, both challenging the other. "One. Two. Three."

Derek was gone in a flash as Stiles fake flinched his own dash to the door.

Derek was leaning on the door frame with his forearms, having yet to cross the threshold. He could hear the pack a little ways off talking intently.

Derek finally heard a squeak in the floorboards that he didn't cause. "You see Derek, I know you..." Stiles ducked under his arm, and stayed close to him once he'd reached the other side. He gave him a fake coy smile. "And I knew you'd wait for me." Stiles patted his chest twice before turning away from him with a flirty wink. Stiles called without turning back, "Besides, my alpha has speed. You'll catch up, won't you?"

Derek closed his red eyes and took a few calming breaths before heading to his car.

When he finally got to the group Jackson asked, "So what? Are we just all going to run? What about the humans? I like winning, but up against Stilinski it's not even a game."

Stiles shot back. "It's not a game. It's pack bonding."

Derek spoke up. "Well actually it is a sort of game." At that the pack perked up and looked interested. "There will be two groups, and each team is made of pairs. One group will be seekers and one group will be hiders. And-"

"Okay it sounds really great so far and sorry for interrupting, but like what are those?" Stiles pointed to what Derek was holding.

"I was getting there. These are occaeco. They ar-"

"I might not speak archaic Latin, but I speak regular Latin and know what those plants and herbs are for. Occaeco. It means I make blind." Stiles looked puzzled even if he had figured out his question.

"Right. They are occaeco, mystical necklaces used in many rituals and practices."

Scott looked wary. "Um Derek, if you were looking for a way to make this totally tense and awkward, you found it dude."

"I am not putting something super witchy, that literally means to make blind around my neck."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Jackson my family and I used these all the time. My four year old cousin wore one for godsake. It's a family tradition, and no one has ever gone blind from it..." Derek suddenly looked contemplative. "Well I guess there was my great great uncle, what was his name? Jacob? No, Jack? Jackson that was it."

Everyone felt the shift in the air at his cousin being mentioned, and even jokingly.

"Okay fine."

"I promise they are harmless. They just make you undetectable to werewolves. They mask your scent, and muffle your heartbeat."

"What? Derek! Don't you think we could've used one of these when, oh I don't know, the alpha pack was attacking us!"

"Oh gee Stiles I never thought of that." He deadpanned. "They take a lot of time and energy to make. You need certain ingredients, and they have to be made with intent for a certain purpose. They're meant more just for fun though."

"What is this game called?" Erica asked with a competitive glint in her eyes. She always knew the right thing to ask.

"I-it's a complicated Latin name."

"Sourwolf I don't even need to know your heartbeat to know that was a lie."

Derek sighed. "It's called alphas and betas."

Snickers could be heard in the darkness.

"Like a werewolf cops and robbers? Oh my god this is the best!" Erica squealed.

"Shut up, and pair up. There should be at least one wolf per team. It should be with someone you are deeply connected with. Someone you think you could find even if you lost all of your senses."

Talking and arguing ensued.

"Hey bud do you want to be on my team?"

"Scott, I appreciate what you are doing here trying to be a considerate best friend by making sure I'm not the last kid picked for dodge ball, but if you and Allison were any more perfect for each other I'd throw up."

"Are you sure?"

"Go Scott."

"Me and Alli are a team."

"So are Jackson and I."

Derek handed them out as teams were called.

"Team sluts is a go. Sorry batman. Boyd also would like everyone to know he was not consulted on the name just subjected to it."

Cora spoke up. "We have odd numbers and I've played before, so I'll be the omega. If there's odd numbers the omega goes around trying to find the hiders before the seekers can."

Isaac started to speak. "I'm with-"

"Stiles is with me." Everyone looked with shocked faces to where they heard Derek's voice. Derek always paired with Isaac, so he didn't feel left out.

"But-" Derek brushed a reassuring arm up his.

"Isaac you're with Malia. You've been studying a lot together lately, right?"

They didn't need to see in the dark to know what red cheeks Isaac had, or how upset Cora was.

"Hey sourwolf, if you were looking for subtle you found it. And kept on driving right past it for several miles."

"Ugh whatever. As long as he wears the necklace."

"Did you make one for hi-" Stiles started.

"I knew she wouldn't wear it." Derek answered.

"Okay the game is won when the first team to find their teammate roars, but it continues till all pairs are found. Once you find your pair or are found you and your partner will head back to the house. If anyone gets lost take off your occaeco so we can find you."

Allison was messing with a necklace. "How do we figure out who's going to the alphas to find the betas in each pair? Does the alpha have to be a wolf?"

"That's not how the game works. You get your title at the end. The alphas are the first person to find someone and the last person found. The rest are betas. The seeker doesn't have to be a wolf."

More arguing ensued for several minutes.

"Okay is everyone final in their decisions? Okay great. Allison, Malia, Jackson, Erica, and Derek are the seekers, and me, Scott, Lydia, Boyd, and Isaac are the hiders. Hiders get a staggering twenty minute head start, thirty in my case."

"What?"

"No fair!"

"We never agreed to that rule."

"No ifs, ands, or buts. Derek was the last one out of the house. I didn't even know the game when I said it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased. Alright go!" With no further warning Stiles was off, quickly followed by the rest.

Stiles could feel his breath hammering out in harsh big breaths, the cold felt like knives with every lung full of air.

He kept moving swiftly through the woods, even though his legs felt on fire. He had heard Malia and Jackson's roars and Allison's yell as they started their hunts earlier. In what felt like seconds later Derek let out a booming roar that caused Stiles' feet to carry him even faster with a thrill. He should've been panicked, but he was darting and twisting through the woods with a focused purpose.

He heard a, "Erica, Boyd is over here!" before snickering.

"Malia you ass! That's not how the game works!" Boyd's slowed steps turned to a dead run as Lydia yelled.

"What? I thought it was predators vs prey?"

There was a rapidly departing stoic voice, "No, that's not how it works."

Stiles held in his laughter as he continued running and leaving fake paths.

Everything was quiet for awhile. It had been awhile since Stiles had heard any hoots or hollers from the pack. Earlier he had heard a startled yell from Scott and then Allison's yell once again. He thought she would be the first one to find her pair, she'd been tracking since she could walk. He was surprised when Erica's victorious roar cut through the air. Malia had survived on her own so her roar, awhile later, came as no surprise. He had seen Cora go by from where he was hiding behind a tree and he had held his breath. She followed one of the fake paths, and he let it out. Stiles smiled thinking he might even have a shot at being the last found, and how mad Jackson would be.  He wondered how Derek was doing.

Derek could feel the frustration in the form of fangs biting into his lip. He couldn't find Stiles. He couldn't help losing control. He heard Allison, then Erica, and even Malia. Malia and Isaac weren't even close! Isaac was only studying with her because they both needed the help and Cora seemed to pay more attention to him then! Derek had asked Stiles to do this to find answers, but now he was wishing he just stayed home. The game was a great cover for what he actually was trying to find out, but he wasn't ready to lose this badly. It hurt. He was so confused. He had been so sure before, so this was like a slap to the face. Maybe he was wrong.

Jackson's roar sounded. Derek lashed out and punched a nearby tree. He felt tears of frustration prick his eyes. His anger settled back to confusion and anguish.

Derek looked back up to the sky for what felt like the hundredth time. "Please. Just if you aren't leading me to him, stop. Please just stop making me think he's mine. I thought he was mine? Either show me to him or show me the truth. I want you to lead me to him. I might not deserve him, but I want him. He knows me. He knows my truth. Let him be my path or let me leave this one that keeps leading me to him."

"Mom?"

"Yes my darling?"

"Are moonmatches actually real?"

"I think so. Your dad is mine. Why sweetheart?"

"Do you think I will ever find my moonmatch?"

"Yes. I think you will. Why?"

"Because I've tried and I don't think I'll ever be able to find them. How do you know how to follow the moon when you find dad?" Derek's already quiet, sleepy voice turned to a whisper. "Does dad ever take off his occaeco so you can find him faster?"

"No he doesn't. It's not about knowing how, it's about knowing you will. And I'll let you know one other secret. You don't follow just the moon."

Derek's little eyebrows scrunched up.

"What do I tell you to say if you're scared, unsure, or alone?"

"The sun, the moon, and the truth."

"That's right little cub. The sun that lights the way, the moon that reflects the path, and the truth which carries the weight of the distance. One very important truth."

"What?" Derek covered a yawn with a tiny hand.

"I can't tell you that. Your truth is different than my truth. Just as your moon is different. I can tell you that you will find them though. I know you will. And my cub I promise you when you find them, you will know too. My little beacon of the sun. Your eyes shine too bright to not guide them home to you. You will find them and they will know your truth unlike any other ever could." Talia smoothed his blankets. "You will know when the time is right. Now sleep my little cub."

Derek was still looking at the sky as he remembered his mother all those moons ago.

What was his truth? What else would he follow if not the moon?

Derek was so frustrated. He pulled on his hair and squeezed his head. Why couldn't he think! Why didn't he know by now?! He self-deprecatingly thought that in his position Stiles would know.

Wait.

Stiles would know.

His mother said he would know who his mate was, but his mate was the one that would know the truth not him.

But then how was he supposed to find Stiles if Stiles is the one that knows his truth?

How was he supposed to find someone that is the person that knows where they are? It was all so complicated and he just wanted to find Stiles. But he couldn't find Stiles because he didn't know his truth. Even if according to his mother he didn't need to know his truth because Stiles knew it. By that logic he wouldn't need to find Stiles either because he-

Because he would find himself. Stiles would find himself.

This whole time he shouldn't have been looking for the moon to guide him, or the truth. He should've been following Stiles, and like he said at the doorway, 'I know you Derek.' Stiles knew him. He didn't need to find the moon, the truth, or even Stiles. This wasn't about finding out where Stiles would go, this was about where Derek would find him. Stiles would go somewhere Derek would.

Derek sprinted off in a dead run.

Trees were blurring by and branches were trying to slow his path. His chest was heaving. Finally his feet slowed once he saw a familiar place.

He heard a familiar voice too. One so familiar he would swear it was his.

"If that is anything other than Derek, you might as well eat me now because I'm not running. If it is, what took you so long?" Stiles spun around with a grin. Derek had never in his life been so happy to find such a smug bastard. Stiles grin fell. "You're hurt."

"You're here."

"I asked you first." Stiles had a fond smile.

Derek smirked. "Neither of us asked a question."

"Okay smart ass. Why are you hurt?"

"Because I couldn't wait any longer to do this." Like the glue keeping his feet in place had magically disappeared, Derek ran to Stiles.

Stiles held his breath waiting for the moment his lips would finally meet Derek's.

Derek wrapped him in a hug.

Stiles felt himself deflate. "Not that this isn't nice because this is really nice, but I thought you were going to kiss me. You know how badly I want you, so if we could not play with my feelings like that it'd b-"

"Stiles."

"Yes?"

"I want you too. But not like that. Not right now, not for this moment. I don't want you in the big grand moments, I want you in the small ones. The ones where you're quoting Captain America like breathing. The ones where you settle my pack by knowing the right words, the ones you settle me with the right words. The ones you drool on Malia, or bribe Erica. I don't want you in one grand ephemeral beginning, I want you in one long amazing middle, and when the end comes I'll want you in that too. I don't want you in one big finally there kiss. I want you in a hug that means I'm finally home. I don't want the momentary bliss of feeling your lips against mine. I want to hold you so tight we forget we aren't one, that we are actually just two people wound so closely together we forget that we are meant to be anything other than together. I want you. Forever. Not just now. But if you don't I und-"

Stiles gripped him impossibly closer. "I built a house with you. How much more forever could you get, stupid."

Derek let out a chuckle.

"I will love you Derek. For one long amazing middle. I can wait to kiss you until you're rea-"

Derek sweetly kissed his lips. "I'm ready."

Stiles understood now. He thought he did before, but he does now. That one small moment was worth ten thousand big dramatic kisses in the rain. That kiss told him Derek would be there always. It said Derek would take care of him. It was a kiss that said I want to spend everyday of my life rebuilding myself so you have a home for your heart. It told him Derek would lazily kiss his neck when he was mad he didn't put the milk away on sleepy Saturday mornings. It said I love you in a way that takes years to feel the magnitude of its intensity. It said to him, I will love you in little bits for the rest of our lives to show you that even broken down so small our love is still the greatest thing either of us will ever experience.  

Stiles never believed that there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. He hauled him in for another kiss. A kiss that said I will love you every day of my life. I will start loving you today, and I will never stop. It told him I love you when you laugh. I will love you in the small moments to such an extent that you think they are the big moments. It said I will spend my life being loud so you will never know the pain of silence again. It said there are not enough stars in the sky to thank for the privilege of being able to love you. It said I will never stop loving you in big grand ways because you deserve it, and I want to show you you do. It said I will never stop loving you in big ways in small moments. It said I will never stop loving you this intensely and I want every time you are quietly reading a book while rubbing my feet to know.

When they got back all of the pack was asleep in the living room.

Stiles smiled at them. Derek smiled at him.

"Should we wake them to tell them to go upstairs?"

"No, let them sleep."

"Yeah that's a good idea. They're already goi- Why are you staring at me like that?"

Derek smiled. "Nothing, just our pack, our house. I feel like I've waited all my life to finally have you." Derek kissed Stiles' hand. "Ours. Finally ours."

Stiles smiled back. "I feel like I've always been yours. I was just waiting for you."

"Now you have me."

"No. Forever I have you."

"Alright yoda."

"Love you I do."

Derek laughed quietly so he didn't wake the pack. He pulled him towards the couch and the sleeping pack that occupied it. Derek pulled Erica away from the side of the couch and slid into the spot, then he pulled her back to his side. He motioned Stiles closer. Stiles brought a blanket and covered them all after laying on top of Derek.

"Goodnight yoda I could spend the rest of my life loving."

"A goodnight my darling, you will have."

"Goodnight Stiles. I love you." Derek kissed him on his forehead.

"Goodnight Derek. I love you."

This was a hefty bitch. Sorry it is late but this beast had a mind of its own just ask @halevetica​ whom without I would’ve gone absolutely batshit. Thank you as always my darling. I hope you liked it!!!