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It’s Halloween and the Hale house isn’t decorated… much. So, yeah, perhaps Laura forced Derek to climb the porch to put up some lights but really, the whole house plus forest setting are creepy enough not to bother putting much effort into decorating it. Or so Derek thinks. And if Laura wants to break her back falling from the third floor roof to put on silly monsters-shaped balloons and fog machines, it’s her problem. She’s the oldest anyway, since the parents are out of town for the week-end, so she should be the one taking all the risks.
It comes as a bit of a shock to hear knocking at their door: they’re so far up the forest, they never have anyone come here, especially at this hour. He’s sure it’s not Laura since he can hear her struggle on the roof with ‘stupid balloons that won’t stay put ugh”. He takes Melinda under his arm, the three year-old wriggling and giggling, and put her in her playpen: she should have been in bed a long time ago but the empty house makes her anxious and she couldn’t sleep.
Derek opens the door cautiously, looking around and seeing a jeep parked there, a woman grinning at the wheel of it, then down to see a…wolf? A babywolf? ‘What. What. Wait. Rewind. We didn’t lost any cub. What.’
“Huh…. Hello?”
“Trick or treat?”, the little voice comes up.
Oh. Of course. ‘Derek, you meatball, it’s Halloween. The kid’s in costume and wants candy. Do we have candy, though?’ The little ears on the kid’s head twitch as he tilts his head, almost like a real cub’s would. It’s strangely cute and Derek thinks he must be losing his mind because he has the urge to just crouch down and pinch the kid’s cheeks and maybe kiss his red cold little nose and cuddle him for warmth like he would his little sister- ‘What.’
“Hum… I’m- gonna go see if I have something alright?”
The kid nods, grinning, his hood falling a bit on his eyes with the movement, fake teeth obvious from between his lips now and Derek kind of just melts because, seriously? Awwww! ‘What. The. Hell.’ He turns around, stalking through the house through the living room, where Melinda is now snoring in front of cartoons, and to the kitchen. He searches through every cabinets and finds… absolutely nothing. Except stale cookies and a few packets of crackers and isn’t that sad? He can’t give crackers to a kid!
Alright then, time to raid his very own special stash. ‘What. No. Why would I give my candy to a kid I don’t even know. I should just go and say we have nothing. But… He made the effort of coming all the way there. And he’s obviously excited. Ugh, conscience, thou shall be the reason of my fall.’
Five minutes later, Derek opens the door to the sight of the kid’s mother getting her ears talked off by her little cub- pup- baby- fuck.
“Well, I only have a few tiny bags of Sour Patch Kids, two candy canes and a bag of M&M’s…?”
The kid lets out a shrill squeal and throws up his hands in the air, candy bag flying precariously in the air until the mother manages to catch it, eyes wide and amusement clear on her face.
“Oh, it’s more than enough, don’t worry! Look at him!”, she’s grinning, much like her son. They look so much alike in this instant, Derek thinks: big brown eyes, huge smiles splitting their faces and two identical button noses; same excitement gracing their features, though for different reasons.
The kid is jumping up and down and babbling; he mustn’t be more than six and is probably the cutest human Derek has ever seen. ‘Wow. You’re turning into a girl: this is obviously all Laura’s fault. Time to say goodbye, now, or next you’ll be growing tits.’ But before he can politely say goodbye, the kids launches himself in his legs, almost taking him down with surprise, the only thing saving him being his reflexes and the doorway.
“Stiles!”, his mother gapes, though her expression is still tinged with amusement, like she can’t quite decide between laughing or berating him.
“It’s alright. I was just surprised.”, he waves her off and pats on the tiny head against his thigh.
It’s weird being hugged by a stranger but surprisingly, Derek doesn’t mind. ‘Stiles. Strange name for a strange kid. It doesn’t really fit him, though.’
“Come on, Genim! Time to go home now: it’s cold outside. Say thank you and goodbye, baby.”, the mother tugs on the little tail on her son’s costume.
“Maaaa, don’t call me thaaaaaat!”, Stiles pouts as he follows his mother to the car, turning briefly on the stairs to wave and say thank you; Derek only nods back in answer.
“What? ‘Genim’ or ‘baby’?”, she playfully asks while buckling him up in his seat.
“Both! I’m not a baby and my name is Stiles now!”
The woman backs up the driveway and follows the path to the main road.
“It’s ‘either’, and ‘Stiles Stilinski’? You sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It sounds awesome, like me.”
“Sure, it does.”
The banter continues back and forth until Derek can’t hear them anymore and it’s five minutes later, when he feels his toes getting cold that he realizes he stayed on the porch for so long, listening to a private conversation between strangers, the door wide open still and Laura in the main foyer watching him with a smirk.
“Well well well, who knew you had social skills?”
He only scowls in answer.