Chapter Text
Stiles had made his mind up about Peter and everyone knew it.
Peter was a manipulative, evil bastard and Stiles would never hesitate to throw another Molotov cocktail at him if the situation required that. Stiles knew that Peter would never do anything to help them and the only thing that was more than confusing to Stiles was the way Derek acted around Peter.
Stiles thought that Derek had every reason to hate Peter, for everything that he did to him and Laura, but instead of hating Peter, he was always around, smiling at Peter’s comments, leaning in close whenever Peter reached out to touch him, and Stiles hated the way Peter thrived under that attention. Peter didn’t deserve to be happy, not after everything he did to them.
With everything they already went through it wasn’t a far stretch for Stiles to believe that Peter somehow tricked Derek, maybe used some magic on him, because otherwise Stiles couldn’t see how Derek would ever be willingly around Peter.
And Peter had resurrected himself, so he clearly knew a trick or two. Influencing Derek should be easy for him.
Stiles knew he needed to do something about that, needed to get Derek out of his clutches, but it was difficult catching Derek alone with the way Peter was always lurking around. Peter had told Stiles that he had his own apartment, but since he was always around when Stiles came to see Derek, he started to believe that Peter was living in the loft as well.
So in the end, Stiles invited Derek over for dinner. And just Derek, he made sure of that.
“Why are we having Derek over again?” John asked him as Stiles prepared the salat.
“Because Peter is evil, and we need to save Derek from him,” Stiles told him, yet again, and his dad sighed.
“Does he need saving?” his dad asked him, sitting down at the table and eying the salat with obvious distaste.
“Absolutely! Peter has his claws in him, and Derek has been through enough. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Aha,” John replied, clearly not believing Stiles at all, but Stiles couldn’t care less.
Derek needed his help and he would do everything in his power to protect him.
~*~*~
Derek seemed tense from the moment he stepped into the house. John had greeted him friendly, but Derek was obviously ready to bolt. He clearly knew this was an intervention and it only served to worry Stiles further. If Derek knew that there was something to intervene for, it really must be bad.
Stiles carried them through dinner with small talk, never really stopping, but also not touching on anything heavier than “The latest bad guy is really annoying” but Derek stayed tense. He clearly knew something else was coming.
“I’ll just—excuse myself,” John muttered, clearly uncomfortable, after they finished dinner and Derek seemed ready to beg him to stay.
“You do that, dad,” Stiles gave back, eyes fixed on Derek.
“Just—behave,” John told him with a last lingering look and then went into the living-room and switched on the TV.
“Just get it out,” Derek sighed when Stiles stared at him in silence for a long time after his dad had left the kitchen.
“Peter is a bad guy,” Stiles immediately said, not wasting another second, and Derek shook his head, like he hadn’t expected anything else.
“No, he really is not,” Derek gave back, and Stiles rolled his eyes.
“Dude, he was batshit crazy, tried to kill us all, and then resurrected himself, only to creep around and be generally shady.”
“Don’t call me dude,” Derek replied automatically before he shook his head. “And Peter normally isn’t like that. You met him at a bad time.”
Stiles had to snort at that.
“Really,” Derek implored. “He just reacted to losing everyone he loved. It’s not how he usually is.”
“Well, he killed your sister, so I guess he’s partly to blame that everyone he loves is dead,” Stiles muttered, but of course Derek heard him.
“Do you even know how much a scent changes over a life?” Derek asked him and when Stiles shook his head, surprised by the change of topic, he went on. “The basic notes stay the same, but everything else changes weekly, sometimes even daily. Last week you smelled like electricity and plastic, because you’ve been playing video games,” Derek explained with a nod towards the living-room. “But you didn’t have time for that this week, so that scent left you.”
Stiles was listening attentively because this was some interesting shit, even though Stiles couldn’t see how this would have to do anything with Peter.
“So when he met Laura in the woods, he didn’t recognize her scent. It had been six years, and he had forgotten what she smelled like. And he was too insane, too hurt, to stop and think.” Derek looked down at his hands. “I hate that she’s dead, that she had to die like this, but I don’t blame him, not really. We shouldn’t have left.”
Stiles could only stare at Derek, because he couldn’t understand that at all. Peter was clearly to blame, and he needed Derek to see that. Especially if Peter made him believe that them leaving was to be blamed. Derek didn’t need that on top of the guilt he already carried around.
“He’s evil,” Stiles said, and Derek looked up at him.
“He’s not,” he said. “He’s difficult and closed off, but he’s not evil. Do you really think that he would hurt or kill anyone of the pack?”
“Yes,” Stiles immediately replied and cursed himself when he saw how Derek’s face fell at that.
“He would never,” Derek forcefully said. “He would never hurt any of you.”
“Derek, he’s the creepiest, shadiest fucker I have ever met, and I do not think for a second that he wouldn’t kill Scott for the alpha power if he thought he could get away with it.”
“You clearly don’t know him at all,” Derek said. “He doesn’t want to be alpha. He’s not made to be the alpha.”
“Yeah, right, whatever,” Stiles dismissively said, and Derek looked imploringly at him.
“Stiles, he’s not the bad guy here,” Derek told him again, as if repeating it would make Stiles believe him. “Why do you even care so much all of a sudden?” Derek asked him, and Stiles looked with wide eyes at him.
“Dude, did you not notice how much time you spend with him? Of course you don’t think he’s bad anymore, he thoroughly brainwashed you!”
“Stiles, I love him,” Derek gave back, and that kinda threw Stiles for a loop, made his stomach drop out because this was so not what he had expected.
“You what?” he asked, voice thin with surprise and Derek steadily avoided eye contact. “You love him love him, as in you are together?”
“I thought this was what this evening was about,” Derek lowly admitted, and Stiles threw his hands in the air.
“He’s your uncle!” he exclaimed, and Derek shrunk right before his eyes, shoulders drawn up almost to his ears.
“I’ve always loved him,” he muttered towards the table, still avoiding Stiles.
“But he’s your uncle! And he’s evil! He tried to kill you!”
“Did he really?” Derek asked him, and Stiles was speechless for a second because so many attempted murder moments came to his mind all at once. He didn’t even know where to start.
“Yes,” he finally settled on, instead of listing every single one. “Yes, he really did. He tried to kill you and Allison and Scott and me. He’s not the good guy here.”
“But he’s also not the bad guy,” Derek reminded him, yet again, and Stiles just couldn’t with this.
“You are clearly delusional. He’s in your head!”
“You think he did something to me,” Derek stated, and it seemed like some puzzle pieces fell together for him because suddenly his face became hard. “You think he tricked me into loving him.”
“Yes!” Stiles almost cried out, because finally Derek was getting it.
“I loved him before this, you know,” Derek lowly said. “We were together long before they all died.”
This was concerning on more than one level to Stiles, because he quickly did the math in his head and no matter how he judged Derek’s age now, the outcome was always bad for Peter.
“Which only proves to me that he was evil back then too. The age difference alone is concerning.”
“It’s not really as much as you think,” Derek told him with a small smile and Stiles narrowed his eyes at him, remembering the vague way Peter had evaded Stiles’ questions about his and Derek’s age.
“He’s not good for you.”
“Because he’s my uncle or because you think he’s evil?” Derek asked him, shoulders set straight now, and he seemed ready to fight Stiles.
“Honestly, the fact that he’s evil should be more concerning to you. It is to me,” Stiles gave back, and Derek sighed.
He could overlook the fact that they were related, if he could be sure that they were in a consensual relationship, that made both of them happy. But Stiles didn’t believe that to be the case for a second.
“You just don’t know him,” Derek told him, and Stiles had to admit that that at least, was true.
He had never exchanged more than three words with Peter that weren’t directly related to Stiles accusing him of a scheming plan, or Peter giving a scathing comment on something.
“I don’t want to,” Stiles gave back, because really. He could do without getting to know lunatic murderers.
“But you will,” Derek said, and it sounded like a promise.
It made a shudder run down Stiles’ spine and he didn’t like that at all.
“Derek, just--be careful with him, please,” Stiles said, as Derek stood up, clearly ready to go, because he knew that he couldn’t convince Derek to leave Peter.
That much was clear to him now. He needed a different plan.
He needed to catch Peter in the act of doing something horrible, because otherwise he would never get Derek to believe him. He was in too deep already.
But catching Peter red-handed should be easy. He was constantly scheming after all. Stiles would just have to keep a very close eye on him.