#single parent peter hale

[sapphireginger]

Summary:

Stiles was not a fan of water and hated to swim but his son Sam was like a fish. So, Stiles braved his fear to take his son to the public pool. That was where he met Peter but not in the way one would want to have met a potential partner. Peter’s response however, surprised Stiles and led to something great.

AO3 Link

Stiles has never liked swimming nor has he ever been fond of the water. Not since he was four and his mother tried to drown him in the bathtub. It didn’t help that he got bullied and dunked repeatedly, making him terrified of swimming lessons. He ended up teaching himself because the other kids just kept pushing him under.

So, Stiles taught himself how to swim and he now only took showers. Well, he mainly only took to showers now. Oh, he would take baths occasionally but it was pretty rare and he never swam. He had tried to work through it and he would only ever swim when he was completely alone. It was why he got a private membership at Luna Aquatic Center.

However as he stood outside the public pool with Samuel’s hand in his, he felt sick to his stomach. He idly traced the now bare ring finger of his left hand with his thumb. His wife—ex-wife—was the one who took Samuel, their little Sam, to the pool. Stiles never trusted her enough to tell her why he couldn’t, and the lack of trust really should’ve made finding her in bed with another man less surprising. The only reason Stiles remained as calm as he had upon discovering them was because his son was sleeping. His bitch of an ex slept with another man while their son was taking his afternoon nap.

Since Stiles owned the house, he kicked her out and unsurprisingly ended up with full custody of their son.

That was just before summer started. Stiles realized he probably could have asked for someone to help take his son to the pool but that felt like admitting weakness and it wasn’t something that he could afford to admit. He had already lost his wife. He didn’t want anyone to have any reason to think he was unable be a father to Sam.

“Daddy?”

Stiles looked at his son who held out the sunscreen. “Sorry, kiddo. Daddy was just thinking.” He took the bottle and squeezed it into his hand before covering his five-year-old’s skin with it.

Sam tilted his head. “It’s okay, Daddy. I was thinking too.”

“Oh? What were you thinking about?”

His son pointed. “The slide. I wanna go down but I’m still too little.”

Stiles glanced at the slide and chewed his lip, nerves churning in his gut. He knew Sam could go down if he had an adult waiting at the bottom. “Well, you could go down if I was waiting for you.”

Sam gasped and shook his head. “Daddy, no. You don’t like the water.”

Stiles set the bottle aside and smiled softly. “No but I love you and if you want to slide I’ll do it for you.”

“No. No thank you, Daddy.”

“You sure, kiddo?”

“I’m positive. Guess why.”

“Why?”

“Cause I love you, Daddy and I’m smart cause I know that sometimes growed ups are scared of things. I know you love me, Daddy and you don’t have to catch me from the slide for me to member that.”

Stiles felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes making them sting slightly. Fuck but he loves his son so much. “How’d I end up with such a wonderful boy like you with a big golden heart?”

Sam grinned revealing a gap where he lost a baby tooth and hugged his dad. “I take after you, Daddy. Gampa said so.”

Stiles hugged his son tightly, wiped his face, and cleared his throat. “Well, if you change your mind let me know. I’ll be here when you need more sunscreen in an hour. Okay?”

“Okay, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you too, kiddo.”

Stiles watched as his son jumped in the shallow and splashed around. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He was so focused he didn’t hear a man speaking to him the first time but startled slightly when he spoke the second time.

“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Stiles looked up and blinked at the gorgeous blue-eyed man staring at him. “S’okay. No harm done.”

“May I sit?”

Stiles nodded and gestured to the open chair.

The man took a seat and offered his hand. “I’m Peter.”

“Stiles.”

Peter shook his hand and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Stiles. Do you have a little one here?”

Stiles nodded. “Yes. You?”

Peter smiled fondly and gestured to a boy and girl not far from where Sam was playing. “That’s my nephew Derek and my daughter Malia.”

Stiles looked and smiled before gesturing to his own child. “That’s my son, Sam.”

“I’m glad to see another father here.”

Stiles quirked a brow. “Oh?”

Peter nodded with a wry smile. “Mhm. Quite frankly it’s a nice change. The first week it was all women with their kids. Which, don’t get me wrong, all the power to them but I don’t know. It’s just nice seeing another dad who actually cares.”

“Hm. How do you know I care?”

“Anyone paying attention can tell you care.”

“Been watching me, huh?”

“Yes and without even realizing it your body is always facing where your son is.”

Stiles took stock of himself and realized that Peter was right. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, he’s my world. So, I’m in tune with him.”

“I’d expect nothing less from a father who cares.”

Peter quirked a brow, his smirk shifting to a soft smile as Malia came bounding over. “Papa?”

“Yes, dearest.”

“Um, I was wondering if I can go on the slide?”

“I don’t know. I think you’re too little dearest.”

Derek walked over and smiled, revealing two front teeth that reminded Stiles of an adorable bunny rabbit. “I can take her if that’s okay, Uncle Peter.”

Peter tilted his head and nodded. “Be careful and keep an eye on her. Malia, hold his hand please.”

“Okay. Thank you, Papa!” She took Derek’s hand and eagerly made her way to get in line for the slide. Stiles chewed his lip, noticing his son watching the two older children get in line.

Peter noticed and glanced at Stiles, tilting his head. “Did Sam want to go on the slide?”

Stiles tensed and angled his body further away from Peter. “Yes, but we talked about it and it’s fine now.” Stiles wanted to go, wanted to flee. He wanted to get up and walk away because—

“If you’d like I’m sure Derek would be willing to—”

Stiles suddenly stood up and shook his head. “Look, I’m glad you have someone who can take your daughter down the slide, but I don’t have that and I don’t need it either. I’m perfectly capable of—o-of—” His breathing started to speed up and he started moving his thumb against the bare ring finger of his left hand, spots starting to appear in his vision.

“Daddy?” Peter saw Stiles’s son walking over and watched him gently take Stiles’s hand in his own. “Daddy, can you see five fings?”

“Pool. Ch-Chair. Towel. Ball. Sunscreen.”

“Thank you, Daddy. Smell three fings?”

“Chlorine. Sunscreen. Flowers.”

Stiles slowly lowered himself to the chair and Sam climbed into his lap. “Three fings to hear, Daddy.”

“Laughing. Splashing. Breathing.”

He wrapped his arms around his son and shuddered, pressing a kiss to the top of the boy’s head. “Thank you, kiddo.”

Sam looked at Peter with a small smile. “Welcome, Daddy. I’m gonna go play now, okay?”

Stiles cleared his throat and nodded. “Of course. I’ll be all right.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Sam kissed Stiles’s cheek and then jumped back into the pool. Stiles took a deep breath and Peter watched him, feeling protective but he said nothing, simply watching over the man silently.

After a few minutes had passed and Stiles seemed to calm down, he turned to face Peter. “I owe you an apology. You were being very kind and I was very rude. I'm sorry.”

Peter gave him a small and understanding smile. “I accept, but I do think perhaps we simply had a misunderstanding. All is forgiven.”

With a flush of embarrassment to his cheeks, Stiles glanced away from Peter’s intense gaze. It felt like the man saw way more than Stiles wanted him to. “That’s not an issue I experience all the time just um…” he trailed off.

“You don’t have to explain. I’m glad your son was able to help you.”

“He shouldn’t have to. He’s a kid.”

Peter nodded. “He is but he’s also your kid.”

“Yeah. He’s a really good kid.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did he know what to do?”

Stiles cleared his throat and turned more towards Peter. “When Sam was two we were at the park and he got bit by a dog. He doesn’t really remember it but he gets panic attacks sometimes. Once we explained it to him, he grasped it pretty well for a four year old. Last year, he had a big one and I helped him through it. When he calmed down, he asked me why I was asking him all those questions.” Stiles chuckled wetly. “I told him why and now he’s always ready to ask me if I get panicked like him.”

Peter smiled. “As much as I don’t wish that on anyone, I’m glad you have him and that he has you.”

“You don’t think I’m a bad father?”

“No. On the contrary, I think you’re what a father should strive to be.”

Stiles blushed and his stomach flipped. This guy was smooth as melted chocolate. After inhaling sharply and clearing his throat, Stiles sent Peter a coy but soft smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome.”

Stiles gestured towards the pool. “If um…” he trailed off. “When your nephew comes back if the offer is still…”

Peter grinned. “I’m sure that Derek would be happy to.”

Stiles’s shoulders lost their tension and he smiled gratefully. “Thank you. So, how horrible of a father am I that my son has to help me out of a panic attack?” He knew Peter had already assured him he wasn’t, and Stiles wasn’t fishing for more compliments but he didn’t understand how Peter drew the conclusion he had from one example alone

Peter firmly shook his head. “You’re not a horrible father at all. I might not know you well but I have eyes. I saw the way you watched over him and the way he looks at you is like you’re his hero which isn’t surprising in the least. Him helping you with a panic attack just goes to show how much your son loves you and he also knows how to help others who may experience that. That’s all because he’s learned from you.”

Stiles smiled and blushed slightly, his heart fluttering at the compliment.

Peter nodded and his stomach swooped at the blinding grin on Stiles’s face when he watched his son go down the slide. The hopeful look on the boy’s face when Derek and Peter had offered was priceless. Peter and Stiles talked while their kiddos played and found themselves discussing everything under the sun. They meshed well and had zero clashes in personality. In a way, it felt like fate but now what?

As they got ready to go Stiles spoke up. “Peter?”

“Hm?”

“I was wondering if perhaps you’d consider dinner? With me?”

Peter turned to face Stiles and saw how nervous he was but was also impressed that Stiles had still asked despite his nerves. He smiled softly. “I would love to have dinner with you.” He handed Stiles his phone and they exchanged numbers.

Stiles smiled, his heart pounding so loud in his chest that he was sure Peter could hear it. “Great! So, I’ll call you or I’ll text you and we can set something up?”

Peter brushed his knuckles subtly against Stiles arm and nodded. “I look forward to it.”

[takaraphoenix]

London Calling

Tags: m/m, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Pack Feels, True Mates, Spark Stiles, fluff, hurt/comfort, grief/mourning, post Nogitsune, post canon, m/f

Main Pairing: Derek/Stiles

Side Pairings: Chris/Sheriff, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Derek Hale, Cora Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd III, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Peter Hale, Chris Argent, Noah Stilinski

@writersmonth Prompts: passion + tattoo parlor

Summary: After graduation, Stiles decides to go with Lydia, who is heading to London, to be with her mate, Jackson, from whom she'd been separated for too long now. Stiles knows the Hale Pack has moved to London, reformed there. They know Lydia is coming, but they don't know about Stiles yet.

This Story on FFNet | This Story on AO3

London Calling

Stiles Summer Stories 2024

The first member of the Hale Pack to leave Beacon Hills had been Jackson, only weeks after he even became a member of the pack. His parents had packed up, uprooted the young beta and moved to London. The Hales had contacted a pack in London that Peter's father, Derek's grandfather, had been allied to and asked if they would keep an eye on Jackson.

That had happened before Cora even rejoined the Hale Pack, before she ever met her brother in his function as the new Alpha. Apparently, Jackson and Lydia's love and mate-bond had broken the kanima curse and they had been insufferable since then (though, according to Stiles, they had been insufferable before that too). Not that Cora saw a lot of them together, since Lydia was still living in Beacon Hills. But the mated pair made it work, with phone-calls and video-chats and by Lydia spending every single vacation in London to see Jackson (which were the times Cora had to endure them together and she had to admit that they were an exhausting couple).

When Cora joined the pack, she had first and foremost joined Erica and Boyd. The three of them had been bonded by trauma, by their captivity at the hands of the Alpha pack. The pack-bond forged between the three during these months was a strong one. It was what made Erica and Boyd stay in Beacon Hills and rejoin the Hale Pack, even though they'd first been captivated because they'd left the pack and had meant to leave Beacon Hills. And Cora herself, she… She couldn't say what would have happened if she hadn't formed these two strong bonds, because Peter and Derek had been total strangers to her, too much time had passed, they'd grown apart. But she stayed.

Well, she stayed, until they all left. Derek, Peter, Cora, Boyd and Erica. The remaining Hale Pack.

Scott claimed that Beacon Hills was too small for two packs, but Cora knew better. The real reason why Scott wanted them gone had been because Derek was growing more and more into a good Alpha, was learning how to lead and care. And there were three pack members who were with one foot in each pack. Lydia, whose mate-bond to Jackson did tie her to the Hale Pack. Isaac, who had been Derek's beta first and then grown apart from him during the months Erica and Boyd had been lost and had become Scott's beta, but who still held a tie to Derek, especially after Boyd and Erica were saved. And Stiles, Stiles whose fierce loyalty made it so he couldn't turn his back on the Hales even as his ties laid with his best friend and brother by anything but blood.

Derek's pack was stronger – Jackson, even in London, Peter and Cora, Boyd and Erica. While Scott had been a young Alpha, with barely a pack to speak of, and the majority of them with one foot in the Hale Pack. It was a power move, to strengthen his own claim and pack.

The tension between the two packs had steadily grown, but for too long, Derek refused to leave. Because he didn't want to leave his family's land, the last thing they had left of their family's legacy, and even more so, he didn't want to leave his mate. Even though he never told Stiles. In the end, Derek gave in. Because he didn't want to cause tension between Stiles and Scott, thought he was doing right by Stiles. So the Hale Pack left Beacon Hills for good, together.

The Hale Pack left, for London, because if they had to leave Beacon Hills, why not the place where one of their pack-mates was already living. And it was good. Cora actually liked it better than her return to Beacon Hills – because Beacon Hills was filled with memories and sadness and death and even more recently, the memory of her abduction and captivity and nearly dying when the darach had poisoned her. Beacon Hills was pain. London was a full, fresh new start. A place where the Hale Pack was allowed to grow and be happy. It hadn't been hard to convince Erica and Boyd's families to let them leave, after pulling some strings with the help of the London Pack to get them into a really good school. A little white lie about a scholarship and their parents were on board with it.

Things in Beacon Hills took a turn for the worse, because of course it did, it always did. All the more reason to leave it behind. Stiles got possessed by a demon. Not that they knew, at first. When Lydia called them in tears, she told them that Stiles was dying, of the same disease that had killed his mother. They returned to Beacon Hills, because he was Derek's mate, because he shared a similar trauma-bond with Erica and Boyd as Cora did, because he was pack.

He didn't die. He was possessed. A demon used his body to kill people. And though Stiles already had bonds with Erica and Boyd, that was when his bond with Jackson formed. Both having been used to kill against their will. They started texting, near daily. Cora knew. There was a special look on Jackson's face when he was texting Stiles.

When the Hale Pack had returned to London, Isaac had gone with them. After Allison's death, he couldn't stay. And seeing the Hale Pack again had reignited his bonds with them. He sought his family, his first pack, for comfort and companionship. Isaac found his place among the pack with ease, the change in scenery helped him heal.

And as graduation was growling closer and closer, the pack prepared for another member to move to them. Because Lydia had stayed in Beacon Hills for certain reasons, being a minor, still going to high school and having divorced parents who were trying to make up for neglect and failure of the past by being a bit overbearing now. Now that she was a legal adult and had graduated high school, she planned on joining their pack officially, to live with his mate.

Cora dreaded it a little to have those two be disgustingly in love all over the pack house every day, but she was happy for Jackson. Though she hadn't found her own mate yet, she knew how important and cherished True Mates were among wolves. Besides, gaining another pack-member would strengthen their pack further.

"It is funny to see Jackson clean," Erica pointed out, cackling.

She was holding her phone so she could take pictures of Jackson. Jackson glared at her and flipped her off before he returned to his task of cleaning the downstairs windows. Peter and Derek had bought a large, beautiful house near Hyde Park when they first got there. Gradually, over the past year that they'd lived here, it had turned into a proper home. Every member of the pack had their own room upstairs, and though some days Cora was annoyed by Jackson or Isaac or Derek, she also loved this feeling of pack, had missed this sense of family and community. Her pack in Mexico had been good, but… it had been different, it hadn't been family.

"Are you sending that to Lydia?" Isaac asked amused.

"No," Erica huffed. "She knows that Jackson is gonna do everything to make the place impressive and 'worthy' of her. I'm sending this to Stiles so he can get a laugh out of it."

Cora noted the tenseness to her brother's shoulders, at every mention of Stiles' name. Mates were meant to be together and though Lydia and Jackson had spent most of the past two years apart, their mate-bond had at least been sealed and Lydia regularly visited. Derek had never even told Stiles – there was always some kind of tragedy that got in the way, or them leaving, and he thought it would be unfair to tell Stiles, just to then leave, or worse yet, to make Stiles choose. Cora thought that was frustrating and stupid, but she also understood. Loss was the most formative thing in Derek's life and the thought of losing his mate, in any way, was too much to bear.

"Where is Stiles going to college anyway?" Cora asked after a moment.

She was probably the only one in the pack to not have regular contact with Stiles. Erica and Boyd had their bond from being captured and tortured by Gerard Argent and it had forged a deep friendship that stayed strong even as the two betas left. Jackson and Stiles, even though they hadn't been friends before Jackson left Beacon Hills, had formed a strong bond over the similar experiences of being the kanima and being possessed by the Nogitsune. Isaac and Stiles, having been in the McCall Pack together for so long, already had a pack-bond that didn't weaken even as Isaac moved to London. Even Peter was in regular contact with Stiles – Stiles was still working on translating the entirety of the Argent bestiary, while Peter was still adding onto the Hale bestiary and the two of them worked together on making it one big database. Cora had been in Beacon Hills for too short a time, too wrapped up in her own trauma and the revelation that two members of her family were still alive, to really make friends, but she liked to imagine that if things had been different, if she had gotten to spend more time with Stiles, she too would be friends with him.

"He hasn't decided yet," Jackson replied, scrubbing excessively on one spot. "Also, grab a damn rag and help, you losers. This is your house too, how the fuck is it ever clean at all."

"I have a maid come by once a week," Peter tagged on delighted.

Cora waved a hand. "What do you mean he hasn't decided yet, graduation is in a few days."

"He's taking a gap-year," this time it was Erica who replied, a small smile on her lips, though it was more sad than happy. "He kind of never really…"

"He never actually dealt with the possession," Jackson cut in, voice sharp, curt, filled with a restrained sense of rage and pain, a reflection of his own experiences with the kanima. "He pushed it down and he kept going, because he couldn't afford to take a couple months off to heal. Between school, which he didn't want to fail, and the McCall Pack literally being useless without him and Lyd, he dealt with it as best as he could while also dealing with a shit-ton of other stuff."

Cora hummed and she saw the pained look on Derek's face, the way her brother clenched his fists at his sides. Helplessness was never going to be a look she'd get used to seeing on his face. But this wasn't something Derek could fix, something Derek could protect his mate from. The pain had already happened and Stiles needed to fight through it. Healing was something only he could do.

"That sounds good," Isaac spoke softly, grabbing a rag and turning away from the pack. "I hope he gets out of Beacon Hills, even just for a while… I think that would help him."

Because it had helped him. It had helped him to get out of that cursed town. It had helped all of them, and Cora could see it in the faces of every member of her pack. She could see it in her own face. Getting out of Beacon Hills after the fire had allowed her to heal from the loss and leaving again, for London, had helped her move on from what the Alpha Pack and the darach had done.

She may not be close to Stiles, but she genuinely hoped that he'd find a way to get better.

/break\

The sheriff and Chris Argent went to the same grief group for widowers. Years ago, when Noah finally realized he had to sober up, he had to do better, be better, to be there for his son, for the family he still had, he had started going to these meetings. After Victoria's death, Noah had suggested the same to Chris. Ever since, the two went there together. They grew closer.

It was only after Allison's death that this closeness turned into something more, a friendship born from mutual support and a shared understanding of grief turned into the main pillar that kept Chris going after he lost his only child. Over the past two years, Chris had just lost too much. His sister, his wife, his father, now his daughter. He had nothing left, nobody left. Only the Stilinskis.

Not just the sheriff, but also Stiles. Because Allison's death had to mean something, he needed it to mean something, to have a purpose, to not have been in vein. She'd died when they all tried to save Stiles, so Chris? Chris needed Stiles to be safe. He needed Stiles to be safe, because his daughter had died to make sure Stiles would be safe.

For a long time, Stiles didn't understand that. He thought that Chris should hate him, should blame him for Allison's death. He'd yelled all of that at Chris, one evening, when Chris was over at the Stilinski home for dinner and him and the sheriff acted so unbearably normal and kind, in a manner that Stiles didn't deserve or understand. He yelled, and cried, and broke down.

How could they be so kind to him? How could Chris be kind to him? How could Chris even look at him? He couldn't even look at himself, all he saw in the mirror was the twisted sneer of the Nogitsune, all he saw was Allison's blood on his hands.

Chris had hugged him, hugged him and held him and... cried with him. Stiles didn't know how long the two sat on the kitchen floor, crying together. His dad had put dinner away into the fridge and given them some privacy, at one point, retreating to the living room.

"She died to save you," Chris had said, voice rough with tears. "We all fought to save you, Stiles. You didn't kill her, kid. A demon did, a demon that used you. You're... You're as much a victim of it as she was, but you survived and I need to... I need to cling onto that. That you survived, that she didn't die for nothing, that she... that we managed what we set out to do."

Stiles hadn't known what to say to that. So he just sat there and continued crying quietly, remembering every time Allison had smiled at him, joked with him, been his friend.

It took so much longer for Stiles to get... better. He wasn't good, he still wasn't good. He still had the nightmares, but they were more irregular these days. He still counted his fingers, by now a nervous habit really, just pressing his thumbs against each of his fingers one by one.

He got his first tattoo three months after the possession. After he sat down at the kitchen table with his dad and Chris, who at that point was over at the Stilinski home more often than he wasn't, and he told them that he still struggled with what was real. He counted his fingers, but it didn't always feel like enough. Reading, seeing that words were real, that helped.

He needed to carry words with him, wherever he went, so he could check, see if he could read them, know that he was awake. He wanted a tattoo. A simple phrase This is real, written out on his wrist. To make it more meaningful, he'd chosen his mother's handwriting – they had so many examples of it in her cookbooks and it wasn't hard to put the phrase together in her writing.

He was seventeen, couldn't get a tattoo without his dad's permission. But after hearing the reason behind it, the idea for it and how Stiles imagined the execution, his dad signed the permission for him to get the tattoo, because this wasn't a silly teen idea that Stiles would regret, this was something that helped him get better. And it did, it really did help, he could feel himself calming down much easier now that he could look at the words and know it was real.

He got his second tattoo three months after. Stiles... needed it. A silver arrow through his heart, with the Argents' family motto. We protect those who can't protect themselves. Because that was what they did, what they all did, that was what Allison had done when she had died. She'd tried to protect Stiles when he couldn't protect himself. His father had found it hard to deny Stiles this time either. Chris went to the tattoo parlor with Stiles and got a matching tattoo, to honor his daughter.

Both of those tattoos helped him. Grounded him.

His dad and Chris helped and grounded him too. Stiles could see the gradual shift in their relationship and one day, Chris simply stopped leaving. One day, Stiles came home and found the two men curled together on the couch, holding each other in a manner that was much more intimate than a hug between friends. One day, Chris just became a part of the Stilinski household.

While Stiles had his support at home, he slowly felt like he was losing the pack.

There were so many new people, people who had joined after the Nogitsune, people Scott had accepted into the pack. People Stiles didn't really have bonds with, people he… never cared enough to get to know, or who never really cared enough to get to know him. People who had no way of ever truly understanding, because they hadn't been there, hadn't lived through the things Stiles, Lydia, Scott, Allison and Isaac had gone through, had seen since the beginning. Even Malia and Kira understood more, had suffered through more with them. But those that came after, it… felt like a whole different pack, like there was a cut, a line drawn, and Stiles was on the other side.

His friendship with Scott wasn't what it used to be either, and maybe that factored into why Stiles didn't feel the same bond to the newer pack members. Though now, looking back, he wondered for just how long it had been like this. It wasn't just Allison's death that had broken something, their friendship had cracked long before. What truly broke it though was Theo, was how easily Scott let himself be manipulated by Theo. Believing Theo over Stiles, accusing Stiles of murdering Donovan, when it had been self-defense, not even asking for Stiles' side of the story, not believing Stiles. That night, those accusations, their friendship never recovered from.

On paper, he was still in the pack. Stiles still attended mandatory pack meetings, but he stuck to the background. He gradually offered less and less solutions, voiced less and less of his suspicions, because he wasn't being heard anyway. Neither him nor Scott really named it, the fact that Stiles wasn't really pack anymore, that they had grown apart. They simply… lived side by side.

Maybe he would have left, should have left, but Beacon Hills was where his dads were living, and he wanted to graduate here. He would bide his time until. And he wasn't all alone.

He still had Lydia, always had Lydia. The grief over losing Allison had brought them so much closer, even though, much like with Chris, Stiles had thought she should hate him.

Isaac left. He couldn't stay, after losing Allison, couldn't bear this place where his mother and brother had died, where his father had abused him, where he had now lost Allison. And Stiles understood. The blonde had ducked his head, looking guilty as he stood in Stiles' bedroom one night, telling him that he'd leave. But Stiles understood. He hugged Isaac and told him to say hi to the Hales, at which Isaac had looked at him in surprise.

Like Stiles didn't know where Isaac stood. With one foot in each pack. Isaac's relationship with Scott had been strained over his feelings for Allison already, but now with Allison's death, Isaac didn't feel like much was holding him here. Isaac had no reason not to follow his original pack.

There was a pang of longing in Stiles' heart at the thought.

Stiles imagined that having the Hale Pack back in Beacon Hills, even just for a short while, must have had a similar effect on Isaac as it did on Stiles. The Hales had come back, when they thought Stiles was dying. They had all hugged him and cried with him and he'd curled against Derek's chest, crying for an hour. But then Stiles survived and the demon was exorcised and the Hales all had a life in London – the betas all went to school, Peter and Derek had jobs. And so they'd left again.

The sense of longing was near physical, it ached in Stiles' chest.

His third tattoo was one that he got on his eighteenth birthday, without telling his dads first. Because he knew they both would disapprove of that one. He went back to the tattoo parlor and got a giant, beautifully detailed black fox on his back, curling around the symbol for self. It was a constant reminder, a manifestation of his guilt but also of his survival. A promise, both to himself and to Allison, that now that he was himself again he would be himself. However he was going to manage that, because he still struggled with it at times.

Graduation was coming up and Chris took him aside. Told him that he needed to live. At first, Stiles didn't understand, thought that he did. Allison had died, so Stiles had to live. Chris sighed.

"You're not living, kid," Chris said, voice rough and distant. "You're surviving. You have been surviving since the possession. I know there's a lot of trauma you've been working through, you kept your grades up through it all, you kept helping keep this town safe, but… that is all you do. You haven't lived since then. You keep your head down and you continue, but you don't start."

"I don't…" Stiles frowned at him in confusion.

"You haven't had a girlfriend since things between you and Malia ended, you haven't made any new friends, I know you keep your distance to the newer members of the pack, you… don't really spend time with anyone but Lydia, Malia and Kira anymore. You need to live, make new experiences, have fun, laugh, spend time with the people you love, fall in love."

Do all the things Allison would never get to do again, was left unsaid but both Stiles and Chris could feel it in their bones. He ducked his head and leaned into Chris, receiving a hug. Chris was right, Stiles hadn't really lived since Allison had died, he'd been so busy struggling to survive, he hadn't even had time to consider living yet. But now, he was doing better, he was on the right path.

"You need to leave this place," Chris whispered against his hair, still hugging him. "You need to get out before this city kills you too, and you need to find a place where you can be happy, kid."

Stiles tensed in his arms. Leaving Beacon Hills wasn't something he'd ever considered. This was his home, this was where his dad lived, worked, he couldn't leave. He was all his dad had… No, that wasn't true anymore. Blinking, he looked up at Chris. His dad wasn't alone anymore. There was someone who loved his dad, who watched out that his dad would eat healthy even when Stiles was busy. There was someone living in the Stilinski house, so his dad wasn't alone anymore.

"Chris is right, kiddo," Noah stepped into the kitchen, looking at them both with sad but loving eyes. "You aren't happy here, I haven't… I haven't seen you happy in a long time. I know your friends are all doing better, no longer living here, and maybe it will help you too. All I want for you is to be happy, kiddo. I'll be fine, don't let me hold you back."

Chris and Stiles opened their hug for Noah, allowing the sheriff to join them. They were right. He wasn't happy here and this place had been slowly killing him since the night Scott got bitten. Maybe it was time to leave before this town could finish him off.

/break\

The pack was buzzing with excitement as they were gathered at the airport, waiting for Lydia's arrival. This kind of energy, it made Derek feel... serene. His pack, together, all eagerly awaiting their newest member. They'd come a long way from the three teens he'd turned two years ago, from the in-fighting when Scott had briefly joined the pack, the strain of turning Jackson and him leaving Beacon Hills near immediately, the tension when Boyd and Erica had been returned and how awkward things had been when Cora first joined the pack.

Moving to London had been the right call. They were happier here. They were happy here. They had the chance to fully grow into a pack, to form deep, meaningful pack-bonds.

And Derek was eager himself, for Lydia to properly join his pack. Ever since Derek had relocated the pack to London, she had become more and more a member of this pack. With every visit to London, to be with her mate, with every video-call between Jackson and Lydia that Erica and Cora and later on Isaac and occasionally even Boyd would butt in. She had been forming pack-bonds with them all for months now. And still, when she actually called him, told him that she wanted to leave Beacon Hills behind and had applied to a university in London so she could be with Jackson and then formally asked Derek if he would accept her into his pack, that had meant a lot to him.

He was an Alpha whom betas chose. Boyd and Erica chose to rejoin the pack, after they'd been saved from the Alpha Pack. Cora had chosen not to leave for Mexico again. Jackson had chosen to be with their pack, even though he could have stayed with the local pack that had kept an eye on him until the Hale Pack moved to London. Jackson and Lydia, together, could have chosen to leave for a different place entirely. Isaac chose to come to them, after Allison's death.

He had a strong, happy, good pack. He was... happy. A feeling he still sometimes struggled with, the survivor's guilt usually made him remember Laura and their family, those he had lost. But he'd been working with a therapist on this, on the fact that he deserved to live, to be happy.

There was still a hole in his chest, a Stiles-shaped hole that left an ache in his heart, but he was going to fix it, he was finally going to move forward. He'd never dared to tell Stiles that they were mates. At first, because he thought the teen was mostly annoying and the age-difference mortified him. But the more often Stiles saved his life, the more Stiles proved himself to be strong and fierce and loyal, the more Derek could see why fate had chosen him as Derek's mate.

However, at that point, something seemed to always get in the way. After Scott and Stiles officially joined his pack, Derek had been overjoyed and was readying himself to actually tell Stiles. And then Scott had betrayed Derek's trust, left his pack after using him like a weapon, a tool, in his plan against Gerard Argent. And with Scott, Stiles left the pack too. Derek spent months bitter, deliberately not telling Stiles because he'd felt betrayed by his mate too.

While the Alpha Pack and the darach attacked, him and Stiles grew closer again. When Derek finally learned that Stiles had had no hand in Scott's plans against Gerard, that Stiles hadn't approved of it – that Stiles and Scott even had a fight about it – it was already too late. Scott was a True Alpha and the two packs in the small town were edging on, until Derek conceded and left.

Too many bad memories, too much loss. He wasn't ready to risk his pack in an actual fight against Scott's pack, if it came to that. And the longer they coexisted, the more it felt like that was where things were headed. A fresh start, somewhere new, maybe it'd help them all, was what he'd thought.

With no concrete destination otherwise, he decided to follow his first beta. He'd never gotten the chance to be a proper Alpha to Jackson before Jackson had left. He was glad that the local packs – London was a big city, it housed multiple packs who peacefully coexisted and even had alliances between them – all welcomed them with open arms.

Derek had thought it unfair to tell Stiles just as they were leaving and he saw no point in telling Stiles with the pack living in London, he'd never want to make Stiles feel like he had to choose, between his home where his dad and Scott and all his friends lived, and Derek.

When they returned to Beacon Hills, when they thought Stiles was dying – and Derek's wolf still curled together in pain at the memory of that feeling, at the memory of how small and fragile and exhausted Stiles had been in that hospital – Derek wanted to tell him. He didn't want to lose Stiles without Stiles ever knowing how much he meant to Derek. Before he had the chance to, did they realize that Stiles wasn't dying, not of a human sickness anyway. He was possessed.

After that, with the trauma Stiles had suffered, with the loss of Allison hanging heavily over their heads, it had felt selfish to tell Stiles the truth. He had so much to deal with, he shouldn't have to deal with Derek's feelings, on top of everything else.

And so Derek and his pack had left once more, returning to London. Words left unspoken.

Things were changing though. Lydia was joining their pack, because the betas had graduated high school. Stiles was eighteen now, which had also been part of why Derek kept looking for excuses not to tell Stiles. He never wanted to be like Kate, he never wanted to be unsure if he was coercing Stiles, because Stiles had been young and might feel like he was obligated to do anything just because of a mate-bond he couldn't feel to its full extend – yes, humans could feel the mate-bond, but to a werewolf, it was different, it was so much stronger.

Now, Stiles was a legal adult, he had graduated high school, both of them were in a better place, having worked through at least parts of their respective trauma. Once Lydia was properly settled in, Derek planned on traveling to Beacon Hills to see Stiles and finally tell him.

"Lydia!" Jackson's entire face lit up when he saw his mate.

She grinned and ran up to him, jumping into his arms to be whirled around by Jackson. They kissed, slow and deep and entirely getting inappropriate for the public. Derek cleared his throat, looking away. He understood, they'd last seen each other during spring break. They were mates, they shouldn't be kept apart. It made Derek feel warm, a pleasant sense of comfort at the thought that the two would get to be together now. That his betas would get to be with their mate.

"Put. Her. Down," Erica growled, shoving Jackson. "Share."

Jackson growled back but he still put his mate down so the other betas could get to scent mark and greet her too. Now that she was pack, she needed to smell like pack. Derek smiled to himself, standing back together with Peter and waiting for the pups to get their fill first.

"You smell like Stiles," Isaac noted as he nuzzled Lydia's neck. "Is that the surprise you said you'd bring for the pack? Did you scent-mark Stiles before you came so we can have some Stiles?"

The smile on Derek's lips turned a little softer as he watched Boyd shove his own mate away, not without Erica growling in protest, so he could also scent-mark Lydia and smell Stiles on her. Before coming, Lydia had called Jackson and ominously said she had a surprise for the pack. Derek crossed his arms tightly, trying to keep himself from going to Lydia and pushing the betas out of the way so he could inhale every last trace of his mate on his new pack-member.

"Not exactly. If you want more au de Stiles, she brought you the source."

The pack froze in place – which, in the case of the betas was somewhat a hilarious image, because Boyd was curled against Lydia's back, while Erica and Isaac were in the middle of shoving each other to get the left side of Lydia's neck, Cora nuzzling her cheek against Lydia's right cheek, Jackson in the middle of kissing Lydia. All pausing like some kind of statue. Though Derek couldn't blame them, he was holding his breath too, eyes widening at the sound of that voice. He turned.

Coming up behind Lydia, pushing the cart with so many bags and suitcases, it looked like Lydia had decided to bring all of her belongings onto this flight already, was Stiles. Stiles stopped the cart and stepped around it, aiming a carefree grin at the pack. He was real, this was really Stiles. Wearing skinny-jeans and a blood-red hoodie. His hair was a little longer than the last time Derek had seen him. He looked good, really good. Not so sickly pale anymore, the deep bags beneath his eyes were gone, his cheeks not as hollowed out. Healthy. He looked healthy again, no longer made to believe he was going to die, no longer possessed, but rather recovering. He was beautiful, he was everything, he was right here, in London, just a few meters away from Derek.

"Stiles!" Erica yelled, her voice pitching, before she launched herself at him.

Isaac growled, hot on her heels and also attaching himself to Stiles. Boyd grabbed Isaac by the waist to lift him out of the way so he could get a Stiles hug first. Stiles just laughed, a bright and beautiful sound, as he was being wrapped up by the Hale Pack's three original betas. With a heavy sigh did Lydia smack Jackson's arm to give him the go-ahead and the next moment, Jackson was also nosing Stiles' neck. Lydia used the opportunity to give Cora a proper hug.

"You brought us Stiles," Isaac grinned at Lydia from where he was resting his chin on Stiles' head.

"Can we keep him?" Erica turned large, pleading eyes and a pout on Derek. "Ple—ease, I promise I'll feed him and take him on walks."

"Brats," Stiles heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Okay, okay, enough scent-marking the Stiles in public, people are starting to stare, I feel like they think I have a harem, off, puppies."

Once the betas were all pushed off, Stiles took a tentative step toward Derek, a soft half-smile on his lips as he waved. "Hey, Sourwolf. Miss me?"

Miss me? Derek choked on the emotions bubbling up in him. Missing didn't even begin to cover what Derek had felt. Pure, raw yearning, a longing so overwhelming he was drowning in it. Until this very moment, he hadn't realized just how bad it really was. It had been easier to push down and ignore while he could focus on his pack. Seeing Stiles like this? So close? Close enough that Derek could smell him? It hit him like running head-first into a brick-wall.

With a deep growl rumbling in his chest did Derek stride forward, until Stiles was right in front of him. Those big, warm doe-eyes stared up at him in surprise when Stiles got wrapped up in the Alpha's arms and pulled into a tight, all-consuming hug. The rumbling grew softer, more pleased and content, as Derek buried his nose in Stiles' neck, rubbing it. More content rumbling when his mate readily bared his throat for better access. A small laugh escaped Stiles, his fingers entangling in Derek's shirt, holding onto him too, returning the hug.

"Yeah," Stiles' voice cracked a little. "I missed you too."

"I do think that was enough PDA overall, how about you bring us to the pack house?" Lydia piped up. "We had a dreadfully long flight with even more dreadful food. I need a shower and dinner."

"Actually, seconded," Stiles turned a bit in Derek's arms, regarding the betas. "Uhm. Sourwolf? You would have to let me go so we can leave."

Oh, Derek hated that idea. He would prefer to stand here for another hour or two, simply holding his mate, soaking in that unique scent of honey, chili and lightning. Huffing softly, Stiles gave him a light shove, at which the Alpha reluctantly let go of his mate.

"It's good to see you again, Stiles," Peter said, resting a hand in Stiles' neck. "You look good."

Stiles let him, leaning into the touch some, still grinning. "I feel good."

The betas went to get Lydia and Stiles' luggage – Stiles had luggage, Stiles was here. The only reason Derek had been able to let go of his mate was because he would get to take Stiles home with him, get Stiles into the pack house for the first time, get the pack house to smell like Stiles.

Once in the parking deck, Peter clapped his hands once and turned to stare at the betas expectantly. "Everyone, into the SUVs. No, not everybody can drive with Stiles."

Cora was the first one to willingly get into Peter's SUV, having the least connection to Stiles. Lydia and Jackson joined her, getting into the backseats, mostly because Lydia had gotten to spend so much time with Stiles already and Jackson primarily wanted to be with his mate right now. Derek got into his own car, watching Isaac climb into the passenger seat and smiling a little when Stiles ended up sandwiched between Boyd and Erica, the mated pair rubbing against Stiles from either side. Those three had had a profound bond ever since the basement. Derek's grip on the steering wheel tightened at that thought, the thought of Gerard torturing his betas and his human mate.

"So—o tired," Stiles groaned and leaned his head against Boyd's shoulder. "There was a screaming toddler sitting in the row behind me… Ple—ease tell me your pack house is actually big enough to have a guest room I can crash in because… I had considered calling ahead to ask if I can crash with you, but then I thought a surprise would be much more fun. Lydia said you would have room for me and it wouldn't be a problem, but now that I'm actually here-"

"There will always be room for you," Derek interrupted him lowly.

"Cheesy," Stiles looked utterly pleased. "Awesome. Oh. Oh, you guys totally have to show me around, I've never been to London. I mean. I've never been anywhere aside from Poland."

"You've been to Poland?" Erica asked, dragging her nose over his collarbone.

"Well, not in… a long time," Stiles' smile turned a bit sad. "I went when I was little, with my mom, to visit her family. My grandpa, my actual name sake."

"Mitch-is-love," Isaac dragged it out, the sounds heavy and awkward.

"So close and yet so far," Stiles gave a startled laugh. "You know, it used to bother me, hearing people try and butcher my name, but… it's kind of endearing with you guys. You try."

"It's more of a whaff than a love," Boyd corrected Isaac after a moment.

Stiles hummed, looking so happy as he melted between Boyd and Erica, who were both holding hands on top of Stiles' lap. Derek's heart felt full and warm when he looked at his betas and his mate, all content and together. That hole in his chest, it was slowly filling.

"We're here," Isaac announced when they pulled into their driveway.

"Wow," Stiles whispered in awe, staring at the Hale Villa. "Okay. Lyds was not exaggerating. Damn. It pays to have a Sugar Alpha, huh, guys."

Erica made gagging noises. "Don't ever call him that again or I will throw up."

She shoved Stiles, just making him laugh. As soon as they got out of the car did Derek practically herd Stiles into the house, earning a very amused look from the human. Where did he want Stiles first? Bed. No. Not a realistic place to get Stiles to go. Not yet. But now that he was here, Derek could tell him, could start courting him, could… ask the impossible question. Give Stiles a choice. Because it wasn't about making Stiles choose, it was about giving Stiles a choice.

"Want me in the living room?" Stiles guessed, a knowing smile on his lips. "Make the den smell more like me and give the betas more time to smother me. Sorry, 'scent mark' me."

Derek gave an affirmative grunt. That was part of what he loved the most about Stiles. Stiles understood Derek, understood him but also his culture. Stiles had always done his research, learned about werewolves and even when he lacked the natural instincts, he never acted like what the wolves did was weird, he accepted it, embraced it, even reciprocated it. Scent-marking them back, without anyone having to explain to him what it was. He knew, he accepted, he understood.

"Stilinski," Jackson grunted as he caught up to them and wrapped an arm around Stiles' waist to pull him close. "The fuck did you not say that you were coming, you asshole."

"Missed you too, Jackass," Stiles laughed, leaning his bead back against Jackson's chest. "It's called a surprise and telling the other party kinda ruins the purpose."

"So you're spending your gap-year traveling then?" Boyd asked curiously. "Made us the first stop?"

The look on Stiles' face turned a little more sober and maybe even an edge of nervous. "No."

Jackson growled a little. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but… use more words, Stilinski."

Stiles wiggled free of the beta and turned to look at Derek, searching the Alpha's face. What for, Derek couldn't guess, but he liked having Stiles' attention. And he liked the way Stiles looked standing in his living room, like he belonged right here, surrounded by the betas.

"Well, that depends on your glorious Alpha," Stiles' grin turned mischievous as he tilted his head, baring his throat to Derek. "Alpha Hale, I, Mieczysław Stilinski, formally ask to join your pack."

The growl ripped from Derek's throat was such a deep, primal sound that it shook the room, his eyes flashing. It wasn't even a conscious decision to step up to Stiles. One second, he was at the other side of the room, the next he had Stiles pinned against the wall, his mouth on Stiles' bared throat. His lips parted, but before he allowed his teeth to scratch soft skin, he paused.

"Stiles-" Derek whispered. "You can't be in two packs. Not fully."

"I know," Stiles' voice broke a little. "I choose you. You're my Alpha, Derek."

What little restrain he had vanished at those words, Derek's wolf taking over as he sank blunt human teeth into soft skin. A soft noise was drawn from Stiles as Derek marked him as pack. There were questions, a hundred questions running through Derek's mind, but all that mattered in that moment was that Stiles was his. Part of his pack, fully, officially, willingly.

"What… just happened," Isaac grunted, blinking slowly. "I mean, I know what happened, but… You left Scott's pack? You? And you're here to stay? For… good?"

"What about your dad?" Erica asked concerned.

Derek pulled away from Stiles, with much difficulty. Now that he was pack, Derek's wolf just wanted to drag Stiles upstairs and make their den smell like their mate. But these were questions that he needed answered too. He'd just claimed Stiles as Hale Pack, which… he had never thought he would get to do, not even if he ever got to claim Stiles as his mate. His unwavering loyalty was what had gotten him dragged into the supernatural to begin with. This had always been the Scott and Stiles Show, everyone else was just on the outside.

"My dads are fine," Stiles chuckled and went to sit on the couch, between Isaac and Jackson. "Two's company, as they say. I… never thought I'd be able to leave Beacon Hills because someone had to take care of my dad, but… now someone is. Chris is watching dad's died like a hawk. Honestly, he might actually worse than me, it's kind of funny. But yeah, I'm… not leaving him alone. And, to be honest, it was kind of Chris who told me to get out of Beacon Hills, to… live, instead of just surviving. Chase my own happiness or something like that."

"And your happiness… led you here?" Isaac's voice was unusually small, filled with hope.

The look on Stiles' face turned more sad as he tilted his head down to stare at his hands, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers linked between them. There was something heavy there.

"I… never wanted to leave the Hale Pack," Stiles whispered. "I left because Scott left. And then Scott became a True Alpha and… But things are different now."

"How," Cora's voice had an edge to it. "How is it so easy to turn your back on your Alpha and your pack, now. Everyone always talks like your loyalty is your biggest plus point."

Derek gave a low warning growl at his sister, but Stiles simply laughed. Shallow and empty.

"Loyalty can break your neck if it's misplaced," Stiles shrugged and looked up, looked at Cora. "I've been training to be an Emissary for one and a half years now. When I started, I was… so sure… that it would be so I could become Scott's Emissary. But at no point did he ask me. I just assumed, it seemed obvious to me – and to everyone else. But he never asked me, he still got Deaton. I used to be Scott's right hand. And then this guy comes into our lives and it's so easy for him to gain Scott's trust and friendship and manipulate him. I'm not Scott's right hand and I'm not his Emissary and… I haven't really been pack, in a while."

Stiles turned his head, no longer looking at any of them, instead fixating a spot on the ground. "Maybe I would have become his Emissary, maybe I would still be his right hand, but… He can hardly look at me anymore, even when he's trying, and he is trying, but… we've never been the same after Allison's death, we've been growing more and more apart and…"

"He's blaming you for Allison's death?" Jackson growled, eyes flashing blue. "I'm gonna kill him."

The twist of Stiles' lips was hardly a smile. Derek noticed the way Stiles was pressing his thumbs against the pads of his other fingers one by one, over and over again. It made Derek's heart sink. He knew this was a habit Stiles had picked up with the possession. Counting his fingers to ground himself, to remind himself that what was happening was real, that he was awake.

"I don't fault him for that," Stiles whispered. "Can't fault him for that. I did kill her."

"Stiles-" Lydia's voice was pained but also exhausted, like she'd had this conversation a lot.

"I did," Stiles shrugged and looked up at her with tired, broken eyes. "I didn't want to, but… I remember it, and I will forever remember it. The fact that I didn't want to doesn't undo it and it won't let me forget it either. I understand the distinction, Lyds. I know I didn't kill her, in the ways that matter, but… I still remember it like I did. I'm doing better now, I've mostly made my peace with it, but I still sometimes see her blood on my hands and… I can't blame Scott for also seeing it. She was his mate and I killed her and it's a miracle we had any semblance of a relationship left after. But I can't live like that anymore. I can't live in a pack with mostly strangers and with a best friend who can barely look at me, I can't live filled with all the memories of the people it hurt while using my body. Chris is right. I've been surviving, I've been treading water to keep above the surface somehow and to keep breathing, but it's time I just… get out of the water. Before I drown."

"So..." Derek's voice wavered. "So you're really here to stay? With us?"

With me? A voice in Derek's head whispered and screamed at the same time, the pull to his mate overwhelmingly strong now that there was a pulsing pack-bond alongside their unsealed mate-bond.

"If you'll have me," Stiles tilted his head with a small grin, showing off the bite on his neck. "Though, I guess now's too late for you to back out. You're stuck with me."

Seeing his mark on Stiles like that, seeing Stiles show it off like that, it did things to Derek, things that went far beyond love, desire or passion. It was a raw, burning fire at the core of his soul and it felt like it was consuming all of him. Yet at the same time he wasn't scared, he was embracing it, letting it warm him.

"Finally!" Erica yelped and threw herself at Stiles. "Always knew you belonged with us, Batman."

"Oh, you have no idea," Stiles muttered beneath his breath, amused.

Muttering was pretty pointless in a room with werewolves though. Curious looks were aimed Stiles' way and a near bashful smile spread over his lips as he ruffled his hair. His cheeks had a red tint to them that Derek found himself appreciating more than he should.

"I have this theory. About why Scott never asked me to be his Emissary," Stiles explained, fidgeting a little and not looking at Derek. "I mean, beyond the way Deaton lives in his head rent-free. My magic... My magic first manifested when I was part of the Hale Pack, the first time I used it, Derek was my Alpha. I think that maybe a subconscious part of Scott's wolf rejects my magic because it's linked to the Hale Pack."

"Fascinating," Peter sounded far too intrigued. "Perhaps Derek's wolf has had a similar, opposite reaction. Considering we've been living in London as an established and respected pack for well over a year now and still don't have an Emissary."

Derek gave a low warning growl. He'd never done that on purpose. It wasn't like he at any point realistically expected for Stiles to move here, so he hadn't kept the position open with the intention of making Stiles his Emissary.

"It's okay," Stiles shook his head. "I didn't come here for that. I came here to join the pack. Besides, you guys... never really... saw my magic, I mean, I mostly started training it when you already left. Let me stick around for a while and prove myself before you even bring that up, mh?"

"Stiles, you really don't have to prove yourself, to any of us," Boyd noted, raising one eyebrow. "I, very confidently, speak for the whole pack there."

The others made noises of agreement and Stiles flushed again, a pleased look on his face. It was Lydia clearing her throat that drew the attention away from Stiles, for which he seemed grateful.

"I was the one who came here to join the pack, you know."

Lydia gave Derek a look for having been ignored, though it was half-hearted at best because she knew how much the pack had missed Stiles and what a huge, positive surprise this was for them all. Still, the Alpha couldn't help but rub his neck sheepishly at having ignored his newest pack-member. Lydia offered him a small, reassuring smile, before she bared her throat to him.

"Alpha Hale, I, Lydia Martin, formally ask to join the Hale Pack."

Derek's eyes flashed on instinct and he approached her to gently bite her neck too. Another pack-bond snapped into place and filled him with warmth. His. They were now his, his pack.

"How about we get you guys settled in?" Cora suggested after a moment. "There was talk about showers and food. I'll show you an empty room, Stiles, and you two can shower and unpack while we organize some food."

Stiles gave a sharp nod. "That sounds perfect."

/break\

Before he had left Beacon Hills for good, he had done four things. He'd hugged his dads, very tight and very long with many manly tears being shed. He'd gone to the cemetery and visited the graves of his mother and Allison, leaving flowers (he also went to the Hale mausoleum and left flowers there too, he always did when visiting the cemetery). He'd gone to Scott and said his final goodbye to his best friend, officially leaving the pack (there was pain in Scott's eyes but also understanding. They both knew they weren't what they used to be). And he'd gone to his trusted tattoo parlor to get one last tattoo in Beacon Hills.

Their first night as members of the Hale Pack, Lydia and Stiles got treated to an obscene amount of pizza (Stiles had tipped the delivery guy fifty bucks for the hard work of carrying thirty pizzas. He took the money out of Peter's wallet though, so there was that). After, the pack had cuddled up in the very cozy den for a pack pile. That was something Stiles had desperately longed for. The McCall Pack never really did that, Scott still fought too much against his own wolfly instincts. Stiles fell asleep with his head on Boyd's chest, his arms around Isaac and Erica spooning him from behind and he had slept better than in months.

The pack was more than enthusiastic to show him around – Lydia had already gotten various tours during her regular stays, but she was more than happy to play additional tour-guide for Stiles and they both enjoyed the bonding experience with their new pack.

They'd been in London for about a week now and Stiles felt... at home. He'd missed them all so much. When he walked out of his room – his room – and downstairs, he found Boyd and Erica snuggled together on the couch, Erica curled together on her mate's chest, napping instead of fully waking up, denying the day its claim on her just yet. Boyd was running his fingers through her hair, gentle and loving and looking fully content just staring at his sleepy mate.

Isaac sat curled together on the arm-chair next to them, a bowl of cereal on his lap that was most likely 95% sugar, while he watched some cartoon. The beta turned toward Stiles to smile and nod at him in greeting when he noticed.

Reaching the kitchen made Stiles smile. While the pack had an actual chores wheel and was very much behind everyone doing their share, it was apparently mostly Derek who cooked. Stepping up to the Alpha, Stiles brushed his arm against Derek's before taking over the pancakes, since Derek seemed busy with the scrambled eggs. Cooking for a pack of hungry wolves was no small feat.

"You don't have to help," Derek mumbled, eyeing him. "I'm fine here."

"As much as I enjoy being spoiled by your cooking, and I totally am, I'm also used to being the only one who does the cooking," Stiles offered a grin. "So, unless you actually mind, I'd like to help."

A grunt. The affirmative, soft kind. Stiles had missed being able to dissect Derek's grunts and growls and his eyebrows. The grunts and growls translated into phone-calls but the eyebrow language, now that he hadn't gotten to watch in far too long.

"What are you going to do now?" Derek asked after a stretch of companionable silence. "You're not meant to just sit around and do nothing. I think you may actually implode."

"First of all, rude," Stiles huffed and hip-checked Derek with a mild glare. "Second of all... true. I... Honestly, I don't know. I'm not ready for college yet, as much as I love learning, I really do think that I need some... time to myself. Also to get used to this place. I want to learn everything about London, its supernatural history and present. Meet all the local packs and Emissaries, I'm dying to know if there's another Spark in London."

"There is," Derek offered. "The Haynes Pack's Emissary, Marge Cotton, is the Spark of London."

Stiles perked up, visibly so. He'd never actually met another Spark, since they were pretty rare nowadays. Magic users, inherently linked to nature, fueled by it. Usually tied to the land. He'd gotten his magic from the Nemeton of Beacon Hills and he would forever be the Spark of Beacon Hills. But then, to him, Derek would forever be the Alpha of Beacon Hills, so he supposed it was okay if they lived in London for now. One day, they would return home. Together.

"What's for breakfast? O—Oh, is Stiles making pancakes?" Erica asked, sniffing the air.

"How could you possibly know that I'm making the pancakes."

"Cinnamon," Isaac, Boyd and Erica all replied right away.

"You put a dash of cinnamon into the batter, it's a distinct smell," added Jackson gruffly.

He looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep once again (him and Lydia were… very busy catching up). Once he reached Stiles, he gently nuzzled against him. Scent-marking. It was ridiculous how much Stiles enjoyed that, enjoyed the casual comfort and touch between the pack.

"How about you guys do something too? Lazy puppies. Set the table, squeeze some oranges, I want fresh juice to go with those pancakes. Shoo. Be useful."

Peter came next, making a beeline to the coffee maker. Which suited Stiles just fine, honestly, in this household, Peter was the only one who seemed to know how to actually use that. Whatever Erica did with it was absolutely not coffee. Isaac only drank hot chocolate. Jackson preferred going out to buy coffee in coffee shops. Boyd only drank tea. And the Hale siblings? Stiles was pretty sure they would drink the most bitter brew possible without flinching. Heathens, the lot of them.

As Derek and Stiles finished up breakfast, the kitchen got much more lively. So much bumping into each other as everyone tried to put one more thing onto the table – milk was missing, where was the butter, there needed to be jam had anyone seen the strawberry jam, why was there no syrup? That last one was what got Stiles, in the end. Erica bumped into him on her way to get the bacon, causing him to stumble back into Isaac, who elbowed Jackson, who lost his balance and spilled the syrup all over Stiles. All Stiles could do was blink and stare down at himself, dripping maple syrup everywhere, before he started laughing. Okay, yeah, he had missed this. This sense of family.

"I am going to get changed, I guess."

"You are going to drip syrup all over the floor," Peter gave him a look of disdain.

"He's right," Lydia's face matched Peter's. "Just, take your shirt off and put it in the sink for now, rinse it out in there later."

Stiles grunted his confirmation. That was a better idea than leaving a trail of syrup all over the place. Turning his back on the pack so he was facing the sink, he pulled his shirt off and put it in. Gasps and growls of varying degrees sounded behind him and oh. Right.

"Stiles-" Derek's voice never sounded more wrecked and Stiles didn't know what to do with that.

"Ri—ight," Stiles cleared his throat, rubbing his neck.

"Why would you get that as a tattoo," Cora asked startled.

Stiles braced himself against the sink. Knowing their eyes were on his back tattoo, on the large black fox sitting on it, staring at them right now. He frowned as he considered how to explain it.

"As a physical reminder of what I overcame," Stiles offered after a long silence. "This wasn't like a physical attack that I carried a scar from. It just… Sometimes, in the happy and carefree moments, it nearly feels like it never happened and that frightens me. I needed… I needed a physical reminder that it did happen, and that I survived. That I was stronger than him."

Silence again, but this one loaded with emotions. He could feel it through the pack-bonds. Not pity, but compassion and understanding – maybe not understanding in the sense that they could relate, but that they understood why he needed it. Stiles heaved a sigh.

"Never took you for someone to get a tattoo, at all," Isaac offered softly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Stiles' voice was a little shaky while he started scrubbing at his shirt. "The first one I got like three months after… after the possession. It's on my wrist. Just… a sentence. To remind me that I'm awake. That this is real. Because finger counting wasn't working and I wasn't always around posters or books… It helped. Helps, still. That I can look at my wrist and read words, know that I am awake because I can read them."

And silence again. He could feel pain through the pack-bonds. Pain on his behalf. Not pity, but sorrow. Frowning, he scrubbed a little harder, not ready to face them to see the looks on their faces.

"I have two more," Stiles offered, because why not. "I got a silver arrow, with the Argent family motto that Allison came up with. Actually, Chris and I got matching tattoos of that."

The compassion and sadness through the bonds was getting suffocating and yet he appreciated it too because they weren't judging him. They knew that this was part of his healing process and they respected that, even if they couldn't relate to it themselves.

"You said four," Lydia spoke up after a moment and he could hear the frown. "I knew about those three. But only those. When did you get a fourth tattoo, Stiles."

Ah. Stiles grinned to himself as he turned around. "Not long before we left Beacon Hills. I figured, the others are all… tied to the past. It's time to look into the future."

Stiles actually startled a little when Derek growled, eyes flashing red. It put a flush on Stiles' cheeks. When he blinked, Derek was all of a sudden right in front of him. Stiles swallowed hard, because Derek was only a breath away and a large hand curled around Stiles' hip, just on top of the triskelion settled on his hip-bone. His heart jumped at the touch, the warmth.

"Mine," Derek whispered, yet that whisper was so forceful it vibrated in Stiles' heart.

A crooked, pleased grin spread over Stiles' lips as he tilted his head and rested a hand atop Derek's. "So, you finally ready to talk about the fact that I'm your mate, then?"

Startled gasps. Not because this was new information to them. Werewolves could smell mate-bonds on mated pairs, Stiles knew that. There was no way the pack didn't know. Derek was staring at him with wide, near fearful eyes, before backing off. A disappointed sigh escaped Stiles at that.

"C'mon, Sourwolf," Stiles' voice had a pleading edge. "I followed you all the way to England. I'm done waiting for you to figure out how to use your words."

"How…" Derek swallowed hard. "How did you figure it out, I…"

"Was being super obvious in your pining?" Stiles raised both eyebrows. "But also, like… I'm magic. I am a supernatural creature too. I can feel the mate-bond myself. Has… that not occurred to you? That me not being human might mean I might also feel the bond?"

Derek flushed at the pining comment, which looked too cute on the Alpha. But, seriously. Derek had gone from wanting to rip Stiles' throat out every time Stiles opened his mouth to being unbearably patient with Stiles even during stressful situations. They'd saved each other's lives so often. It had hurt, at first, when Derek had left, but Stiles also understood why the Hales wanted to leave Beacon Hills behind. Part of him just wished Derek had asked him to come with them. Yet another part of him was grateful Derek hadn't, because Stiles genuinely didn't know how he could have chosen between his mate and his dad. Now, he didn't have to choose anymore. Taking a step toward Derek, Stiles grabbed the Alpha's hand, pulling him closer.

"I get it," Stiles spoke softly. "We were stumbling from one disaster into the next, trauma after trauma, there was never really… time. But now there is. I'm here, you're here. I want…"

Stiles paused, suddenly feeling breathless with the force of emotions he was experiencing. "I want to be happy. I want to live and move on and I want to do all of that with you, Derek."

Lifting his free hand, he rested it on Derek's cheek, gently. The Alpha nuzzled into it, closing his eyes. Leaning in, feeling bolt, Stiles pressed a fleeting kiss against Derek's lips.

"I love you, Sourwolf," Stiles whispered. "And I'm done stepping back, letting my own life and the things I want take a backseat to what others may need or want from me. I want. I want you."

He spoke with all the love and passion he felt for the Alpha and he pushed as much of it through their bond. Bonds. The pack-bond, vibrating warm and gentle next to their mate-bond, a strong, thick tendril of sparkly red that pulsed with want and need, carnal and primal and infinite.

"I'm yours, Derek," Stiles bared his neck to the Alpha. "I'm your pack. I'm your mate. I'll be your Emissary, if you'll have me. I'll be anything you'll take. Please."

"You're everything, Stiles," Derek sounded near desperate, looking at Stiles with gentle eyes. "You're my everything. I always just… It was never the right time. It always felt like it would be unfair to tell you. Make you choose between me and Scott, between my pack and his, between here and Beacon Hills, between… us, and staying with your dad."

"Yeah, but… now I'm here. And I'm yours. And you're mine."

And it was that last word, spoken with all the possessiveness Stiles felt, that finally tipped Derek over into leaning down and kissing him fiercely and passionately. It would have been the perfect first kiss if Jackson wasn't making gagging noises in the background while Erica cheered and Boyd and Isaac argued about who owed whom money. But then that maybe made it even more perfect.

~*~ The End ~*~

[buckybarnesss]

now i'm thinking about peter hale creeping on, stalking the stalk all the pack members when they go off into the adult world because despite everything they're his little hooligans to bother with his existence.

like the idea of scott tolerating peter's presence more than his own father's is hilarious to me, okay. he knows what to expect from peter. which ranges from just because you bit me doesn't make you a father figure and stop creeping out my roommates and don't make me call derek.

stiles and peter mutually stalk each other in a delicate game of one- upmanship. stiles totally doesn't mis-use his fbi agent status at all for this. peter works to make it especially hard in response.

peter being oddly supportive of lydia and she dislikes it but also the flower deliveries to her office are pretty it'd be a shame to throw them away.

peter helping new single parent derek with baby eli and it giving derek an entire full ass crisis about his uncle.

he tries to give liam life advice regularly and liam is like you are not my real dad wtf.

peter absolutely would be invasively supportive of malia in her life choices. not going to college? suggests trade school. sleeping with jordan parrish? interesting choice here's some protection.

i don't know the idea of peter settling back into something resembling his pre-fire personality where he wasn't exactly a nice normal person and had boundary issues but protective of what he sees as his. just keep an eye on him so he doesn't set up your girlfriend to get bitten and than die from rejecting the bite, okay.

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

You recently did an ask about an angsty mpreg fic...I love the concept. Could ylu possibly recommend some more like that?🥺

AND

Anon asked: any fics where stiles is pregnant and unfortunately gave birth by himself? i love mpreg angst  

Hi anon. @kevaaronday made this list!

baby of mine by suddenlyatiger (35/35 | 78,402 | Mature | Sterek) "It's not a joke," Stiles says. He looks at Derek, brown eyes wide and worried. "I need your help."

"By marrying you?" Derek asks.

"Yes," Stiles says.

My Liberation Has A Name by SilkO (12/12 | 66,380 | Mature | Sterek) Stiles is a prince under the Argent clan, the king, Gerard Argent had killed Stiles's clan years before taking Stiles as his own due to the omega being born a spark. The Argents had used Stiles's spark against the people. Killing many while using Stiles's name for the murders.

Years after Stiles was taken and imprisoned in the Argents castle Derek's clan gets massacred. Peter, filled with anger and vengeance trained Derek to go and kill Stiles, the witch of the Argent clan and avenge their family.

Derek goes and as he meets Stiles his reasoning falls, only leaving behind Derek's emotions, something he thought had died years ago.

if it’s meant to be, it’ll be by DeancebraArt & EvanesDust (4/4 | 27,560 | Explicit | Sterek)

Following a chance encounter with an irresistible and alluring omega, Derek wakes up in bed alone, with no way to contact the man he met the night before. Over the course of the next year, Derek finds himself wondering: how can he miss someone he doesn’t even know? And, more importantly, how can he find him again?

After a one-night stand with a mysterious alpha werewolf leaves Stiles pregnant, he resigns himself to raising his child as a single parent. It’s not until the man he’s been pining over for the last year shows up at his doorstep, does he realize there might actually be something more complicated than raising a child on his own: love.

Mama Please by Parkkrys (1/1 | 20,699 | Mature | Sterek) Claudia gave up hunting to marry Noah and so far no regrets. Yes, it irks her that Noah is friends with the Hales, but she had been able to put it to the side. 

Now after having twins, she struggles with watching lil Stiles and Derek grow closer, and now at the age of eighteen Derek reveals that Stiles is his mate. Something in her snaps and she leaves to the Argents for help. She wasn't expecting her lil boy to be a spark though.

Now years later, she knows her baby boy is married to Derek and she is determined to set him free no matter the cause.

Make Your Own (Buns in the Oven) by nezstorm (1/1 | 11,250 | Teen | Steter) Stiles opens his mouth a few times, but no words come out as he feels tears welling up again. He takes a deep, shaky breath, exhales slowly to calm himself enough to do this.

Peter waits, brows furrowed in worry as he watches Stiles.

“I think I’m pregnant,” he finally says, “And I don’t know what to do.”

--

Or the one where Stiles is a human incubator and Peter is not the baby daddy (until he is).

Virgin by KiraH69 (4/4 | 10,073 | Explicit | Steter) Stiles is a virgin, unmated and pregnant omega. That doesn’t make sense. Nobody believes it and things just get harder and harder.

Newborn by Anonymous (1/1 | 4,514 | Mature | Steter) Pregnant Stiles nearly pays the ultimate price for a disastrous rideshare experience.

Aka: Stiles, pregnant with Peter's baby, gets attacked by a bad driver with a gun. Do Not Read if you don't wanna see a pregnant twink get whumped in the backseat, oh ho ho.

Spoiler note: Stiles and baby are stable and recovering. The baby registry is on the Toys 'R Us website if you want to send them love.

infinitely undefined by nezstorm (9/9 | 3,999 | Teen | Steter) Stiles misses him sometimes. In the odd moments between reality and sleep.

--

Or the one where Stiles and Peter make a baby, but Peter is a chicken shit.

This Wasn't Supposed to Happen by Parkkrys (1/1 | 3,996 | Gen | Sterek) Stiles didn’t hide this on purpose, there just wasn’t a good time to tell him. Doing this friends with benefits thing with an alpha werewolf maybe wasn’t the best idea but how could he ever say no to Derek? 

Sure, he had feelings for the man, and this could only end in heartbreak because hey, who would be interested in a long time thing with him of all people? He knew how annoying he could be. He wasn’t even sure how his dad had put up with him all these years. 

But this has gone on for far too long, the scent blocker and the bracelet that he has been wearing for the past month could only do so much from hiding his not so little secret.

A Way Out by OnTheGround2012 (1/1 | 1,587 | Teen | Stackson) After finding out that he's pregnant, Stiles goes to see Jackson to fix it but things don't go as smoothly as he hoped. This is how their encounter ends.

Mpreg!derek

Expiration Dates by KaliopeShipsIt (22/22 | 226,825 | Mature | Sterek) When 13-year old orphaned Derek Hale tests positive as a male carrier, his newly appointed guardian and uncle Peter uses his influence to make the test result go away, aware that in their deeply carrier-phobic society his nephew’s status could prove to be the downfall of the family company.

16 years later Derek is pressured into firing eight months-pregnant Danny Mahealani, creating a publicity scandal that, as the Equal Rights for Carriers movement gains more and more ground, results in an unprecedented media outrage targeted towards Hale & Argent Publishers. 

A very reluctant Derek finds himself forced into defending his company’s prejudiced views on national television, facing off in heated debates against Stiles Stilinski, a guy he happened to have a one-night stand with months ago and has been pining over ever since. Stiles is a disgruntled former Hale & Argent employee, a staunch supporter of the ERC movement, he hates everything Derek stands for … and, courtesy of an expired condom, he’s also, unknowingly, the father of the child Derek wasn’t even aware he could carry in the first place.

Turning the Page by KaliopeShipsIt (26/26 | 128,387 | Mature | Sterek) After being widowed and left to raise three children on his own at the age of 21, Derek Hale-Krasikeva did not expect to ever find happiness again. 

He also definitely did not expect to meet the love of the second half of his life in a grad student attending the same university as his undergrad kids.

When You’re Not Expecting by KattsEyeDemon & seekeronthepath (9/9 | 49,863 | Explicit | Sterek) Derek and Stiles weren't planning on kids yet. Stiles hadn't even known biological kids were an option. But when the unexpected happens, Derek grabs onto the chance for a larger family with both hands, and everyone else is along for the ride

Derek Hale’s Baby by KaliopeShipsIt (4/4 | 38,741 | Mature | Sterek) On the last night of his vacation in Paris, Derek has a one-night stand with a handsome stranger. When he boards his plane back home twelve hours later, Derek's cute seat neighbor Stiles almost lets a backpack fall on Derek's head and Derek has no choice but fall for him. 

Ten weeks later, Derek has never been this happy, he's never been this in love - and he's never been this pregnant and with no clue who the baby daddy is. 

Also, he's secretly a werewolf. No Vacancy by KaliopeShipsIt (4/4 | 34,964 | Mature | Sterek) "29-Year Old Omega (muscular/scruffy/perpetual sourface) Seeking for Alpha-Baby-Daddy. Might or might not be named Stiles"

Derek is an unusually muscular Omega with irregular heats and dumb luck.

Stiles is an unusually polite Alpha who forgets to leave his number.

Laura is a furious Alpha who wants to wear Stiles' balls on a golden chain.

Cora is a pragmatic Alpha who composes Craigslist ads.

... aka, my first A/B/O-Fic

Edit: This work is now a trilogy

The Beginning of Our Wolfy Family by modestfuckup (6/6 | 20,699 | Teen | Sterek) “Stiles, I’m pregnant.” Derek blurted out.

Stiles jaw was open, an eyebrow arched, “No, not possible. I know I may have slept through freshman health, but I know for a fact that men cannot carry babies. Nice one Der. What did Deaton say?” 

or the one where Stiles and Derek find out they are having a baby.

A Day in June by KaliopeShipsIt (1/1 | 13,061 | Not Rated | Sterek) Derek is happily married, a proud papa of three children, and financially comfortable. 

He's also pregnant for the fourth time and doesn't want to be.

Bump in the Night by KaliopeShipsIt (1/1 | 3,600 | Mature | Sterek) The one where Derek's pregnant belly is a lot bigger in the evenings than in the mornings and Stiles mopes because he volunteered to work the nightshift for a month and thinks their unborn daughter is trying to be the next Houdini.

[sterekmpreg]

can you do stiles mpreg headcanons for me? like him preggers with eli🫶🏼☺️

FOR SURE😭 I love getting these😩 a few notes first: Derek never lost his alpha status and Scott gave him up after Derek confronted him about Stiles being his mate and never letting Scott take Stiles away from Derek's pack. Some of the people who were dead aren't dead.

LET ME HAVE MORE ASKS! but for real, feel free to ask me for more headcanons or more in detailed specific asks. I love answering them.

Stiles loves Derek adoring his pregnant stomach and Derek loves showing Stiles his Love for the full-rounded tummy. Kisses, tender touches, rubbing, stroking…. Derek does it all. He's even been caught a few times talking or singing to the bump softly early in the mornings or late into the hours of sleep.

Stiles sobs like a maniac when his jeans don't fit and the pack makes a day of buying new clothes for all so Stiles wouldn't feel singled out and they spoil the hell out of a very hormonal Stiles. The day was filled with eating, bonding, Lydia doing her well-known fashion shows in fitting rooms, and pictures. All at the expense of Derek's Bank account.

Noah, after being explained the possibility of Stiles' pregnancy through makes and mating by Peter's Education on the subject, stands and shouts “I'm gonna be a good damned grandpa!” before high-fiving every pack member he can reach.

Stiles goes into overload with the whole wolf theme. I'm talking wolf-themed onesies, bottles, binkies, hats, sweaters, baby booties, etc. And Derek, he doesn't have the heart to tell his excited mate that the dresser and closet are almost full after Stiles, Issac, and the girls go baby shopping.

The pack sometimes has a hard telling if Grandpa or the expecting parents are more eager to meet the tiny bundle of Joy that would become Elias Claude Stilinski Hale (Eli). And Noah definitely didn't help to stop Stiles with the Wolf theme because if anything he was enabling it.

Stiles has cravings for many things but his most frequent are Deer burgers, Onion rings, pickle wraps, and peanut butter milkshakes. Malia of course loves Stiles's first craving, Noah likes his son not being able the get onto him about greasy onion rings they'd eat together, Derek was glad pickle wraps were normal cravings, and Peter indulges in Peanut butter milkshakes with his favorite nephew-in-law.

Stiles has a hard time in the later months of the pregnancy and is basically left on bed rest after 8 months. Eli liked to kick Stiles all night in the bladder and on multiple occasions, Stiles would just cry after waking up and throwing his legs over the bed because everything just fucking hurt! Derek, being a good mate would wake up and help the heavily pregnant man by taking some pain as the walked to and from the bathroom and even as his mate fell asleep beside him after each slowly agonizing bathroom trip.

The Pack runs wild with the pack mom Stiles idea and can't stop making jokes about having a new “baby brother”. Erica and Issac go out of the way and get custom shirts labeled dad, mom, Grandpa, favorite uncle, big brother, big sister, etc. with everyone's name on the back if their own shirt as a cute pack idea when Stiles said he wanted to do a family photo shoot of their pack. (the shirts were a surprise for Derek and Stiles and they couldn't stop laughing as the pack forced them into their shirt for the photos.)

[untilnextchapter]

Monthly Fanfictions Recommandation: September'23

Here are my best discoveries from the last weeks

🍬 The Authors

@kquil : a gentle author, writing about the Marauders, her writing will bring you peace and the writings are so soft. I love seeing her theme on my computer and seeing her icon on my dash is always a sign that I will read something good.

@luveline : you don't know if you want to read an Aaron Hotchner story or a good Marauder one? You don't need to change to another page, here is the wonderful Jade. She's so talented and you won't be disappointed if you want to check her work.

@thatfanficstuff : when I discovered this blog, I didn't know where I should go first. So many fandoms I love, so many characters, so many stories... So many comfort shows and so, comforting times after work. And sometimes, it's all I need. A gentle person writing some sweet stories.

@luci-in-trenchcoats : I read a few stories a few months ago but, I recently re-discovered this amazing author. With her works, I was back into Supernatural. So many hours spent at reading about our favourite hunters, so many series. And the best of the best: the writing skills are so great and it's so easy to read... Waow, just waow.

@imagineteamfreewill : Fluffy Supernatural fics and a lot of good AUs, all I need after a hard day at work. Meg is an excellent writer and you will spend a good time, I promise. I haven't read everything yet but, I know I have a few a good escapes in perspective. Don't hesitate , you will enjoy your time reading, I hope as much as I'm doing.

@anika-ann : I'm in my Marvel phase, I'm weak, I know. And, I think I found someone that could quench my thirst with so many good stories and good writing skills. I could spend hours reading about Steve Rogers. And I know I've found an unique writer because I loved a crossover story. I usually hate that. But here I am, reading a Criminal Minds / Avengers story and loving it. Thank you for that.

@crazyunsexycool : Another "Val", it can only be someone nice, right? But really, a sweetheart, someone with so much imagination, and a way to write about children... And I know what I'm talking about, I'm working in a nursery. It's so great to read something accurate when it's a subject you know. And except for the children, she's always here to answer your questions, being nice and taking time for her followers. I hadn't asked to be add into a taglist for a story for a long time. You won't be disappointed if you want to make a stop here.

🍭 The Stories

* = Smut (Minors DNI) || 🦋 = Series || Beware of the TW please

Not so secret admirer || @kquil (Remus Lupin x Reader, you can't hide your adoration for remus lupin and often end up staring at him, good thing he thinks you're really cute)

A star between hands 🦋 || @luveline (James Potter x Reader, finding out you’re princess isn’t half as intimidating as your new bodyguard, James. mutual pining, fluff)

if things go bad || @/luveline (Aaron Hotchner x Reader, Hotch rushes to get to you when you call him during a home invasion. angst, hurt/comfort)

True Mate 🦋 || @thatfanficstuff (Peter Hale x Reader)

Remember me || @/thatfanficstuff (Thranduil x Reader)

I Know Your Brother || @luci-in-trenchcoats (Sam Winchester x Reader, The reader is pulled out of Hell accidentally by Sam Winchester who’s wondering where his brother is…)

A Safe Mistake 🦋 || @/luci-in-trenchcoats (Nanny!Dean x Single Parent!reader, Dean’s in need of some extra cash to help Sam pay for his tuition and gets a job working as a nanny for the reader’s young son. As Dean becomes ingrained in the reader’s life though, he soon becomes more than just the nanny to them both…)

Beauty and the Beast 🦋 || @imagineteamfreewill (Dean Winchester x Reader AU, Living in a village is nice, and even though you’d always longed for adventure, you weren’t expecting to go on an adventure of your own anytime soon. But as soon as you take your father’s place as the prisoner of a Beast who lives in an enchanted castle, you’re surprised that adventure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—and neither are monsters)

Daisy || @/imagineteamfreewill (Sam Winchester x Deaf!Daughter!Reader, Sam breaks some bad news to his daughter, who’s deaf, and watches her start to grow up without her mother)

Love on the Brain 🦋 || @anika-ann (Steve Rogers x Reader / Crossover MCU-Criminal Minds, You found menacing pictures of you friend, colleague and neighbour Steve in your mailbox.   Someone might play it off as a bad joke, but you were an agent for the Avengers Initiative and a former FBI agent. You’ve seen cases like this and you were taking no chances. Not with Steve of all people. But you were going to need help; enter the BAU)

Hands Too Cold, but Heart of Gold 🦋 || @/anika-ann (Steve Rogers x Reader, Matt Murdock x Reader, You officially joined the Avengers only two months ago and you’re about to take off to yet another mission. Cap would like to have some extra help on this one – but the Avengers have approached the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen before and he made it pretty clear how he felt about it. Of course, this time it’s you who got stuck with trying to convince him once again. “I still don’t understand why it’s not you coming, oh Star Spangled Man with a Plan.” “I do have a plan. I have you.”)

Heart’s Munition 🦋 || @crazyunsexycool (Mob boss!Steve Rogers x Maid!Reader. I can't copy and paste all the resume but I swear, you'll love it. A bit of surprise but it's worth the world)

My little love * 🦋 || @/crazyunsexycool (Bucky Barnes x Enhanced!Reader. Really long resume but in short, Bucky, Reader, children, Papa and Mama bears, great scenario, you'll love it I promise!)

That's all, for now.

Don't hesitate to share the stories you liked and tell the writers you enjoy their works, it always means a lot to them ❤️

Have a good reading,

Val 🌸

[theslowestpoke]

Appreciation Post for Noah Stilinski and Chris Argent

Teen Wolf is accidentally a show about shitty parents. In all of Beacon Hills, Noah and Chris are the exceptions to the rule of bad dads.

Rafe McCall

Alcoholism

Domestic violence

Abandoned his family

Bullies his son's best friend re: his own father's alcoholism, aka

Superiority complex

Actively endangers multiple people because he can't listen to his son for five minutes

Derek's Dad

Does he exist?

If he existed at some point, he fumbled Talia, so

Mr. Martin

Shows up to Lydia's parent-teacher conference and immediately assumes she's making trouble and has bad grades, indicating he has never bothered to get to know her

He does come to the hospital after Peter mauls her, but the risk of nearly losing her doesn't change his behavior, so this is performative at best and manipulative at worst

Coach Lahey

I mean, do I need to explain?

Physically and verbally abusive to at least one of his sons

Threatened a kid who nearly drowned at his house because

He let a bunch of teenagers drink underage at his house

I have a feeling Isaac getting a job at the graveyard wasn't a choice or a paying gig, but it's definitely not OSHA compliant to have one person under 18 on the night shift by himself and operating heavy machinery for the exact reason that we see happen in Omega

Peter Hale

He can be forgiven for not knowing about his kid for 16 years because that knowledge was literally stolen from him (a point against Talia Hale, don't come for me) but

Once they both know about it, he continues doing his creepy villain bullshit and nearly gets said kid killed multiple times

Gerard Argent

Seriously

Not even touching his bad grandparenting,

Militarized his children with dangerous, xenophobic rhetoric which he has deliberately misconstrued to serve his own means

Could not give a single shit if either of his kids die in the line of duty, whether it is avoidable or not

Manipulated his daughter to such extremes that she groomed and sexually assaulted a child in order to murder his entire family

Decided it was fine for his son's first solo mission to be an arms deal with the literal Yakuza, supernatural elements aside

His big endgame plan was a betrayal of every ideal he ruined his children with and he was going to just carry on acting like that was fine

Elias Stilinski

Guess what, another asshole

Verbally and physically abusive to his wife and son

Continues to be verbally abusive and emotionally manipulative during moments of lucidity from his dementia

Chris and Noah are not perfect fathers, but they are <b>good</b>, which is what matters.

Noah has been dealt a bad hand in life, losing his wife while their son was so young, and he's tried very hard to break the cycle of violence while learning how to be a single father. He did have issues with alcoholism in the past, although we only hear about that from other people talking shit or when Stiles is poisoned with wolfsbane, so the true extent may be exaggerated. He almost always handles Stiles' neurodivergence and propensity to get himself (and others) into trouble with patience and understanding, unless it puts someone in danger.

Chris also broke the cycle of violence, trying his best to shield his daughter from the dangers of the hunter lifestyle until she was old enough to make a choice for herself. When that protection was forcibly removed and she was manipulated by everyone else in her family, he never stopped trying to help her see reason, including joining forces with his lifelong enemies to bring her back home. He also recognizes the missing pieces Isaac needs when he starts hanging around, so he pulls that kid under his wing, too, a remarkable show of character growth from his handling of Allison's last boyfriend. He did kind of forget that Isaac isn't legally his and then abduct him across international waters, but everyone grieves differently, I guess. Unless we find out explicitly what happens to Isaac in France, I'm going to assume the best and that Chris didn't just abandon him there with no resources.

Anyway, fandom talks a lot about Melissa McCall and, obviously, she's doing an amazing job, but she's not the only one.

[ao3feed-peterstiles]

Fancy pants and soulmates

Read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/58123345 by Divinae Stiles became a single parent at eighteen. It was then he gave up on soulmates and decided to live his life. He was done wasting it away waiting for a maybe soulmate. Words: 4022, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 8 of Steter Week 2024 Fandoms: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M, M/M Characters: Peter Hale, Stiles Stilinski, Malia Tate Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Single Parent Stiles Stilinski, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski & Malia Tate Friendship, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmates, Steter Week 2024 (Teen Wolf) Read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/58123345

[gremlinbabe]

Things I personally felt I was Robbed of in teen wolf: Hale family edition

Who Eli’s other birth parent was

Eli’s first words (I like to think it’s jeep, no, or mine)

Derek getting a house

WOLF FORM DEREK

Coyote form Malia

Possibly wolf form Cora would’ve been interesting

Derek reading every parenting book EVER

Derek asking the sheriff grandpa and Melissa for help with his possibly at the time human baby

Peter, Cora, and Malia getting into a full blown fist flight over who gets to hold Eli first (it’s stiles, then the sheriff, then Melissa, then Lydia, deaton, then Cora)

When Eli first steals the jeep

Erica and Boyd being amazing god parents

Big brother moments for issac

Derek finding the jeep and confronting Scott & Lydia

Gruncle - Stockbroker!peter and art gallery owner!peter (I feel like he’d be good with money but needs the galleries for when he’s trying to lie low in the broker side of things)

Cool aunt - Brazilian ufc fighter! Cora ( love a way for her to Chanel her anger over the years but she’s also amazing at it)

More Mechanic!Derek

Vodka aunt - Pilot!malia

Signature glare/RBF for all the hales & honorary hales (issac, stiles, sheriff)

Issac and Derek making up after he gets back from France and issac ask to be apart of Derek’s pack again

Isaac finding out Derek has a kid ( maybe when Eli is 6-10ish) and we see so much of his happy and hurt and feels

Grandpa sheriff taking Derek & Eli to lunch

Derek making the sheriff grandpa lunch as thanks for help with his kid

Peter and the sheriff going to lunch to gossip like old ladies about beacon hills

Dilf! Derek getting every casserole made to man kind when all the women in his neighborhood find out he’s single w a kid in a new house

Malia taking Eli and Derek on their first plane trip (to my to see stiles)

Cora getting Eli his first super Spanish gold name bracelet

Peter begging to babysit

Eli spoiled rotten by everyone

Peter joining the pta just to watch Eli & flirt with milfs & dilfs

Issac hosting community bbqs & block parties

More family moments involving cora

Peter and Malia go to therapy and acknowledge each other and occasionally get lunch

Cora and kira start dating when she out the dessert and fully can control her powers

Sunday dinners with Derek, Eli, issac, issac’s French husband, stiles, sheriff, Cora, Peter, Malia, & kira

Malia gets 2 partners and travels with them regularly

[theheightofdishonor]

ugh that ask really did have me thinking about the sheriff and how much i cannot stand that man.

like i'm generally very very lenient with characters that only care about one or a couple people. especially when the people they care for are ones that i also care for like stiles in this instance. but with sheriff stilinski, i just can not. It's a mixture of

a) the hypocrisy

b) that he's leveraging the law against characters I like (listen, if he was throwing peter into a prison cell, that's one thing. but it's not, it's kira.)

c) the whole white male cop that actively abbets his white male son's multiple crimes while crucifying everyone else thing is too close to reality for me.

and d) as an extension of the above, the way that teen wolf gives him a leniency that it doesn't allow any of the other parents in the narrative because of the color of his skin and his gender. And mind you, I tend to stay out of conversations around fandom racism because i don't come here to reflect on how fandom and media are extensions of issues i face irl. However in certain instances like this, it's impossible to avoid discussing that sheriff stilinski is given grace by the narrative. The way that he (and Chris) are allowed to single-mindedly protect his son and not be condemned by the narrative when Victoria and Lydia's mom are both seen as wrong for it, when Noshiko is needlessly rendered powerless. It's how we get to see Melissa care about Stiles as her own time and time again and Stilinski never extends that concern to Scott, or Lydia, or any of Stiles's friends or even Melissa who's his friend. The sheriff is allowed to take unsavory actions to protect his own but Noshiko and Ken, who have been fully informed about the supernatural world for ages, one of whom is a nine tailed kitsune, isn't allowed to do so. It's the same way that we never get insights into Boyd or Erica or Mason's families but we learn about Isaac's father. How we get an entire season of Argent family history and tons about the Hales and nothing about the McCalls. It's about how the dream sequence gave us meaningful looks into Lydia and Stiles's families and then that random thing with Roxy for Scott when the circumstances around Rafael leaving was right there for the picking, and just as important to his character as Stiles's or Lydia's mothers were to them (-don't argue with me about this, i understand that a lot of you have have analyzed that scene to hell and back and rendered some meaning out of it and while i appreciate the effort, we simply disagree on this scene)

Anyway I just wanted to rant a little bit because that ask had me thinking about it. And now i'd rather not think about it so I might just mute the notifs on that ask.

Ofc if you like stilinski, good for you, i really don't care, don't come into my inbox about it, please and thank you.

[sapphireginger]

The day of the fire could’ve been the worst day of Stiles’s life, but it turned out to be the best day of his life because he met Peter Hale. The fire could’ve meant the end of a child’s life, but Peter saved her, and it became the best day of his life because he met Stiles Stilinski.

Gift for: @rebakitt3n 

Happiest of Holidays and I hope you love the Steter-y goodness I have written! I absolutely love this story!!

@stetersecretsanta2022

[thotpuppy]

Commeatus Terrae by Susihukka

Chapters: 5/5 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski Tags:  Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Clones, Cults, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Disabled Character, Single Parent Stiles Stilinski Summary:

When Stiles stepped inside the massive space station for the first time, it was with an uneven gait. His mechanical leg had malfunctioned during the journey, stuck straight, again, and his infant mother was wrapped to his chest. It had been a bit easier to ignore everything during the journey here, but now that he stood on the dockside, the realities came rushing in. This would likely be Claudia's last life. Stiles himself and, as he had learned in the past weeks, the rest of humanity had only given the one to begin with. The busy port hall, full of humans and other lifeforms, suddenly drove the finality of their situation home.

[Click Here to Read]

I'm so excited to finally start sharing my works for this year's Steter Big Bang!! It was really exciting getting matched up and working with so many very different people to create some interesting and captivating stories. (:

When I saw the space premise for this one I IMMEDIATELY jumped on because my brain started thinking: oh my god, custom coveralls flight suit! that's my favorite thing! but then we got talking and I learned more about the Actual Story and this scene immediately smacked me in the face. I keep deciding to draw complex scene with Backgrounds and stuff and they are NOT my strong suit hahaha, but I couldn't get the look of wonder at finally having a functional prosthetic on Stiles' face out of my head, so... it had to happen! This was the first art piece I actually started for this bang, so how fitting that it is ALSO the first art piece I am posting.

Anyways, thank you so much to the mods for organizing and to all of the fantastic writers I've had the chance to work with for making this event so fun!

[buckybarnesss]

Thoughts on Melissa/Chris Argent/Peter OT3?

They had a whole B-plot adventure together in the movie, and both guys dated Mel, and I feel like Scott's head would explode.

Or what I am now referring to as the Single Parents Club (Argent/Mel/Sheriff)?

i feel like what the parents get up to isn't my business lmao.

but also like......

peter hale has made his way through all the available milfs and dilfs in his local area, okay

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

hello, do you have any recommendation on alive hale with oblivious stiles (either about supernatural stuff or derek's feelings idk)

I sure do!

Almost, But Not Quite by hazelNuts

(1/1 I 2,205 I Teen)

anonymous asked, "hi i want to say that i really love your stories because you don't have cheating in them. which right now is something am so thankful for because when it happens to you right out of the blue you really hate even the mention of the word. i really need some happy sterek fluff maybe containing my favorite sterek situation high school derek jock and stiles nerd. as wired as this request sounds at the time my fanfiction pairings are the only people i feel i can trust as they can't hurt me."

Stiles and Derek are dating, but they are also awkward dorks who need to learn to use their words. Sometimes, happy accidents can help with that.

Say uncle by MsCee

(1/1 I 5,714 I Teen)

Derek Hale does not babysit. He just doesn't. That is, until he finds out that his cute new neighbor wants them to bond as single fathers while their daughters play. Not that Ellie is his daughter, but Stiles doesn’t need to know that, right?

*

Or, wherein Derek does not bother correcting an assumption and probably even encourages it in the name of lurve, but it all works out because Stiles is not exactly being the poster boy of honesty either.

You and Your Stupid, Perfect Smile by Omni 

(1/1 I 8,881 I Mature)

The last thing Stiles expected to see that morning was the guy he'd been crushing hard on for months standing there dripping wet and practically naked.

The last thing he wanted was to have to buddy up to the guy for the sake of his roommate, Erica, who had evidently started dating him.

The last thing he'd ever intended was to come between them.

Wildflower by thirtyfourthirtyfive

(2/3 I 15,225 I Explicit)

In order to keep their parents from dating, Stiles and Derek get together.

Dream a Little Dream by nakatas_cat

(10/11 I 27,1483 I Explicit)

For months, Stiles has been dreaming of a mysterious, hot guy sexing him up only to wake up to his dog beside him rather than his lover the next morning. Tonight's no different. Or is it?

Wolves with a Spark by AMatchInWater

(13/13 I 58,089 I Explicit)

Talia lets out a shocked gasp, "your eyes. They're purple." The Alpha is practically oozing with excitement. Stiles hisses, as the fingers touching the Nemeton start to sting as markings etch themselves into his knuckles and a small one on his wrist that looks like a Y but the stem goes up between the v part. "What the-?" Stiles yells out in pain, yanking his hand off the bark, the back of his left forearm feeling like it's been set on fire. A white fox with vibrant blue eyes burns into his flesh. "Mom?" He asks again, she died when he was young, but the Omega remembers what she looked like fully shifted. The spitting image of the tattoo forming on his skin. "What's happening?" Frantic eyes meet Talia's and Derek's. "You're a spark." Talia whispers in wonder. "You have magic, Stiles."

OR

Stiles moves in with the Hales after his father passes away. Presenting as an Omega and then a spark years later. He's hopelessly head over heels for Derek and wants to be his mate, but it almost certain the Alpha doesn't feel the same way about him so he says nothing and pines from a distance. Talia asks if Stiles would like to train to be an emissary to the Hale pack and Stiles agrees.

Stay by AllTheseSquaresMakeACircle

(24/24 I 71,634 I Explicit)

Derek is working for his uncle as one of the studios premiere models. Then, Peter makes a suggestion. One that comes with a damn good price tag. It also comes with Stiles. That...That's where things start to go downhill. Oh well, at least the sex was good.

run and hide by whiry

(36/36 I 174,966 I Teen)

"Unlike Derek, Stiles still remembers the first time they met. He remembers the confusion at the pull in his chest, tugging him to the boy with big ears and light eyes. He’d been in the grocery store with his mother and Derek with his, and they had all been minding their business, but Stiles had a niggling in the back of his head directing him toward Derek. And when their eyes met for the first time? Stiles’ heart about exploded. He remembers grabbing his chest and gasping and his mother running over and Derek’s mother running over. The boys didn’t even say anything, and poor Derek looked so confused, and Talia and Claudia simply looked at their boys, looked at each other, and immediately set up a time to meet. And that was how it started."

or, stiles and derek suck at being mates, a new threat comes to town, and stiles has to desperately try to save everything he's ever loved from total destruction all while trying to get through his sophomore year unscathed.

[sterek-ao3feed]

Help me find this fantastic fanfic

Read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/56796796

by SunflowerPrincess96

Please help idk if it was apart of neck & throats.

Words: 91, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Teen Wolf (TV)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Single Parent Derek Hale, Human Stiles Stilinski, Good Peter Hale, The Hale Family Lives (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56796796

[sterek-ao3feed-archive]

Hell's Children

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54901624 by Mikaelsonbich25 Stiles was learning to live with the guilt he caused after the Nogistune issue. Although it was tough, he was fine. The pack had forgiven him, the evil fox was gone, and he was back to being human. Hope was still learning to forgive herself after turning her humanity off. Lizzie still hated her. Josie had returned to the school. Alaric was so tense around her that he barely looked her way anymore. Talia had moved out of her hometown right after High School. Things were different living in New York, but she made it work. All she knew was there was no way in hell she'd return to that shitty town. Hope, Stiles, and Talia had barely started enjoying life when their father returned for them. Now, their semi-comfortable world was torn apart all over again. Words: 1739, Chapters: 4/?, Language: English Fandoms: The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Originals (TV), Legacies (TV 2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Hope Mikaelson, Original Characters, Josie Saltzman, Lizzie Saltzman, Alaric Saltzman, Mikaelson Family (Vampire Diaries), Caroline Forbes, Marcel Gerard, Vincent Griffith, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Derek Hale, Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Stephen Strange, Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Wong (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Stephen Strange/Original Male Character(s) Additional Tags: Family Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Sibling Rivalry, Protective Siblings, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt No Comfort, Father Figures, Pack Mom Stiles Stilinski, Adult Stiles Stilinski, Mutual Pining, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Sarcasm, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Oblivious Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange is So Done, Lesbian Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, Tags Are Hard, Single Parents, The Author Regrets Everything, Established Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/54901624