Chapter Text
The trek to the car is rather tense, if you ask Stiles. On the one hand, he is glad to be going home, with his dad, safe and sound. On the other, he feels like turning around and checking if they’re being followed because it feels like they are.
And maybe, it feels like, so perhaps actually it is, that he had just broken up with Peter. Or are they on a break? Does he even deserve a break? Or just because he did not say the actual words they are technically still together? Is this just a fight?
Maybe Peter doesn’t know that he knows so he thinks he’s just mad about the werewolf thing. But he’s not mad at Derek so that can’t be it, he can’t think that is it.
Damn. Werewolves. Werewolves are real. And he knew several of them. And he never even suspected. Not even once.
But well, who even suspects such a thing? Stiles should have. Because he usually does suspects people of everything. Take Mrs. Clarens for example. Mrs. Clarens next door who he has always though must be a witch, and it’s probably her cauldrons that emit that godawful smell. Maybe she’s like some bog hag and has to bathe in mud every day to stay close to her roots. To her magic. Or whatnot.
Or take Lydia Martin. She must be some sort of a siren. People walk into lockers just from looking at her from afar and boys and girls alike are ready to jump of a bridge with no river below just to get her attention (not that it happened. Stiles felt like ‘yet’ is a must).
But he has never linked the supernatural to the Hales. Well sure, everyone in the family have striking looks but maybe it was a gift from gods given to someone from the past generation for some heroic deed and it has been passed down to the last generation.
So touched by supernatural? Yes. Them being actually supernatural? No.
What a fool. Maybe it was just another one of his willful obliviousness.
The car was where they have left it at. All the bags fit where they had to. The road is clear and they ride out of the forest.
“I feel like pizza is well deserved,” John starts slyly.
And he isn’t wrong. Even though his father gorged himself in the other realm (fairies, Jesus, fairies were real), they did dance for several hours straight so they both received a workout of a lifetime. Carbs are a must.
“Way ahead of you,” is all Stiles replies, already choosing pizzas on the phone.
He is rather ravenous himself.
No cars follow them, not that he thought they would. Derek did say they ran here. But no one runs after them either. Well, why would they, that would be creepy as fuck. Probably it’s faster through the woods. Anyway, there’s no point in thinking about...Hales. Yes, no Hales for him today.
The pizza guy was already by the door when they arrive, and his father actually beams at the sight. Today is the day for the pizza with all the sauce and meat. The list of allowed ingredients is even more generous than that on Thanksgiving. Hell, even his birthday. Near death experience will do that. Not that it was but it easily could have. Who knows what traditions and customs they have breached, Stiles doesn’t!
Pizza is good. Full stomach and a comfy bed are even better. Stiles hugs his dad and leaves for bed - he is so fucking wiped. When he wakes up, it is well after dark. The clock shows 6:22 p.m and the closed door across and to the left signifies that the sheriff is still asleep. Well, no time like the present for some research.
By 4.05 am, after scrolling through hundreds of sites, making myriad of notes, writing down key points on the board and 3 slices of pizza 1 can of coke combo later, Stiles sat back and curses colorfully. Then goes back to bed and promptly passes out.
In the morning, the first thing he does is opening messages on the phone. His dad, Peter and Derek are the first 3 latest dialogues. None of them in the past 24 hours. Good.
He opens Derek’s and simply writes, ‘come over’. The message is immediately marked as ‘read’ and ‘ok’ is received several seconds later.
His dad is drinking coffee and reading the morning paper by the counter when he comes down. They exchange greetings, and Stiles feels a wave of warm gratitude fill him seeing a full pot of coffee, enough for three full cups.
‘Derek will stop by soon,’ Stiles says after sitting down near his father.
The Sheriff smiles at him, ‘I’m not very surprised.’
Stiles huffs a laugh in return because, really, he is not surprised either, the title of a best friend was not awarded just for kicks, after all; it is a serious position with many responsibilities. Mainly, listening to each other whine and be where the other is at, no excuses. Well, and taking any pranks to the grave.
‘I’m off to the station’, the Sheriff looks at his son for a long moment, and when Stiles has already started fidgeting, he says, ‘If something is going on, take Derek with you.’
And with that, leaving Stiles gaping like a fish, he leaves. And Stiles even didn’t think to plan anything yet, in any regard!
Derek arrives just a minute later and rings the doorbell. He rings a fucking doorbell. That makes Stiles close his mouth quickly.
‘Dude,’ he says with feeling as he wrenches the door open. ‘You rang this doorbell exactly once, years ago, and the day did not end for us very well. Are you trying to call up more trouble?’
Aaaaaand a guilty Derek face only gets grumpier with that opening remark. Well, if Derek is grumpy, there is only one medicine for that. He crushes into his best buddy and hugs him as hard as he can. Strong hands immediately wrap around him. A high pitched whine is heard, and Stiles runs his hand through Derek’s hair. How he never made a comparison to a puppy, he will never know.
‘Come on, get in,’ Stiles says, shuffling backwards with a human limpet. ‘You have Sheriff approval to follow me home’.
At that, Derek dismantles himself from him, grumpy but with a hints of smile on his familiar face.
‘Dog jokes, really, Stiles?’
Stiles only smiles at him innocently and offers coffee.
‘You know you’re not leaving without telling me everything, right? ‘Cause internet had been extremely unreliable and the contradictions are driving me insane. I want to know everything, and you are my only source. Wait, but you have books, right?’ Then he stops to ponder, because, well, supernatural is a secret after all. ‘Do you have books? Please say yes, please tell me I can borrow one, my one other source is the Queen and I don’t want to visit so soon,’ at Derek’s alarmed face, he continues, ‘I know of the supernatural only one day, obviously my options are limited, come on, tell me everything!’
‘Ok,’ Derek starts somberly. ‘Where do you want to start?’
It was easier to start with the board. It has rows of facts and he asks Derek to say which are true and which are not and explain why. Hearing about enhanced abilities is absolutely unbelievable -
(‘Dude, you’re such a villain, using you powers for pranking, no wonder you never get caught!’)
finding out about about the partial and full shifts requires an immediate demonstration, -
(‘So weird. I mean- awesome, but weird. But where do they go, what happens to you eyebrows? Or does you human face has the monopoly? Like your shift form has the monopoly on fangs?)
- and seeing another demonstration of the aforementioned abilities is cool but quickly turns weird, -
(‘Stop smelling me, I was researching, I didn’t have that much time for hygiene!’)
- and asking about family secrets is a bit uncomfortable, at least because of the amount of guilt Derek is sporting (‘I get it, dude. It’s ok. I’m not mad about this, ok? I’m not mad’).
Hours and many notes later, Derek insists on a break. He has a homemade lunch in the car-
(‘Awww, Der, I knew I was dear to your heart, this is so fucking nice.’)
that he was hoping to share with Stiles (it was a bribe, ok, a blatant bribe and an apology bundle, not that Stiles is complaining) so they do. Derek keeps shifting closer and closer, and Stiles, finally knowing about the need for constant touch, thinks it’s nice, that Derek really does consider him someone important enough to want him to carry his scent. Blinking away the sentiment, he compliments Derek on the delicious coq au vin, to which Derek just grunts. Not that Stiles expected anything else, his bud is a man of very few words usually, and that is just fine.
‘So you’re ok?’ Derek’ voice muffled from where he’s chewing on a fork, clearly nervous. At Stiles’ confused look, he pops a claws and wiggles it a bit. Ah.
‘My best friend being a werewolf?’ A shy nod. ‘Dude, you’re never getting rid of me now, that’s for sure.’ And Derek pulls out a fork at this and smiles so wide he shows off a rare sight of his cute bunny teeth. ‘Of course it’s ok. It’s freaking awesome’. He says out loud, just take any doubt away. From the way Derek’s eyes flicker to his heart and he’s beaming now, he must hear the truth. ‘But no more secrets ok?’ Another nod.
And it was settled. Because seriously, he only feels closer to his friend, and not the other way around. He is honored to know, even though Derek was not the one tell him.
‘Wanna play Mario Cart?’
Because as much as all this supernatural stuff is exciting, his brain needs a temporarily wipe. And what better than video games (well, his boyfriend - did he still have a boyfriend? - was currently unavailable so- no, but no, he will not go there) could there be?
And yet, even while playing, his mind keeps straining to a Peter. He can’t get him out of his head. He can’t not stop thinking what would happen now, should he say something, will Peter say something, should he- should he what? For fuck’s sake he’s just crashed his cart.
‘So. What’s going on with you and Peter?’ Derek asks, clearly uncomfortable. After all, he never liked getting in the middle of their relationship.
Stiles, in turn, startles so bad his cart has no chance to be salvaged.
‘What about him?’ He tries to go for nonchalant. One look at Derek makes him cringe.
Werewolves, right. Well, then there’s only one way, and it’s barging straight on.
‘He’s cheating on me, so I’m dumping his lying ass’.
The news must have been a surprise for Derek because he fumbles the console and loses control of the cart as well.
‘What?!’
‘You didn’t know?’ Stiles asks, simply hoping that his best did not tell him because he did not know.
‘No, of course not,’ he looks rather shell-shocked, which right now is a rather comforting sight for Stiles. ‘He’s not cheating on you, what the hell?’
So Stiles starts telling him about the party, game forgotten. About spilling his drink, how Heather flirted (‘yes, I know it’s flirting now, Derek, stop growling’), what she said how everyone thought they were not serious (‘yeah, I heard,’ Derek said to this, ‘it’s bullshit‘), how he left, and how he saw Peter with Holly at the bar.
At that, Derek gets rather quiet. And Stiles heart freezes. Because this is it, this is the moment he tells him that there is something going on. And Derek says,
‘It’s not what you think. At least, not what you think you saw. Peter’s not- he’s not cheating on you, he can’t be.
‘Derek, there’s not much room for interpreting the phrase ‘Stiles is here’ while holding her fucking hand so don’t even’.
Stiles abruptly stands up, not willing to listen to this, to Derek lying to him, trying to justify his uncle’s actions, trying to make this all look ok, because this is not ok, how can he even think-
‘She’s a werewolf too.’
And back the fuck up, what?
‘Are you serious?’
And Derek only nods. ‘I’m not really supposed to tell you this, it’s not my secret to tell but- You know.’
Best buds. And he’s just promised to hold back no secrets.
‘Holly Merryfield, a fucking werewolf.’ He deadpans and receives another nod. ‘So you’re what, like, secret buddies? Is there a secret club? Is she like pack?’
‘She’s from the Ito pack to the west, not ours.’
‘So- so what? I don’t get it, so what if she’s a werewolf? You’re not like- you don’t owe her anything, you don’t have to hang out with her, right? There’s no protection circles? There’s no talk of arranged marriages or anything, right?’ Stiles gives a nervous laugh that dies out immediately at Derek’s expression. ‘Derek- Derek, buddy, my man, tell me there are no marriage contracts involved, between Peter and Holly.’ Silence. ‘Derek, you are freaking me out, man, stop freaking me out, no healthy food will save me from a freaking heart attack if you do not tell me right now.’
‘They’re not engaged, nothing was arranged,’ Derek pauses. ‘Yet’.
Stiles stumbles back and falls hard onto his bed. ‘Tell me you’re joking, tell me this is a fucking joke. Tell me my boyfriend is not marrying some asshole while dating me.’
‘No, no, Stiles,’ and here comes Derek’s guilty face. A lot panicked too. Stiles scootches back from him because, really, Derek? ‘Look, it’s not- this is not- I mean, just.’ He stops himself forcefully and takes a deep breath. ‘Satomi Ito, the alpha of the Ito pack, offered to strengthen our treaty through marriage. I don’t know where she got the idea that Holly and Peter are close,’ at Stiles’ incredulous look, he hurries to add, ‘not that it was true! It’s not, I promise, it’s not. But she offered a contract between them, and she did so operating under the thought that they were, ok? But we declined, mom knows you’re together, she likes you, Stiles, and you know, you can’t force Peter into anything.’
If Peter didn’t say anything, so it must have been Holly herself to suggest it. The picture was starting to form in Stile’s mind.
‘So let me get this straight. From the rumors, Holly’s been after Peter for some time and telling everyone about it, correct?’ A nod. ‘And she failed, because Peter’s with me, and he- didn’t...fall prey to her feminine wiles?’ A roll of eyes and a nod. ‘So she, what? Wanted to slut around so bad and couldn’t stand rejection so blatant that she went to her alpha, to- what? To hook them up?’
Because that bitch is capable. And of course there is a chance that it came from someone else and not from Holly at all because he knows approximately shit about pack dynamics and treaties but- it is possible.
‘Maybe, I don’t really know, sorry.’
‘It’s ok, dude,’ Stiles pats him on a shoulder, and Derek relaxes. ‘But Peter declined?’ A nod. ‘And Talia declined?’ A hesitant nod. ‘What? Dude, what?’
‘She declined because Peter declined. If Peter accepts, she would accept for him.’
‘So she’s not forcing him, just following his wishes?’ A nod. ‘That’s ok. Ok. That’s a-okay.’ A pause. ‘It doesn’t explain shit about the hand holding though.’
At Derek’s painful grimace, Stiles thinks he won’t like the answer.
‘I don’t know.’
And he’s right, he doesn’t like it one bit.
‘You do know her being a werewolf and wanting an arranged thing is not an explanation? Only unless Peter is considering saying yes, but you are sitting here swearing up and down that that’s not it. But you also the one who said ‘yet’. So, what-? I don’t-‘ he spreads his arms because Derek’s attempt at reassurance only makes everything worse. ‘You think he’ll change his mind? Test the waters with someone else? I mean-‘
‘No, no, no!’ Comes Derek’s fervent protest.
‘No?’ Stiles is so hopeful but with everything, his disbelief is strong.
‘He loves you,’ is a definite statement.
Stiles’ breath hitches because, ‘did he tell you that?’ Because he did not tell Stiles that.
‘I can smell it,’ is oh so unhelpful reply.
All strength leaves Stiles and he flops down on the bed.
‘Maybe,’ is all he says because even though Derek should know what he’s talking about, it feels too obscure for him. He wants it to be true, but this Holly bullshit is too fishy. Even if he does love him, it would not make the possible maybe cheating ok.