Chapter Text
Stiles knew there were a lot of things in his life that he regretted, but telling his dad he wanted to see him was by far the worst one. He hadn’t seen him in a while and he knew their relationship was straining. They always had arguments about Stiles not communicating enough, so he wanted to take the first step and tell his dad he could come to Washington to visit him.
“It’s weird taking some time off,” his father told him over the phone.
“Well, you need it. Can’t believe you haven’t retired yet.”
“I’m not that old, Stiles. I still have some years left in me.”
“Which you should spend having free time and enjoying yourself. But not too much, don’t even get near a burger.”
“You can’t control my life from the other side of the world.”
“Watch me,” Stiles chuckled and grabbed a couple of papers from his desk before heading out of the office. “When's your flight?”
“The twenty-second, so I’ll be there in a couple of days.”
“Cool, that’s great, see you then.”
“Hey, Stiles, you don’t happen to know anything about that whole thing going on in the Middle East?”
“What isn’t going on there? You know as well as I do that America does everything wrong.”
“I don’t mean that, I meant the virus…”
“Oh, that, yeah, they’ve quarantined the place already, I talked to a few colleagues that are there right now. Nothing to worry about, nothing supernatural at least.”
“That doesn’t fill me with relief.”
“Dad, seriously, for once, let’s not think about what could go wrong, okay? I haven’t seen you since last year and the virus is definitely contained, it’s not even close to reaching our country, don’t worry about it.” Stiles explained and got into his car. “Plus, if anything were to happen then you’d be here with me, right?”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll see you in a couple of days, okay?”
“Yes! Can’t wait.”
Two days later Stiles watched through his tiny phone screen how the airports were the first places to go down, planes crashing, the virus spreading and thousands of people being killed before they could even reach the city. Stiles saw the world crumble to pieces through his tiny phone screen, just like everyone did, but he couldn’t feel anything for the thousands of people who were dying if it meant that his father was one of them. He spent almost a month holed up in his apartment, for the first week he couldn’t count how many panic attacks he’d had and he thought he was going to dehydrate himself from all the crying. He thought about ending it a couple of times, with his father gone and the world ending it seemed like the most sane option. But he was too much of a coward to actually do it.
Once his supplies started to run low, he decided it was finally time to leave.
He knew how those things went, leaving the city, even if it seemed like the safest thing to do, it was probably the worst decision. Phones stopped working after the second day, but he was able to see the traffic and hundreds of people who died while trying to leave the city. So he stayed behind in his apartment, he probably needed it because the only thing he did was blame himself for inviting his dad over. Because now he was dead, and it was his fault.
It had been a month since the whole world went to shit but Stiles knew exactly what he wanted to do. The quarantine zones had been a bust, they were all infected after a week. At least all the ones that Stiles was able to reach with his radio. So he knew the best option was to get away from all those places.
He packed his bag with everything and left his apartment. He knocked on every door in his building, trying to check if anyone had thought of doing the same thing as him. But the only thing he found was his old neighbour, Mrs Herbert, already turned and rotting, he had to shoot her in the face before leaving the building.
His plan was simple: stop at the office and get weapons, try to not get killed in the process, fill his car with gas and drive up to Canada, probably the wilderness, where he would never be found or killed. Seemed like a solid plan, and he had three points on his list already checked. He was driving in his car, with a trunk full of weapons and ammo and he was headed north, but of course, nothing ever seemed to go his way.
He stopped at a gas station to get some supplies, which didn’t seem to be swarmed, he checked the whole place before he went inside. He was chewing on a chocolate bar while he tried to check the expiration date on a can when he heard a noise and lifted his gun immediately.
He placed the can back on the shelf very carefully and looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. He checked every aisle before he finally got to the last one and turned, gun aimed high. A kid was hiding there, he was startled when he saw Stiles pointing his gun at him but he didn’t say anything.
“Why are you hiding?” Stiles asked him, not lowering his gun.
“Dude, you’re armed to the teeth I didn’t want to startle you and get shot in the foot or something,” the kid answered, his hands in the air, showing that he had no weapons.
“Well, you can’t blame me for not wanting to die. Are you armed?”
“No, nothing, I swear.”
“Bitten?”
“No, you can check, I’m completely clean.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Same as you, just looking for some food, I haven’t eaten in like two days, okay? Can you stop pointing your gun at me?”
Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes, he lowered the gun and the kid stood up straighter, lowering his arms too.
“I’m Eli, and you are?”
“Stiles. How did you get here? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Rode a bike for most of it. I was trying to find a car with some gas left in it, but it’s been hard.”
“Can you even drive? How old are you?”
“I’m fifteen, of course I can drive.”
“Great then, you’ll survive,” Stiles said and turned around. He grabbed the bag he’d been filling with food and started to leave.
“Hey, wait. You’re not gonna leave me here, are you?” Eli said and started to follow him.
“Why? Are you headed somewhere?” Stiles asked him and opened his trunk to leave the bag there.
“I need to get back to my dad.”
“Cool, good luck with that.”
“Can you at least give me a lift somewhere?”
“Listen, kid, ninety percent of the population is dead, do you know what are the odds of your dad being alive?”
“Ten percent?” Eli answered, looking optimistic.
“Right, so he’s dead,” Stiles said and turned around to look at him.
“No, you don’t get it. My dad’s alive, I know it.”
“I’m assuming he’s nowhere near, since you still haven’t told me where to take you.” Eli sighed and nodded slowly.
“I was in summer camp when it hit. I don’t usually go but I convinced my dad to sign me up on the other side of the coast because I wanted to be away from the house, you know? Independent.”
“Bet you’re regretting that decision now,” Stiles said and snorted as he closed the trunk.
“Listen, I have to get to my dad, okay? Do you have somewhere to be or will you help me?”
“Kid, there is a very small chance that your father is still alive, okay?”
“No, you don’t get it. My dad wouldn’t die that easily, he’s alive, I know it!”
Stiles scoffed and rolled his eyes, he walked towards the car door.
“Right, yeah. Listen, no matter how invincible your dad is, they’re all just mere mortals.”
“No, you listen!” Eli grabbed Stiles’ arm and made him turn around to look at him. “I know my father is alive, okay? I need to get to him and you have a car. Are you just gonna leave me here? I’m literally fifteen, dude.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you here. But I’m not going on a self-discovery journey with some kid just so he finds out at the end of it that his father is dead after all. I’m not wiping your tears after it, okay? I already warned you that he’s dead.”
“He’s alive! Okay? I know it.”
“Sure thing kid. Where should I take you?”
“Beacon Hills. It’s in California, I know it’s far, but…”
“Oh, hell no,” Stiles cut him off and turned around to open the door but Eli stopped him again.
“What? Why?!”
“I’m not going to Beacon Hills.”
“Why not?!”
“Because that place is probably the whole reason this is happening, okay? I’m not even getting close to that dumpster fire of a town.”
“Please! Please, I’m begging you now. I have to see my dad. I’ll give you anything you want, I swear.”
“You don’t have anything I want.”
“Please,” Eli begged one last time and Stiles wished he didn’t turn to look at him, because he saw his teary eyes and he couldn’t resist. He made a face and groaned.
“All right, fine, I’ll take you to Beacon Hills. But I’m out as soon as we get there, okay? I don’t care if your father is alive or not.”
“Yes! It’s okay, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Eli exclaimed and hugged him tightly, Stiles was a bit stunned by that so he didn’t move, but Eli stepped back and smiled up at him.
“All right, okay, stop it with the puppy eyes and get in the car, let’s go.”
For the first ten minutes of driving Eli didn’t say anything, but then the questions started and Stiles started to regret taking a literal kid in the middle of the apocalypse. He was too nice, he wouldn’t have left him behind.
“Is this your car or did you steal it?”
“It’s mine,” Stiles answered.
“This whole thing just started so everyone’s still using their cars, but I don’t think they’re the best method, car batteries die and you have to syphon gas all the time, not everyone knows how to do that.”
“So what? Were you going to get all the way back to California by bike?”
“No, I was going to jumpstart a car at some point. I’m just saying, if this goes on longer than a year or two, cars shouldn’t be the thing to use as a transport.”
“You’re some survivalist or something?”
“I just think The Walking Dead isn’t that realistic. My dad’s a mechanic, he told me about it.”
“Wow, your dad must be great, huh?” Stiles said, sarcastically. He usually wasn’t an asshole, but the fact that the kid still believed his father was alive when Stiles had just lost his was striking a nerve.
Eli sighed and rolled his eyes. He got the message to keep quiet and not bother him. The only time they talked was to argue about the music they wanted to play, Stiles’ car still ran on CD and he got a few that Eli liked so they argued about which song was a better soundtrack for an apocalypse.
“Are you kidding? Queen does not suit the end of the world,” Stiles told him after Eli suggested they play that.
“So what does?”
“I don’t know, I have a lot of shit in there, what do you see?” Stiles said and looked down for a moment at his collection of CDs before he looked back at the road.
“They’re all mixes, I don’t know what’s in them,” Eli said as he looked through the CDs. “Is that what you guys did back in the day? Couldn’t you buy the official CD or something?”
“What do you mean ‘back in the day’?” Stiles asked, offended. “I’m not that old! I used Spotify in high school, my car is just old. I had to burn some CDs ‘cause I wasn’t paying for the actual ones.” Stiles rolled his eyes and grabbed one when he recognized it. “Here, Rolling Stones, much more fitting for the end of the world.” He popped the CD and pushed the button until he got to track 8, just a classic, Paint it Black. “My previous car had cassettes, don’t know how you’d react to that one.”
“I drive a car that has cassettes!”
“Your dad’s a mechanic and you’re fifteen, you don’t drive anything, you just steal your dad’s cars.” Eli opened his mouth to answer that but then thought better.
“Touché.”
Eli managed to keep quiet for almost an hour, it was thanks to the music, which kept them both distracted, but it wasn't too long before he opened his mouth again.
“Why do you not want to go to Beacon Hills?” Eli asked him suddenly, breaking the silence.
“‘Cause I grew up there. And anyone who grows up there fucking hates that place.”
“You did?! Maybe you know my dad then.”
“Kid, I’m too young to know anyone that has a fifteen-year-old son and I haven’t been to that place in… Right before you were born, probably. So no chance.”
“Don’t you have anyone there?”
Stiles kept his gaze fixated on the road and thought about it for a moment.
“Not anymore.”
“They might still be alive, you know? You’re a pessimist.”
“I’m a realist. And I’ve lost too many people already to hold out any hope.”
“It hasn’t even been two months since this started…”
“Before this started, honestly, the virus isn’t the worst I’ve seen.”
“You a veteran or something?”
“I’m a law enforcer. Well, used to be, I don’t think jobs matter anymore.” Eli turned to look at him, completely baffled.
“Wait, what?” Stiles simply frowned, he knew his job wasn’t very usual, but it didn’t get that reaction, he didn’t even mention the FBI. “Are you serious? I actually scored a ride with a fucking cop?”
“Wow slow down, I’m not a cop. I hate cops.”
“You just said…”
“It’s not the same. I was in international affairs. I’ve spent the last fifteen years travelling and dealing with people who committed war crimes or human trafficking. Cops deal with petty crimes and underprivileged kids who need to deal to keep their families afloat. Trust me, I’m not a cop.”
“Wow, you really hate them, huh?”
“Yeah, sorry. Big city cops are a pain in my ass honestly, half the time they get in the way. But honestly, my dad is…” He stopped and gripped the steering wheel. “Well, he was in law enforcement too but from a small town, so… Not a lot going on there.” He mumbled and had flashbacks from everything that went on in Beacon Hills.
Stiles remembered his dad and decided that he didn’t really wanna talk about the subject. So he answered in short sentences when Eli started to ask him meaningless questions about his previous job. He wasn’t secretive about it, he just didn’t want to remember how much of a workaholic he was and how much time he could’ve spent with his dad before he inevitably died. Eli got the hint and stopped talking for a while, the kid was talkative and he was inappropriate at times. Stiles wondered if he used to be like that when he was a teenager.
They stopped a few hours later when it was late at night and their stomachs started rumbling with hunger. Stiles didn’t want to waste too much food just because he got new supplies, so he only made a couple of sandwiches for both of them. Eli seemed to think that was the best moment to strike up a conversation with Stiles.
“How long do you think it will take us to get there?” Eli asked and Stiles had to think about it for a moment.
“We can’t know for sure, but I can tell you it’s probably going to be a bit more than a week.”
“I thought driving from Washington to California was like a three-day ride.”
“Kid, even if the apocalypse didn’t happen, it would take longer than that. But alas, we want to get there alive, right? So there’s a lot we have to take into account.”
“Like what?”
“We need to avoid big cities, that’s where we die for sure. We need to stop for supplies and gas. That’s if this car doesn’t bail on us and we have to get a new one. And honestly, it would be great if we got at least a couple of days of rest outside of this car. It was fine when it was just me, but now it’s a bit crowded back there and we seriously need to be rested if we want to be alert.”
Eli nodded slowly and smiled at him.
“I’m so glad I found you, you seem to know what you’re doing and I never do.”
“Yeah, I do look like I know what I’m doing, right? It’s a skill I’ve mastered.” Stiles said with a smile, Eli frowned.
“But, you do… Right?”
“Sure… How’s dinner?”
“Oh, this is way better than what I’ve had for dinner the past few days, which is nothing,” Eli replied and took a bite of the sandwich. “Except for that night I fought a squirrel for its nuts. They were dry either way, so…”
“Where were you before all of this? I know it was summer camp but… It’s been over a month since this whole thing went down, so what did you do?”
“We didn’t find out what had happened until a couple of days later. They had a strict no-phones policy so we weren’t really able to communicate with the outside world.”
“I have to ask. If you love your dad so much that you’re crossing the country in the middle of an apocalypse for him, why did you want to be in a summer camp on the other side of the country without any means of communication with him? I was a problem child too but I never did that.”
“I love my dad, okay? But… He can be a bit…” He thought about it for a moment before he found the word. “Overbearing.”
“He pressures you?”
“Oh, no, not at all. He’s very supportive of everything I do, even though I’m shit at… Everything I do.” Eli corrected and Stiles frowned. “He’s just… Way too perfect. I feel pressure to live up to his image.”
“Oh my God, Eli, he’s your dad!” Stiles explained and laughed at him. “He is immediately uncool just for being your dad. The only people who think he’s cool are cougars, and not the ones that maim you, those were especially popular when I was in high school.” Eli looked at him weirdly and shook his head.
“No, you don’t get it. For example, I play sports, right? And I’m really bad at it. I’ve been trying to be better, but I just can’t stop thinking about the fact that my dad used to be captain of his basketball team.”
“Dude, you’re fifteen. Stop obsessing over someone who peaked in high school, trust me, I hated my team captain… Until my best friend became co-captain.”
“My dad didn’t peak in high school. He has this whole past that he doesn’t tell me about. Apparently, a lot of shit went down before I was born, but I have to find out through bits and pieces when someone from town mentions him. Everyone knows him and everyone knows I am nothing like him, it’s torture.”
“Listen, this is coming from someone who was incredibly uncool in high school, okay? As cheesy as it sounds, it gets better. You get cooler, you find yourself and in a few years you’re gonna get baristas writing down their numbers on your order even while you look like shit because you’re going through finals.” Stiles finished talking and saw Eli’s expression of confusion. “Well… Not anymore, but trust me, there’s nothing like an apocalypse to bring out the best version of yourself. The adrenaline of almost dying will make you forget how unfit and clumsy you are, trust me, I’m speaking from experience here.”
“Yeah, well… All those problems seem stupid now, I don’t care about all that, I just want to see my dad.”
Stiles felt a pang in his heart when he heard those words, he couldn’t agree more.
“That’s why we’re going back, right? Don’t worry I’ll take you there.”
“Thanks,” Eli mumbled and smiled at him.
“Were you planning on going all the way back to Beacon Hills on your own? I know you were planning on getting a car at some point. But what was your plan exactly?”
“We were supposed to go to this refuge near DC, all the kids from camp.” Eli started to explain and Stiles cut him off.
“Never trust a refuge during an apocalypse, first rule of any apocalyptic movie.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. So I didn’t want to go. We were fine in the camp, the infection hadn’t gotten to us and we all carried out like normal. It was just a bit more depressing because nobody could contact their families and this time it wasn’t because of the no-phone policy.” He took a bite of his sandwich and continued talking. “But before we could even pack our bags to go to this supposed sanctuary, someone got infected. I still don’t know how, we were completely incommunicated, but it spread fast. I’m assuming it was the same in the city. I locked myself in a garage with a few other kids, the teachers were definitely gone and we didn’t know what to do.” Stiles leaned in and got concerned even though it was Eli telling him the story, he knew he was fine. “We were there for a few days, it was awful, we could hear all the noises going on outside, and that included people dying. I wanted to open the door to let some people in, but this guy… Another camper, he just didn’t want to take any chances, he was an asshole.”
“You’re alone now, how did you escape?”
“One night we made a really loud noise accidentally, some guy knocked over some supplies. It attracted a lot of attention and all the zombies took down the door. I knew we were done for, I may not be very athletic, but I can run really fast. A couple of guys were trapped right after the door opened, we couldn’t do anything about them, so we used the distraction and we ran. But everyone went in different directions… I grabbed a bike and didn’t look back…” He looked down and Stiles knew he was upset about the whole ordeal. “I feel awful for leaving them behind, but I didn’t know what to do… I don’t even know if they’re still alive.”
“Were you close friends with them?”
“No, not really, I’m not good at making new friends. But still, it feels awful.”
“Yeah, I understand. But this isn’t a movie, Eli, and you’re just a kid, you did what you had to do if you wanted to see your family again, not everyone can be the self-sacrificing hero.” Stiles tried to reassure him. “And honestly, you did pretty good for a kid, not many people can say they’ve survived the apocalypse. Everyone in the city just went crazy. They all got into their cars and tried to leave town after raiding the supermarkets. Half of them died during their grocery store runs when they tried to get supplies, and then the other half died on the highway when they got stuck in traffic on their way out of town.”
“What did you do?”
“I locked my door and did inventory on my food,” Stiles explained easily. “I didn’t eat for the first few days ‘cause…” He stopped himself and swallowed dryly, remembering his depressive episode when he realized his father was gone. “You know, I was going through it, like everyone was. But yeah, I just quarantined myself, which is what everyone should’ve done. And I was fine.”
“What was your initial plan?” Eli asked suddenly. “You know, before we bumped into each other.”
“I was thinking of heading to Canada…” Stiles mumbled absentmindedly, his plan long gone. “I didn’t have any more food and the city was calm during the day, there weren’t that many zombies walking around. So I was planning on grabbing my car and heading up north, probably to the mountains where no one would find me.”
“Solid plan, sorry I ruined it.”
“Hey, it’s fine, at least you’ll keep me awake while I’m driving.” Stiles shrugged and Eli chuckled. “But I couldn’t just leave you back there, you’re a kid.”
“You just said I can take care of myself.”
“Sure, but luck runs out, kid. There’s a reason I’m still alive, I can’t shame all those people who died. I’m a trained professional, it’s different. You kind of need me.”
“Yeah… Yeah, I do…” Eli mumbled and looked down. “By the way… When we met, you said something about 90% of the population being dead. How do you know that? It’s a really high number.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s probably a bit less than that, I’m a pessimist. But it has to be that high for the government to just disappear. I’ve studied every type of disaster that could hit our country or the world. And trust me, we have backup plans for the backup plans. But DC was almost deserted when I left aside from a few hordes. And that’s the capital. I can’t imagine how other big cities were left. I don’t have exact numbers, but this situation… This is the worst outcome possible. And for that to happen… More than half of the population has to be dead, I can tell you that much.”
“Of the world?”
“Of the States. That, I know. I’m not exactly sure about the rest of the world, some remote places might be fine, who knows? Without planes, we can’t really find out, and it’s hard to tune in to some satellites. We would need a big working station to do that. For now, I just think about surviving.”
Stiles could tell he’d brought Eli’s mood down, it wasn’t his intention, but there was little chance of his father being alive, especially if he was from Beacon Hills. He was still trying to figure out if zombies fell in the “supernatural” category. If so, they were probably attracted to the Nemeton. Stiles knew it wasn’t a good choice to go there, but this kid, he knew that look in his eyes… He looked desperate. He was going to go there on his own either way, he might as well keep an eye out for him, help him out.
“We should catch some sleep. There are a couple of blankets and pillows in the back. You go ahead and sleep, I’ll keep watch, okay?”
Eli nodded slowly and went to the back of the car, Stiles had slept in there the night prior, so the bed was already made. He got comfortable and in no time he was snoring lightly. Stiles didn’t know when was the last time this kid actually slept without waking up from anxiety every time he heard a noise. It wasn’t a surprise when he fell into a deep sleep in no time. Stiles could fall asleep in a few hours, after he made sure there weren’t gonna be any surprise visitors during the night.
Stiles got a few hours of sleep and didn’t wake him up when he started driving, he knew Eli needed the rest more than he did. He could tell he hadn’t slept in a long while, or at least not deeply. He woke up at noon and moved to the passenger seat, apologizing for not waking up even though Stiles told him he wanted him to sleep.
After that first day, he and Eli settled into a comfortable routine. Stiles only realized how hard it would be to get to the West Coast after they encountered the third horde on the highway. They kept having to make detours and Stiles was trying to keep track of every route on the map, he had about ten different ones and he kept changing which one to use depending on what he wanted to check, the roads, the terrain, population, etc. Even Eli could tell Stiles was getting frustrated after three days of not making any progress. But Eli had no way of helping, he didn’t know what to do.
“Can’t we go that way?” Eli suggested, pointing at a road.
“No, we’d have to give up the car, the bridge is broken.”
“What about cutting through here?” Eli mumbled and pointed at a green area.
“That’s wilderness. That should be our last option. We don’t have any maps of what’s in there, do you know how many people disappear there every year? And that was while we weren’t in the middle of an apocalypse.” Stiles noted his tone was harsh when Eli took a step back. He took a deep breath in. “Sorry, I’m just frustrated, we’ve lost a lot of days of journey.” Eli simply nodded. “You know what? I’m sure we can find an empty motel up this road, get some sleep, stock up on supplies and then figure out which way we’ll go, sound good?”
“Okay.” Eli nodded, looking more hopeful than what Stiles was feeling.
Eli wasn’t such a bad co-pilot, he gave him directions while he read off the map Stiles gave him, which meant Stiles didn’t have to stop every few miles to check if he was going the right way and he could concentrate on any threats that might appear in the road. After a few hours of driving and getting lost a couple of times, Stiles finally found the motel that was listed on the map. It was kind of perfect because it was in the middle of nowhere, so there weren’t going to be any zombies. Still, he needed to make sure.
“You stay in the car while I go sweep the place,” Stiles told him as he got out of the car.
“Are you kidding? Have you never seen a horror movie? Is this the last time you want to see me alive or something? Oh my God, do you want to get rid of me?!” Eli scream-whispered since they didn’t want to attract attention, they were both whispering. Stiles stopped and just levelled him a complete poker face.
“You can’t be this stupid.”
“I’m not staying in the car.” Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Fine, but if you make a noise or move an inch away from me…”
“I’ll die, I know,” Eli replied and hopped out of the car way too excitedly.
Stiles walked around to his trunk and opened it to grab a gun, Eli stood behind him, impressed by his arsenal. Although Stiles was thinking of leaving some behind so he could have more space for food or stuff for Eli, his trunk wasn’t that big.
"Can I have a gun?" Eli suddenly asked.
"No," Stiles answered without missing a beat and then grimaced when he heard himself. “God, you’re starting to make me sound like my dad…” He swallowed and tried to not think about his dad.
“You can’t just leave me like this, I need to defend myself.”
“Fine, you get this,” Stiles replied and grabbed his bat to give it to him. Eli grabbed it and looked at it before looking up at Stiles, completely baffled.
“Are you serious?”
“Don’t undermine the bat, okay? I did a whole lot with it when I was your age, trust me.”
“What? Play baseball?” Eli asked as if it was obvious.
“Yeah, I’ve never played baseball in my life,” Stiles said and closed the trunk, he started to walk over to the front door before Eli got a chance to question him.
The place was clearly abandoned, but it didn’t look too bad, it hadn’t been overrun by the dead or desperate humans trying to find food or shelter, which meant that they were probably safe.
Eli looked around the place and stuck to Stiles’ side, but it truly looked like there was no one in there. They started walking through a long hallway, where all the rooms were, Stiles was opening each door and checking if there was anyone inside. Eli walked behind him and when he saw Stiles enter the last room he let out a sigh of relief, they were safe.
He went inside a room to check it out and looked around the place, it was dusty and it had a weird smell, but he couldn’t pinpoint it.
“Eli, get in here!” Stiles called him and Eli turned his back to get out of the room. But before he could do so, the door to the bathroom opened and a zombie jumped out, attacking him from behind. Eli struggled and tried to break free, but all he could do was avoid its mouth so that it wouldn’t bite him. A few seconds later he heard a loud gunshot and it fell to the floor. Eli was breathing harshly, he looked up at Stiles, who was standing at the door.
“I told you to stay behind me.”
“I thought we were safe.”
“Don’t you get it? We never are.” Stiles said in a serious tone. “Just stick with me if you want to survive this, okay?”
“Okay,” Eli mumbled and nodded slowly.
Chapter Text
Stiles thought it would be worse to spend the apocalypse with a fifteen-year-old kid. But it was surprisingly helpful. He kept him awake while he drove, he cleaned up after himself, and he drove the car when Stiles started to get a headache.
It was a good decision to stay in the motel for a couple of days. Although they slept for most of it. Stiles, barricaded the place and looked for any food left. The only thing they could get were blankets, some cans of food and a couple of books. Stiles bypassed the Bibles, he couldn’t look at hotel bibles the same way after what happened to Scott and everyone else all those years ago. He was just glad it wasn’t the same motel.
They slept in the same room after they chose one of the few rooms with two twin beds. Stiles could tell Eli needed the rest because he spent almost the entire time sleeping. It’d been a month since the whole thing started, but Eli didn’t specify how long he was trapped in that barn with some kids, he could guess it was a long time.
After some serious thought, Stiles planned a viable route that didn’t force them to leave the car behind, he was hoping it worked because it was their last option. If they encountered another horde or the road was too difficult to get through by car they would have to give it up and continue by foot until they found another car. Stiles didn’t want to go on foot, having the car was a commodity they couldn’t afford to lose. Their supplies were there and they slept there too. It was the only thing keeping them safe at night.
Eli was quiet after his run-in with that zombie, but he still made some funny comments every so often. At least Stiles was starting to get used to him, he was never too fond of kids, but Eli kind of reminded him of himself when he was younger, so he was taking a liking to him.
“It’s going to take really long to get there, isn’t it?” Eli mumbled while they were eating dinner one night, it wasn’t very appetizing, but it was enough to keep them from being hungry. Stiles looked up at him, Eli was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire that Stiles had just put out, they only used it to heat up the cans of food, not to get warm. He looked like he was cold.
“Yeah, sorry. I told you it was going to be difficult. It’s dangerous to make such a long trip with so many threats out there.”
“But not impossible, right?” Stiles snorted and shook his head.
“Trust me, few things in this world are impossible. It’s doable, that’s what it is. Manageable? A bit harder.”
“Thanks for taking me.”
“You’ve said that before. It’s fine, at least I’m not all by myself in the Canadian wilderness, at least this is a bit more exciting.”
“Were you really that sure that everyone you knew was dead? You were completely fine with isolating yourself?”
Stiles sighed, he figured he would have to tell someone at some point, Eli seemed like he would keep asking until Stiles gave in.
“I didn’t have anyone that mattered in the city. Just a few colleagues from work, I lost contact with them when the whole thing went down.” Stiles started to explain and thought about how lonely he’d been the last few months, which was the whole reason he contacted his father to see him in the first place. “Then I had my dad, but… He was supposed to come and visit me. He took a flight right before the virus broke out. And you know what happened to half the planes of the country…” Stiles mumbled and shrugged. Eli hesitated before he said anything.
“I actually don’t, we didn’t find out what happened until it was too late, remember?”
“Right, yeah. Well, airports were the first places to fall. I guess because one of the airplanes was carrying the virus. When they found out the airport was infected the planes couldn’t land there so they had to stay in the air while they figured out if they had infected passengers. Some of them crashed after a few passengers were infected, others couldn’t land and ended up crashing after staying in the air for too long.”
“Wait, you’re telling me that out of all those planes, every single one crashed? I know you’re a pessimist but even I know that, statistically, at least a few planes must’ve landed somewhere else and there must’ve been survivors.”
“Not my dad’s, don’t you think I checked his flight number before I had my depressive episode? I know I’m a pessimist but it’s not that bad.”
“How did you check?”
“Power didn’t go out until the second day. I have clearance for investigation, I knew what his flight number was, so I checked. It landed in Washington at 1:34 p.m., all passengers were moved to a quarantine zone, four infected.” Stiles recited, the image still burned in his eyes. “I checked the status a few hours later. No survivors.”
Eli kept quiet for a few seconds, clearly not knowing what to say to that.
“I’m sorry.”
Stiles simply nodded and shrugged, hoping that now that Eli knew what happened to his dad he would stop asking about his life or maybe stop mentioning his father so much. He didn’t mind that Eli talked about his dad, but it got to a point where it was too much. Every time he said he wanted to see him it hurt a little more, because Stiles also just wanted to see his dad.
“You talk about your dad a lot, what about your mom?” Stiles asked him, trying to change the subject.
“My mom’s not in the picture…” Eli said and Stiles turned to look at him.
“Did she die or just leave your dad?” Stiles asked in the most tactful way he could.
“I’m not sure actually. It’s just always been me and my dad.”
“Wait, he never talks to you about your mother?” Eli shook his head and shrugged as if that didn’t bother him.
“He just doesn’t have good experiences with women, he doesn’t even date.”
“And you’re not curious?”
“Sometimes, but I know he doesn’t want to talk about it, so I don’t bug him too much. I know if he had something nice to say about my mother he would. But he doesn’t… So, I’m just glad he’s okay. And we have each other so it’s fine.” He shrugged and looked up. “I’ve never had a mom, I don’t know what it’s like. And it’s fine, loads of kids don’t have moms, I wouldn’t be asking about my supposed mom if I had two dads, that’d be shitty of me. I just happen to have one dad, we’re doing fine by ourselves.” Stiles nodded slowly when he heard that.
“I get it, it was the same way with me and my dad.”
“Your mother wasn’t around either?”
“She died when I was ten.”
“Oh, I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine, it was twenty years ago. I think that wound has healed as much as it can,” Stiles replied and gave him a small smile. “But I honestly don’t think you can ever get over it.”
Eli nodded slowly, probably imagining what it would feel like if his father died. Stiles knew he’d brought the mood down so he decided to change the subject to something meaningless.
“We should look for toothbrushes when we make our next supply stop. I didn’t find any left in the last place and I’m not getting cavities just because it’s the end of the world.” Stiles joked and Eli chuckled.
“Yeah. I honestly don’t remember the last time I brushed my teeth. I’m sorry if my breath smells.”
“Nobody is going to notice your bad breath if you’re near a dead person, don’t worry.”
“Oh God, the stench. that is truly awful.” Eli grimaced as if remembering the horde of zombies in his camp.
“Yeah, we’ll try to avoid them, don’t worry,” Stiles said and smiled at him. “Come on, we should get some sleep.”
They both got up and went into the car. Stiles usually slept in the passenger seat while Eli slept in the back. But his back was screaming at him to lie down for a few nights at least. So Eli slept in the back and Stiles pushed the passenger seat as far as he could. It wasn’t the best solution since Eli wouldn’t be able to get out of the car fast enough if anything happened, but it was what they were working with. Maybe when they run out of supplies they’d be able to push the back seats and lie both in there. So far, there was no way they could both sleep in there. And Stiles was hoping they wouldn’t run out of supplies any time soon.
He could tell Eli wasn’t going to be such an optimist all the time, he was getting frustrated too because they kept changing the route, which meant they were going to take longer. They were both on edge but he could tell every little thing was pushing Eli closer to tipping over. At one point he was getting frustrated because his hair was all knotted and he couldn’t brush it with his fingers anymore. Stiles was grimacing while he looked at him almost pulling it out.
“Is your hair usually this long or did you forget to get a haircut before the apocalypse?” Stiles said and reached out to touch the ends of his hair, which were reaching his shoulders already, trying to calm him down.
“I usually like my hair on the longer side, but this is a bit too much for me… I usually have it just past my ears.”
“So you need to get a haircut… I do too honestly.” Stiles mumbled and looked at himself in the rear-view mirror.
“You’re fine, it's not that bad.”
“You say that because you're used to this length. But I'm the type of person to get a buzz cut every time my hair bothers me.”
“Seriously?”
“I had a buzz cut for most of high school and part of college. I actually like it better, but, surprisingly, I dated way more when my hair was longer.” Eli laughed at him and Stiles couldn’t help but chuckle. “So, next place we find, a toothbrush, hairbrush and scissors. Although I think buzzed would be easier.”
“I won’t buzz my hair, not even for the apocalypse.” Stiles laughed and was glad Eli calmed down a bit.
But it didn’t last long. At one point they stopped the car and walked around a gas station that they found on the highway, but it was almost empty and the few things they found were moldy. No toothbrushes either.
“This is bullshit,” Eli said, frustrated.
“Shh!” Stiles made a gesture for him to shut up but Eli just rolled his eyes.
“Oh my God, Stiles. There’s no one here, they would’ve heard the car.”
“Right, like last time when you got attacked the second I left you alone?”
“That was because you called me! If you hadn’t yelled it wouldn’t have attacked me.”
“Right, now it’s my fault. I’m sorry for caring, I guess. But I did tell you to stay beside me, you just never listen.”
“Never listen?! Are you serious? I’ve been doing everything you ask me to do!”
“Like what?! ‘Go to sleep, you need to rest’? I do everything around here! I wouldn’t even be doing this if I didn’t have to take you to see your dad, and all of this just so we get there and realize that everyone in Beacon Hills is dead, just like I’ve been saying this whole time!”
“He’s alive! Stop telling me that he’s dead just because you want him to be!”
“What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I want your dad to be dead?”
“Because yours is! Stop projecting, just because your father died doesn’t mean mine did too, okay?!” Stiles looked at him, completely baffled, before he snapped.
“Listen here, you little shit, I’m risking my life out here just to take you to see your dead dad, so show some fucking respect!”
“He’s not dead!” Eli screamed louder than before and Stiles stopped when he saw his eyes full of tears. He took a step back and tried to calm himself.
“I’m taking you to see him, right? I’ll leave you in Beacon Hills, where your father is one hundred percent alive and well, because that town is the safest place in the world, and then we’ll part ways, got it? I won’t help you look for him there, I don’t even want to see the ‘Welcome to Beacon Hills’ sign. Okay?”
“Fine,” Eli said, looking mad and sad at the same time, just completely frustrated.
They both got out of the gas station in complete silence and started driving again after Stiles filled the tank. Maybe that fight was a blessing in disguise, because that got them a few hours of complete silence and Stiles could concentrate on where he was going. With no GPS and no maps, it was hard to know where he was going or if he missed a stop. The ideal scenario would be Eli guiding him with a map, but he was awful at it and he didn’t want to get more frustrated with him if he made a mistake.
They still had a few hours until the sun went down so Stiles wasn’t planning on stopping, but he had to at one point.
“Stop, stop the car,” Eli said suddenly and Sitles turned to look at him, completely surprised. He stopped the car as soon as he saw him placing his hand against his mouth.
It took Eli half a second to open the door once the car stopped and puke his guts out on the side of the road. Stiles frowned and looked around before he got out of the car to walk to Eli's side.
“Are you okay?” He asked him and placed his hand on the back of his head, moving away his hair from his face, Eli answered by bending over again and throwing up the little food they’d taken.
“I’m sorry,” Eli mumbled as soon as he was done and wiped his mouth.
“No, don’t apologize. Why didn’t you tell me you were getting car sick?”
“I’m not!” Eli protested and sounded frustrated with himself. “I just… It was really sudden, don’t you smell that?”
“Smell what?”
“I just… I got a whiff of this awful stench and I couldn’t help myself, sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, it’s fine. Do you feel okay to keep driving or do you want to stop for a while?”
“No, it’s okay, let’s go. Although, I’d feel more comfortable if I had a bag with me, just in case.” Eli mumbled and brushed his hair back.
“I think I have one somewhere.” Stiles moved to the back of the car and opened his backpack to grab an empty plastic bag and a water bottle. “Here you go.” Eli thanked him and grabbed the water bottle to take a swig.
After a couple of minutes, they were back on the road. Eli was grabbing the bag like he knew he was going to throw up in the next five minutes, he was pale and he didn’t look too well. So Stiles started to plan to stop somewhere. He saw the sign of a gas station if they took a left turn and decided to go for it even if it wasn’t the way they were supposed to go.
At some point, he had to stop the car because there were several cars stopped on the road, abandoned. And he couldn’t go around because they were near a bridge.
“We should be able to find some things in those cars and walk to the gas station, sound ok?”
“Ok,” Eli mumbled and got out of the car, as soon as he opened the door he clutched his stomach and bent over to throw up again. Stiles ran to his side.
“Jesus, are you okay?”
“No, no, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Eli wiped his mouth and Stiles looked for the water bottle to give it back to him. Eli seemed to be lost in thought while he drank almost all of it.
“What day is today?” Eli mumbled and brought his hand up to cover one ear while he tried to keep the vomit down. Stiles frowned at him.
“How the hell am I supposed to know? Why does it matter anyway? Are you late on your period or something?” Eli looked up at him with rage in his eyes, which was answer enough, even though he wasn’t sure if Stiles was making fun of him with that question or if he was genuinely asking.
“I’m fine, I’ll get over it,” Eli mumbled and tried to stand up straighter. But Stiles could tell he was really sick.
“Listen, we can try to look for a pharmacy or something, maybe they have medicine in that gas station. This isn’t normal.”
“No, no, it’s okay. I promise I’ll be fine tomorrow, maybe in a couple of days, tops.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I’m not infected, I promise,” Eli said desperately.
“Oh my God, kid. I’m not going to put a bullet in your head as soon as you fall asleep, I know you’re not infected, don’t worry.” Eli looked at him like he didn’t believe him, so Stiles elaborated. “The virus didn’t start here, okay? I was aware it existed when it started a few weeks prior in the Middle East, I know the symptoms, I know how it starts. You’re just sick. I just need to know why.”
“I’ve never been sick, okay? I know I’m fine.” Eli mumbled although Stiles didn’t think that was very assuring.
“All the more reason to be concerned.”
“Listen, let’s just… Let’s go get some supplies and maybe walking will do me well. I just need… I need to clear my head.”
“Okay, fine. Do you know how to open a car without keys?”
“Of course, who do you take me for?”
“A kid.”
“My dad’s a mechanic.”
“Right, yeah, you mentioned. So can you start opening the cars on the right? Look for anything that might seem useful.”
“Okay,” Eli said and walked over to open the first car, he still had the water bottle in his hand.
They weren’t having too much luck, the only thing Stiles managed to find was a bag of Cheetos, already opened and a couple of half-empty water bottles.
“Did you find anything?” He asked Eli from the left side of the road.
“I mean, one used toothbrush but I think we’d better find some new ones.” Stiles chuckled.
“If you see any jackets or hats take them, we’re going to need them for winter.” Eli stopped when he heard Stiles say that.
“Are we still going to be here when winter comes?”
Stiles stood up and looked at him from the top of the car he was checking.
“Looks like it. We’ll pass the coldest part of the country when December comes. I’ve lost count of the days but I think it’s close, and it’s already cold.”
Eli nodded and took a moment to process it.
“I’m sorry I said that, about your dad,” Eli said suddenly and Stiles looked back at him.
“It’s fine, we both said fucked up things. We shouldn’t be fighting, it’s a long journey.”
“We’ll get there eventually, right?”
“Are you doubting me?” Stiles teased him and Eli chuckled.
“No, not you, just the conditions.”
“We’ll try to rest for a bit until you get better, okay? You look very pale.”
“Fine,” Eli mumbled even though he knew he would be fine by the next day. He looked up, it was starting to get dark, but he couldn’t see the moon yet.
They kept checking every car until they got to the bridge. That’s when they both stopped because they heard a strange noise in the distance. Stiles looked over at Eli and made a gesture for him to follow him and keep quiet. They walked between cars, keeping low so they wouldn’t be seen until they got to the bridge. Stiles looked over the railing and almost lost his breath when he saw the sight underneath him.
“Oh… My God…” Stiles mumbled when he saw the horde of zombies on the road. He could see them from up there, it was the biggest one he’d seen yet, there must have been more than a thousand, walking around aimlessly and bumping into each other.
Instead of reacting by saying anything Eli simply bent over and threw up again. Stiles covered his mouth and nose with the inside of his elbow, trying to not smell the rot and decay.
“That’s what you were smelling, Jesus Christ.”
“We need… To get out of here.” It was difficult for Eli to talk without gagging. Stiles grabbed his arm and helped him walk away.
They crossed the bridge as fast as they could, Stiles still wanted to get to the gas station and get some supplies. Maybe some medicine for Eli, or a mask.
Eli was grabbing his bat tightly, clearly scared at the sight of so many undead. Stiles was glad he’d grabbed his gun, but hopefully, they wouldn’t have to deal with any if they didn’t make any noise. They just had to get some stuff from the gas station, go back to their car very quietly and drive off, trying to avoid that road. He could understand now why there were so many abandoned cars out there.
Stiles grabbed Eli by the elbow before they entered the gas station and gestured for him to keep quiet and close. Eli nodded and held his bat high. They walked inside and looked around. The place seemed to be empty but they weren’t going to risk it. They walked around and looked for stuff that they could use. Stiles grabbed a few cans and put them in his backpack. They both silently cheered when they found two new toothbrushes, just when Stiles was grabbing the toothpaste they heard a door creak open. They froze and Stiles gripped Eli’s arm so he wouldn’t move an inch.
Stiles stood up straighter to see over the aisle, he saw one zombie come out of the back of the store. He looked back at the entrance and thought that maybe they could leave without it noticing. But they also needed the supplies, he could kill one zombie.
“Give me the bat,” Stiles whispered.
“What why?”
“I’m not gonna shoot it, it’ll be too much noise. Just give me the bat and stay here, ok? Don’t make a noise.” Eli nodded and handed him the bat.
He looked through the corner of the aisle how Stiles approached the zombie very slowly and just at the moment when it noticed him, he swung the bat and hit it on the head hard enough to make it fall, finally dead. But the noise of the zombie falling attracted the few more that were in the back of the store and Stiles knew he’d fucked up. Stiles hadn’t noticed them since it was already dark outside and the store didn’t have the lights on. He immediately ran towards Eli and grabbed him so they could leave the gas station.
“It was just three, you could’ve killed them!” Eli told him.
“It’s too much noise when we have a thousand of them less than a mile away, let’s get to the car and get out of here.”
Just as they were about to get to the bridge they encountered a few more roaming around. Stiles would’ve shot them in the head if it didn’t mean having to outrun the biggest horde he’d ever seen just for making a little noise.
“I’ll handle them, stay behind me,” Stiles mumbled and gripped the bat when the first one approached.
At first, it was only five, Stiles could handle that. But even after Stiles had already counted five, there were still some left, which meant they were approaching and they needed to leave. If he could just clear the path to the bridge they could get to their car. He was starting to get overwhelmed by trying to keep them away from Eli, he had his bat so the kid had no way of defending himself. He could barely see anything, it was already too dark, and they needed to get out of there quickly. He saw Eli by his side and he was about to tell him to back off, but Eli spoke first.
“Stay behind me!”
“Eli!” Stiles screamed and turned around. “I’m not letting you die on me! Don’t do anything stupid and stay there!”
“I’m just gonna try something, okay? It might be our only chance.”
“Eli! Don’t!” Stiles tried to stop him but he swung on a zombie’s face.
He tried to turn around and help him but he had to dodge and push away a zombie that almost knocked him over. Before he could turn to check on Eli he heard a loud roar, a very familiar one. He whipped his head in time to see Eli shift into his beta form and practically maul one of the zombies. Stiles didn’t have time to be surprised by that because he had to defend himself too. But it was easy to deal with the ones left now that Eli could basically kill all of them without Stiles’ help.
Once there weren’t too many of them left Stiles grabbed Eli and they ran towards the car. They got in and Stiles floored the gas before any of the zombies got to them. He looked over at Eli who seemed to be normal now, he still had fangs and his eyes were glowing still.
“You’re a werewolf!?” Stiles screamed, still shaken by what just happened.
“I’m a werewolf!” Eli exclaimed triumphantly and smiled brightly.
“Wait, you didn’t know?!” Stiles screamed again and tried to look at the road and back at Eli.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe I did that!” Eli exclaimed, still not realizing how agitated Stiles was.
“Eli! Listen to me for one second! Why did you do that if you weren’t sure you could shift?!” Stiles reprimanded him. “We were swarmed. You could’ve died!”
“But I didn’t! I shifted!” Eli said and looked at him with a bright smile. “Holy shit, my dad’s gonna be so proud when I tell him.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed happily. “I mean, he always said I could do it, but I never believed him. I just… Wait,” Eli turned to look at him suspiciously. “You’re not freaked out.”
“No, of course not. I’ve had my fair share of werewolves. I just wasn’t expecting you to try to shift for the first time when we’re being swarmed by zombies! Do you know how hard it is to control it?! You could’ve died, okay? You need to be more careful if you still can’t control it.”
“I was trying to save you! And either way, I shifted! Isn’t it great?”
“Not if you don’t have control! It’s dangerous! Do you know how easy it is to lose yourself? To turn on your own?”
“I would never do anything to hurt you, I’m not stupid.”
“Eli, I can’t count the number of times that my best friend tried to kill me because he didn’t have control yet, okay? You need to be more careful or you’ll regret it.”
“I was just trying to save you…” Eli mumbled, now sounding bummed.
Stiles turned to look at him and bit his lip, regretting being so harsh to him.
“Listen, just…” Stiles sighed and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Look at me.” Eli obeyed and turned his head to look at him, Stiles still saw his fangs poking out of his lips. He moved his hand and grabbed his jaw to look at it closer before he looked back at the road. “You still have your fangs out, do you not feel them?”
Eli immediately looked at himself in the rearview mirror.
“I’m sorry I can’t control it yet…”
“Okay, close your eyes and try to focus on your heartbeat.” Eli nodded and did as told. “Slow it down, just breathe and calm yourself down, okay?”
The next time Eli opened his eyes he was back to normal. He smiled widely and looked at Stiles.
“How do you know that?”
“You’re not the first teenage werewolf I had to teach control to…” Stiles mumbled and chuckled.
“So you… You know other werewolves?”
“My best friend was turned when he was about your age. Kind of set our life on fire after that.”
“Where is he now?”
“L.A., I think, I haven’t talked to him in years.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing, we just… Drifted away. It happens.” Stiles frowned and tried to think of something to lighten up the mood. “But, trust me, he was a horrible werewolf at first and now he’s an alpha, so truly, you always have a chance to become better.”
“Can you teach me?”
“What?”
“Will you teach me control?”
“I…” Stiles hesitated at first but then sighed. “Yeah, sure.”
Notes:
the big reveal! hope you enjoyed it :) would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Chapter Text
“Stiles, I don’t feel good about this,” Eli screamed so that Stiles could hear him since Stiles was standing pretty far away.
“Will you calm down? I’m not going to actually shoot you.” Stiles held his gun in his right hand, they were standing in an open field and Stiles was using an old technique to try to teach Eli control.
“Like, I know I can heal now, but I don’t think I want to try my odds,” Eli said as he shook his hands, he flinched and yelped when he heard a gunshot right next to him. “Oh my God! Stiles! You could’ve killed me!”
“No, I couldn’t! I have perfect aim! Now concentrate, come on.”
“Is this how you taught your best friend control?”
“Well, I used a lacrosse stick and balls, but yeah, same concept.”
“Holy shit, you played lacrosse?” Eli flinched when he heard another gunshot near his foot.
“Focus!”
“I’m trying!” Eli replied and Stiles raised one eyebrow when he saw his eyes glow.
“Doesn’t look like it,” he mumbled, which Eli wouldn’t have been able to hear if he didn’t have super hearing. “Listen, you need an anchor, okay? You need to channel your thoughts and everything into something that’ll keep you calm. If you let your heartbeat raise you’ll lose control.”
“So what do I think about?”
“I don’t know, something that keeps you grounded. For my best friend, it was his girlfriend.”
“Yeah, I don’t have one of those,” Eli deadpanned.
“Someone I knew used anger as his anchor. Although I think he changed it after a while…” Stiles looked at him and raised his gun. “Just think about the thing that keeps you grounded, something that helps you calm down.”
“Can it be my dad?”
“I find that people aren’t good anchors, but if that’s what works for you now, then try it. You’ll find other stuff with experience.”
“All right, okay, try now.” Eli closed his eyes and shook his hands, trying to concentrate.
He flinched when he heard another gunshot and thought about his dad waiting for him. About how happy he would be when he found out that he was a werewolf. About how much he missed him.
He leaned down and groaned, feeling his fangs dropping slowly and his heart rate rising as he flinched with every shot fired near him.
“Eli, focus!” He heard Stiles scream at him.
“I can’t!”
“Yes, you can!” Stiles screamed and shot again. “This isn’t going to hurt you. Just think about your dad, okay? We’re so close.”
“You think he’s dead!”
“Your dad’s a werewolf, right?!”
“Yes.”
“Well, if there’s one thing I know, those motherfuckers don’t die easily!”
Eli exhaled and tried to breathe evenly, remembering very well his father’s face. He wanted to see it again.
He looked up and Stiles smiled when he saw his eyes were his natural green colour and he didn’t have fangs. He was breathing normally.
“Listen to your heartbeat, tell me if it’s even. You’re gonna have to learn that too, you can even tell when people are lying by their heartbeat.”
Eli closed his eyes and concentrated. His heartbeat was even, so he gave Stiles a thumbs up and Stiles clapped in excitement.
“So that’s it?” Eli walked over to where Stiles was.
“No, that’s just the basics. You need to have an anchor otherwise you’re gonna lose yourself. And that, during a full moon is death.” Stiles explained as he put away the gun. “You’ll be able to learn some other stuff, but not until you have control. It’ll do you good to learn some fighting skills.”
“Oh, my dad’s tried that before. I’m way too clumsy.”
“You’re a teenager. Aren’t they all?” Stiles joked and they started to walk back to their car. “And please don’t say ‘my dad wasn’t’ because your father isn’t human, okay?”
“Isn’t?” Stiles looked at him weirdly and Eli just smiled at him.
“What?”
“Nothing. That’s the first time I’ve heard you talk about him in present tense.” Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Listen. Don’t get your hopes up too much, okay? This is still the apocalypse. But now I can understand why you think your dad may be different, werewolves are a weird bunch and I’ve seen quite a few of them come back from the dead.”
“You have?”
“Yes, but I’ve also seen many more die. So really, it could be anything. Just keep hoping he’s alive but, you know… Manage your expectations.”
“You just told me to use my father as an anchor, what happens if I find out he’s dead?”
“Hey, I didn’t tell you to do anything. You found your own anchor.” Stiles corrected him and opened the door of the car, he continued talking once they were both inside. “If that happens you’ll have to be your own anchor, try to calm yourself down, okay?”
“That sounds impossible, I’ll lose it.”
“I know. But you have to try…” Stiles started driving and cocked his head, remembering Scott and his bursts. “Or else I’ll suffer the consequences.”
“Fine. But what else can I learn? There must be other stuff.”
“Not much I can teach you, kid. You can learn to tell what other people are feeling by the way they smell. I can never figure that one out, apparently everyone in my friend group knew I smelled like anxiety and nobody told me.”
“Seriously?” Eli asked and laughed. “My dad usually just asks me why I’m sad out of nowhere, I can never hide anything.”
“I think that’s just a dad power because mine did the same.” Eli laughed and Stiles made a left turn to get back on the highway. “There’s a lot of stuff you can learn, honestly. You might even be able to turn into a full wolf. But all of this takes practice. Your dad can teach you that stuff I guess, if not, I’ll try my best.”
“I’ve never seen my dad shift, actually.” Stiles frowned and turned his head to look at him quickly.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Well, I saw him shift once when I was a kid. I don’t remember much, just that it was really scary. I couldn’t sleep for several nights and when I did I had nightmares. He hasn’t turned in front of me ever since. I don’t think he does it anymore in general.”
Stiles cocked his head and made a face but didn’t say anything.
“What?” Eli asked.
“Nothing it’s just…” Stiles sighed and thought about his next words. “Werewolves are supposed to shift from time to time, especially during a full moon. It’s in your nature.”
“But this is the first time I’ve done it. Maybe it’s not that necessary.”
“I’m not sure. I’ve only ever met one other born werewolf and he wasn’t the talking type, even if I asked him a bunch of questions.” Stiles remembered Cora and Peter too, but those two definitely wouldn’t have answered his questions. Maybe Peter, but he hated talking to him. “But I don’t blame you. Some werewolves… Are pretty scary,” he mumbled and remembered the likes of Peter’s alpha form, or the twins, even Deucalion. Although the worst one would be The Beast. He still had nightmares about that one.
Eli didn’t question him about that, probably because he didn’t want to be even more scared. After a while of driving Stiles decided to stop so they could eat and sleep a few hours. They were living off of cans of beans at that point, Stiles wanted to find bread that wasn’t moldy so they could go back to eating sandwiches. He made a fire since they were both really cold, winter was already there and Stiles knew it was going to be a tough time to get through the cold.
They started to eat in silence, so Stiles decided to talk to lift up the mood, he could tell Eli was cold.
“I’m honestly surprised I didn’t clock it earlier,” Stiles mumbled while he tried to keep the fire alive. “I should’ve known the second you asked what day it was.” Eli looked up at him and Stiles sighed. “I guess I haven’t been around werewolves in a long time, it’s not the first thought that comes to mind when someone is being sketchy.”
“And you’re not one either.”
“I don’t think you understand… Back when I was in high school all of my friends were supernatural creatures. I’m well acquainted with your kind, trust me.”
“And what happened to your friends?” Stiles sighed when he heard that question.
“You mean why I don’t talk to them anymore?” Eli nodded and Stiles was glad he didn’t have to explain why most of them were dead. “Well… Something happened to me. Like… I was the only human in a group full of supernatural creatures and it was showing. I was always the target when there was a threat, they never believed me when I suspected there was danger around, because they didn’t trust my instincts. It just… Every time it snowballed into me getting hurt.” Stiles tried to explain, he didn’t want to remember the torture, the possession, his dad almost dying, Theo, and being forgotten by everyone was just the icing on the cake. Explaining that to Eli might be a bit too much. “So the next time something happened and I wasn’t around… They just didn’t tell me. At the time I was dating this girl and we were trying the long-distance thing. She didn’t call me, didn’t tell me that they were all in danger. At first, I didn’t blame them but then it happened again, and again. I felt betrayed…” Stiles looked down into the fire and remembered why he cut contact with almost all of them and why his relationship with Lydia died slowly. “After everything I’d done for them, they didn’t trust me to help them again. All because they thought I was weak.”
“But they were trying to protect you…” Eli consoled him.
“I get that. But I wasn’t the only one who was in danger. And keeping secrets from me isn’t exactly a great way to keep a friendship. Especially if one of the people that are lying to me is my girlfriend.”
“Yeah, that’s… harsh,” Eli mumbled and nodded. “My dad doesn’t really know other werewolves. At least I don’t think, so I’ve never been in a pack. I have a couple of aunts but they’re barely around.”
“It really is just you and your dad, huh?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Eli simply shrugged.
“So you’re not in a pack? I heard there weren’t any in Beacon Hills after what happened to Satomi.”
“Yeah, I heard about that. But my dad keeps to himself, says packs are nothing but trouble. So it’s just us.” Eli explained calmly. “Well, it was just him, we didn’t know if I was going to turn out a werewolf. Which is the whole reason I felt so much pressure, you know… To be like him.”
“Werewolves are a particular bunch. Especially omegas, in my experience it’s better to keep to yourself, your dad’s smart. Before I left some hunters wanted to kill every supernatural creature in town, and that’s when I realized how many there were without anyone knowing. They were smart to be hiding, even if they shouldn’t.”
“I mean… We are dangerous, right? If we don’t have control.” Eli asked genuinely and Stiles frowned.
“Your father didn’t teach you anything.”
“He tried, I just didn’t want to listen.” Stiles chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“Yes, you can become dangerous if you don’t have control. But I think that applies to humans too.” Stiles started to explain and sat back. “Which is why you need to learn control, an anchor is really important, to keep you grounded.”
“You said people aren’t good anchors.”
“My best friend used to use his girlfriend as an anchor. He had to change it when she broke up with him, anchors can shift too. It’s just important that you have one, to ground yourself.”
“His girlfriend? Did it work?”
“For the most part, yeah. It kept him from killing me a couple of times.”
“Oh wow…” Eli whistled and raised his eyebrows impressed.
“Oh, trust me, that’s nothing, I’ve gone through worse. I think the worst part was the fact that he had to picture some girl just so he wouldn’t kill his best friend. That was kinda sad. But you know how it is, all romances are more intense when you’re sixteen.”
“I’m fifteen, and I’ve never had a girlfriend, so no, I don’t know, actually.” Stiles threw his head back and laughed as he brought the spoon to his mouth.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know either, actually. I didn’t have my first girlfriend until I was almost eighteen and I don’t think I loved her as intensely as I’ve seen other high school couples. I have still yet to find that undying love that I’ve seen some of my friends experience.”
“Really? That’s kinda sad.”
“Hey, fuck you. It’s not like I haven’t tried, I’ve dated plenty. You’ll get there eventually, not everything is a romantic comedy.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve dated plenty…” Eli repeated with a tone and rolled his eyes, Stiles scoffed at him.
“I’ll have you know, I dated my unattainable high school crush for two years.”
“And only two years, what happened?”
“We realized we were better off as friends,” Stiles replied and shrugged.
“And it took you two years to realize that?”
“Half of that was long distance, so it didn't make much of a difference, honestly.”
“So you’re friends now?”
“Well… We haven’t talked in a while…”
“You’re not making yourself sound very cool right now…”
“I don’t need to prove myself. I’m married to my work, I’m always busy, okay? And I don’t mix business with pleasure, I would never…” Stiles faltered before he finished that sentence and Eli smiled.
“You just lied,” he said, excitedly. “You lied and I caught it!”
“All right, all right, little werewolf in training. I did hook up a couple of times with a colleague from work. But I stopped as soon as I realized I was only interested in him because he looked like a guy I used to like.” Eli laughed at him.
“And what happened to that guy? More unattainable than your high school crush?”
“Definitely,” Stiles mumbled and looked back at the fire. “Mixed signals all throughout and just… Never meant to be. Trust me, you don’t want any of that drama in your life right now, I miss the days when I didn’t have to worry about whether I was going to die alone or not.”
“Well, look at it on the bright side,” Eli said and Stiles looked at his beaming expression. “If we die, at least we have each other now.” Stiles snorted and smiled at him.
“Yeah, at least.”
Stiles was tired and cold, and he could tell Eli was too. They’d only encountered a few zombies after the attack on the bridge and even then Eli had to stop himself from throwing up again. Stiles tried to teach him to focus his scents on something else so the smell of death wouldn’t be too overpowering. In the end, Eli was able to control it. He told him how he wasn’t used to being so sensitive, but it was like all of his senses were suddenly triggered after that first full moon.
They were making progress in their journey and that’s all it mattered. Stiles knew they were taking the long way there and that meant that they would go through an awful winter, but he hoped to get to Beacon Hills before that. They couldn’t take the main highways since they were probably filled with cars or dead people. So they went through small roads. The benefit of that was finding untouched gas stations or motels. Usually, there were only two or three zombies to kill, the only people that either lived or worked there before everything went down.
They stopped at a gas station and they went inside to get some supplies. Stiles was really just hoping to find a winter hat because they really needed them. Instead, he found something that wasn’t a priority but had been in the back of his mind ever since he left his house.
Stiles looked at one aisle and almost whooped triumphantly.
"Oh thank god, I was due for a shave." Stiles grabbed a couple of razors that were left on the shelf and the shaving cream.
“I thought you just didn’t want to…” Eli said and sneaked behind him, Stiles turned around to look at him with an eyebrow raised.
“You thought this was a choice? I look homeless.”
“We are,” Eli replied and chuckled, Stiles rolled his eyes at him. “For now at least.”
“Did you grab what you needed?” Eli nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
Fifteen minutes later Eli was sitting in the hood of the car, eating a bag of chips and Stiles was trying to shave using the tiny side-view mirror as he leaned on the closed car door.
“Every time I do this I can’t help but think about that scene in Brokeback Mountain,” Stiles commented suddenly and Eli chuckled. “God I hate it.”
“Why? It’s good a good movie.”
“It makes me cry every time, I hate movies that make me cry.”
“My dad loves those, but he never cries. Kinda makes me feel bad when I do.”
“Why? Did he tell you boys don’t cry or something?” Stiles asked and scoffed.
“No, nothing like that. I just wanna be more tough, like him.”
“You’re a kid, you don’t need to be tough.”
“I’m not a kid, stop calling me that. I survived the apocalypse on my own for a whole month.”
“You’re still a kid if you haven’t shaved for the first time and you think I do it for stylistic choices,” Stiles said and chuckled.
“You kinda do though, right? You could keep the beard.”
“Doesn’t look good on me and even if it did I would still have to do it to keep it in good shape. What? Your dad never taught you that?” Stiles mocked him and scoffed. He looked up when he didn’t hear an answer, he saw Eli chewing slowly and looking down. Stiles grimaced and checked one last time that he didn’t have any shaving cream left. “All right, come here,” Stiles said finally and cleaned the razor in the little pot of water he’d propped on the hood of the car.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, get up, come on.”
Eli left the bag of chips and hopped out of the car to approach Stiles, who grabbed him by the shoulders so that he would stand in front of the closed car window and use the reflection as a mirror instead of the tiny one Stiles was using.
“It would be better to have a nice reflection but you literally have nothing and you would heal with the tiniest cut, so it doesn’t matter,” Stiles commented as he grabbed the shaving cream again.
“When I was a kid I used to think werewolves had to shave like Superman…” Eli mumbled and Stiles snapped his head up when he heard that.
“Oh my God! I did too! I mean, I was older than you when I found out about werewolves, but every single one I knew was so well-shaven I thought ‘they must heal’ or something, store it for their beta shift.” Eli threw his head back and laughed.
“Yeah, I saw Superman shaving with his laser vision and I was like: Yep, that’s what my father does every morning in the bathroom, obviously.” Stiles laughed as he finished putting the shaving cream on him, standing right behind him.
“I think that’s probably just because you think your dad is Superman,” he told him and handed him the razor. “Go with the grain.”
“Might be, yeah.” Eli laughed and followed Stiles’ instructions. Obviously, when he was done he looked exactly the same as when he started, but he did have a grin on his face and Stiles was proud of him. He patted his shoulders and smiled at him through the reflection of the car window.
“Okay, now that you’re a man now, we can leave.” Eli giggled and they both got back in the car.
They weren’t hungry, they had found a couple of winter jackets that were warm enough to keep them from freezing during the night, and even though Eli’s fit a little too big for him, everything was starting to look up. They hadn’t encountered any major obstacles in the route Stiles had chosen, and he was glad he’d chosen that one, a few miles down the road he couldn’t believe his eyes and he had to slow down the car when he noticed something in the distance.
“Is that– Is that an RV?” he mumbled and squinted to try to see what was ahead of them. Eli also leaned in to see.
“Yeah I think so…”
“Jackpot.” Stiles hit the pedal and went straight to it, stopping right next to the vehicle.
“We’re going to change cars? This one won’t take us all the way to Beacon Hills.”
“We’ll be able to sleep better in this one. We need it for winter, trust me,” he explained and got out of the car, Eli followed.
Stiles opened the trunk and grabbed the bat.
“I have to check if there’s anything inside, wait here.”
Eli nodded and Stiles checked if the door was open, thankfully it was. When he got inside it closed behind him and suddenly Eli was hit with silence. He tried to listen for any noises, he should be able to now, he was a werewolf. But he didn’t have control over his powers yet and they seemed to dull down now that there wasn’t a full moon. He had the awful realization that Stiles was the only one who could protect him, not only that but teach him control. He was done for if he lost Stiles… And he was taking a long time to come out of that tiny RV.
Just as he was thinking that, the door opened so abruptly Eli flinched.
“It’s empty,” Stiles told him with a triumphant smile. Eli smiled back, although he didn’t think Stiles would notice how relieved he was to see him, even if he’d been gone for less than a minute. “Let’s go, help me out with jumpstarting it, do you know how to do it? I can teach you.”
“I know how to jumpstart a car,” Eli said as if it was obvious. Stiles rolled his eyes, remembering his dad was a mechanic.
“Alright then, do it,” he told him and opened the door for him. Eli got down and did as best as he could with none of his tools around. If Stiles didn’t offer any it meant that he knew how to do it with none. The car hummed to life and Stiles whooped.
“The ride back is going to be much better now.”
“This car will give out before we get there,” Eli told Stiles as he got back up.
“Probably, but I was able to keep my first car running with just a bunch of ducktape and that car was like twenty years old. Trust me, I can handle this one if it means I’m finally going to be able to sleep well. There’s a queen in the back, we’re going to be able to get a full night's sleep.”
“I don’t think we have duct tape.”
“Sure I do. In the trunk. I always carry some, saved my ass more times than I can count.”
“God, my dad would hate you,” Eli said and rolled his eyes as he walked over to the car so he could get his stuff out.
“Yeah, I’m every mechanic’s nightmare, I got it.”
They took a little while to put all of their stuff in the RV, but they had so much space, and Stiles could not wait to just sleep in that bed. Thankfully the place wasn’t dirty, just dusty, nobody had died in there. And Eli confirmed that it didn’t smell like death. Stiles checked the tank, which was halfway full, and he made sure they had enough reserves of gas.
“We’re low on food again, so we should make a pitstop soon, can you check in the map if there are any gas stations or stores nearby?” Stiles mumbled when they got on the front seats. They’d been at a gas station a few days prior, but they weren’t able to find any food besides a few snacks that they already run out of.
Eli nodded and Stiles started to drive while Eli opened the map they used to check gas station locations. After a few minutes of silence, Eli spoke up as he looked up at the road.
“There aren’t any stores or gas stations but there’s a town a few miles up this road, it’s pretty small so it might be empty.”
“Worth a try,” Stiles mumbled and couldn’t help but fantasize about a warm meal. “We can check the houses for a working oven maybe.”
“Will they work?”
“The really old ones will.” Stiles started to make a mental list of everything they needed.
He started to get excited as soon as he made a right turn into the town and he didn’t see anything suspicious. It seemed to be deserted, which is what they wanted. But they still needed to be careful, it was almost sunset so they also needed to be quick. Stiles stopped the car and turned to Eli.
“Grab your bat and be quiet, okay? We’re still not sure if there’s anything here and this isn’t a gas station, we won’t see or hear them coming.” Eli nodded quickly. “Stay by my side, let’s go.”
They usually avoided towns, even if they were tiny, they never knew what they were going to encounter. But this one seemed pretty deserted so Stiles thought they could take their chances. He still carried his gun close and he knew exactly how many bullets and ammo he had.
Stiles looked back at Eli and saw him grab his empty backpack to fill it with food. He had to put on his jacket before since he forgot and he tried to rush when he saw that Stiles was just standing there, waiting for him.
“No, just put on the hat, you idiot,” Stiles took a step forward and grabbed the knitted hat to place it on Eli’s head, he fixed it and Eli looked up at him through his eyelashes, clearly mad that he had to wear the stupid hat. “It’ll warm your ears, don’t want you to get frostbite out here.”
“You’re not my dad, you know?”
“I know, ‘cause you won’t stop talking about your dad, don’t worry, I ain’t forgetting.” Stiles pushed his head back in a friendly gesture and Eli chuckled.
“I think you’d like him,” Eli said, trotting behind.
“Sure, if he’s alive I’ll tell him what an asshole you’ve been the whole trip.” Eli snorted and looked around, they were speaking in a low tone, just in case anything heard them, but the place looked empty.
“Shouldn’t I be able to tell if there’s anyone by smell? Or heartbeats?”
“You’re still learning Eli. And I wouldn’t choose this moment to teach you. We don’t know what’s out there. Just tell me if you get the sudden urge to throw up, okay?” Stiles joked and Eli chuckled. He saw a store and signalled for Eli to follow him.
Stiles couldn’t believe his eyes when he opened the door. The store was fully stocked, it was almost like it hadn’t been touched.
“No way…” Eli mumbled next to him. Stiles immediately went to grab the stuff they needed.
“I know it’s tempting, but we can’t grab too much stuff, okay?”
“Why not?” Eli asked, his hands already full.
“We changed cars but we don’t have that much space. Nothing useless, okay? Leave those chips. Take cans, bread, stuff we can eat in the long run, no snacks, okay?”
“Jesus, you sound like my dad…” Eli mumbled and left the stuff he grabbed. Stiles shook his head as he chuckled. “You know I’m a growing werewolf, I need the food.”
“You need protein, not garbage.”
Eli made a sound that could only be described as ‘angry teenager’, Stiles suppressed a smile as he filled up his backpack.
“Did you get everything?” He asked Eli as he walked up to him. Eli nodded, he looked excited to eat, and his backpack looked full, at least Stiles wouldn’t have to tell him to leave stuff behind, he was almost expecting to see Eli with two full plastic bags, beside his backpack.
“All right, let’s go. Maybe we can sweep the houses, and find some clothes or a working oven, yeah?”
“Yes.”
They walked out of the store and Stiles stopped dead in his tracks when he saw they weren’t alone. There were about five or six guys standing around the entrance, their guns aimed at them.
“Are you gonna pay for that?”
Stiles sighed and thought to himself that he knew it was too good to be true.
“I don’t know what you’re going to do with money, honestly, but we don’t have any, obviously.” Stiles spoke like they were stupid.
“You can’t take our stuff.”
“Didn’t have a name on it, and you don’t look like…” Stiles looked back at the store and saw the name. “Abdul’s bazaar. Yeah, definitely not you.” Stiles was stalling, he needed a distraction so they could leave. He looked at their weapons, some of them were carrying guns, others were carrying… Stiles’ heart stopped at the sight of those weapons.
“Hunters…” he whispered under his breath, they didn’t hear him but Eli did, and he immediately tensed up. They were using the same kind of weapons that Argent used. A single touch from those sticks and he’d be dead due to the voltage, Eli might survive it but it wouldn’t be good.
“On any other circumstance, we would let you leave,” the one in the middle spoke up again. “But we don’t take kindly to people like you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stiles replied almost immediately, he was getting nervous, they were clearly outnumbered.
“Do you think we’re stupid? We heard you. We know the boy’s a werewolf, probably you too.”
“There are zombies going around and you’re still killing werewolves? Don’t you have a code or something? We didn’t harm anyone and he’s fifteen.”
“Do you think previous rules apply right now?” The guy aimed his gun at Eli and Stiles felt his heart stop.
“No, no, wait. I’m serious. If you want the food we’ll give it back but please don’t hurt us.” Stiles pleaded, he thought it was the only way to get out of that unharmed. He positioned himself in front of Eli and nudged him to go back inside the store. Eli took a couple of steps back.
“Right, even if you try to give it back, thieves are thieves.” As soon as the guy said that Stiles heard a gunshot but he didn’t feel any pain.
Eli gasped next to him, Stiles turned to look at him and felt his stomach sink when he saw Eli bring his hand up to his bloody stomach. They’d shot him from the side, so even if Stiles was standing in front of him, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the bullet.
“No!” Stiles screamed and didn’t hesitate a second to lift his weapon and shoot the guy who shot Eli. He pushed Eli back to the store and ducked when he heard another gunshot.
Those guys might’ve been hunters but it didn’t mean they were any good at aiming, and he had an inkling that he’d shot the only one who had good aim. He shot their leader dead and another one in the leg before he had to hide again behind the door of the store. He looked back at Eli, who was sitting on the floor, resting his back against one of the aisles while he held his bloody stomach.
“Stiles… I don’t think those were normal bullets.” Eli whispered and Stiles flinched when he heard another gunshot, but it didn’t go through the door.
“Keep pressure on the wound, I’ll handle it, okay?”
Stiles opened the door and as soon as he did that they started shooting, Stiles had time to shoot two of them before he closed the door again. He heard Eli groan in pain and he went to check on him quickly.
“Let me see,” Stiles mumbled and Eli reluctantly lifted his shirt to show Stiles the wound, he could see the distinct purple he was so familiar with.
“Wolfsbane…” He whispered.
“Oh my God, I’m gonna die,” Eli exclaimed and Stiles could already tell he was crying.
“No, no, calm down, Eli. Look at me, you’re not gonna die, okay?”
“Stiles! Don’t you get it!? It’s wolfsbane, it’s literally made to kill me!”
“I know, I know. Just stay down, okay? I’m going to fix this, I promise.”
“No, no, Stiles don’t leave, please…”
“Look at me, I’m not leaving you and you’re not going to die, okay? I promise.” He said and squeezed his shoulders before he caressed his cheek. Eli nodded and tried to breathe evenly.
Stiles got up and grabbed the handle before he took a deep breath and opened the door again. The last one standing was nowhere to be seen, so he either ran or hid. Stiles ran quickly to the first one he shot and grabbed his gun. He tried to duck when he heard shooting. He looked up and located the last guy, he didn’t even think about it and just shot him a couple of times for good measure. Once he saw him fall to the ground he went back to grabbing the gun that had shot Eli, he took out a couple of bullets and ran back to the store, where Eli was grabbing his stomach in pain. He was still conscious so Stiles groaned.
“Ok, this is going to hurt,” he whispered and lifted Eli’s shirt to check the wound, Eli hissed in pain and threw his head back. “Here, bite this,” he said and grabbed a flannel shirt from his backpack so that he had something to bite. He quickly opened one of the bullets to dump the contents in his palm. He reached for his lighter with his other hand and didn’t think twice before lighting the wolfsbane right in his palm, he hissed at the pain and quickly placed his hand against Eli’s wound so that the wolfsbane would seep into his blood.
Eli screamed in pain and tried to twist away from him, but Stiles held him firmly and made him stay still until he could see the wound heal on its own. He remembered Derek twisting in pain back when he was shot in the arm, he couldn’t imagine the pain Eli was in if he’d been shot in the stomach.
Once the wound finally healed Eli sighed and slumped his body against Stiles, trying to rest. Stiles hushed and ran his hand against his hair, trying to soothe him.
“It’s okay,” he mumbled and felt Eli go completely limp, which meant he probably lost consciousness due to the pain.
Stiles knew they had to leave, he didn’t think those guys were the only hunters around and even if there were all those shots fired could’ve attracted the wrong kind of attention. He needed to get Eli out of there and drive really fast.
“Okay,” he said to himself and tried to assess the situation. He had the first aid kit back in the van so he needed to take Eli there. He stood up and ran to the pharmacy section of the store, trying to grab anything that could help him, even if he was a werewolf he never knew how he was going to heal.
Once he was done he placed everything in his backpack and hung it on one shoulder. He walked up to Eli and carefully took away his backpack to place it on his other shoulder.
Stiles huffed a breath and placed one hand on the back of Eli’s thigh and the other on his lower back, he got up and carried him as best as he could. Thankfully he’d left the door open. He just needed to get them to the car, which Stiles didn’t think was that far. Eli rested his cheek on Stiles’s shoulder, his breathing soft against his neck, he just hoped he would wake up soon. The only other time he’d seen that happen was when Stiles almost cut Derek’s arm off, and he didn’t stay after Derek healed so he didn’t remember if Derek was actually as tired and weak as Eli was now.
“God I’m so glad you’re not as heavy as him…” Stiles mumbled but didn’t get a reaction from Eli since he was asleep. It felt weird thinking about Derek, he always avoided it, and he was good at it, but he still had conflicted feelings about that whole situation. But lately, he’d found himself thinking about him from time to time, he didn’t know if it was because Eli was a werewolf too and it reminded him of that time in his life or because Eli flat out reminded him of him.
He shook his head and focused on carrying Eli, he wasn’t as heavy as Derek was, but he was still heavy, and he was also carrying two backpacks. He tried to carry Eli with one hand as he opened the door of the van, he was so glad he started to go to the gym or else he wouldn’t have been able to do that. He tried to place Eli on the bed as carefully as he could, which wasn’t too careful since it was already hard getting him inside the van. Eli curled in pain but didn’t wake up.
He ran to the driver’s seat and floored the pedal, leaving that place as fast as he could. Once he was far enough that he calmed down he decided to pull over to check on Eli, who was still unconscious.
Stiles knew he could heal but he still took the time to change his bloody clothes and clean up the wound. He wasn’t healing as fast as Derek was, Stiles tried to calm himself by thinking that Eli was just young. He’d shifted for the first time less than a month ago and he was scared. Derek was an experienced werewolf when that happened to him, and he was shot in the arm. Maybe it took longer for Eli to heal his insides.
Eli groaned when Stiles accidentally touched the wound, slowly healing.
“I’m sorry, sorry…” Stiles mumbled and grabbed a few blankets when he saw he was shivering. He sighed and sat back, he just hoped all the wolfsbane was gone and Eli could heal properly. He buried his head in his hands and sighed tiredly. He hadn’t been in contact with werewolves for such a long time, that he was doubting his knowledge. What if Eli couldn’t heal? What if it only healed superficially and he still had internal bleeding?
He got up and got behind the wheel. He couldn’t check the temperature but he was sure they were in the negatives already. They needed to get to Beacon Hills, quickly. And even then he wasn’t sure if that would help him.
Stiles drove the whole night and he decided to stop once he felt his eyes start to droop. The last thing he needed was to have a car accident. He got a few hours of sleep before he went back to driving. Surprisingly, he covered a lot of ground when Eli was sleeping, maybe he got distracted while Eli spoke to him. Still no sign of Eli waking up, but his wound was almost healed completely, which relieved him.
Stiles looked at Eli through the rearview mirror when he heard a noise back there. But he seemed to be asleep so he went back to driving. After a few moments, he looked back at Eli when he heard another noise.
“Stiles…”
“What is it?” Stiles mumbled while he looked at the road. But he looked back at him when he didn’t hear a response back. Eli had his eyes closed and he seemed to be in pain.
Stiles pulled over and got up to check on him. Eli was grasping the blankets and he was sweating but he didn’t have a fever when Stiles touched his forehead. In fact, he was cold, very cold.
“Stiles…” He mumbled again and this time he gripped his forearm, hard enough to hurt him. Stiles hissed but didn’t move away.
“Hey, I’m here.”
“S’cold.”
“I know, I know…” Stiles reached for another blanket and brought him closer, hugging him to keep him warm while he placed the blanket over him. Eli nestled against Stiles and seemed to be calming down. But soon Stiles started hearing sniffling and he knew he was crying.
“Don’t leave me… I don’t want to die,” Eli whispered and gripped him.
Stiles was about to joke and say that he wouldn’t be able to leave even if he wanted to when he was holding him so tightly. But he didn’t think it would be the right thing to say.
“I’m not leaving, I promise,” Stiles mumbled and brushed his fingers through his hair.
“Even if my dad is dead, please…” Eli didn't finish but Stiles didn’t need him to, he hugged him tighter and tried to warm up.
With Eli injured, they barely touched the new supplies they’d gotten. So that whole endeavour seemed pointless now. Eli almost died and Stiles killed five men over bread and expired cans of food. They slept in the same bed and Stiles cuddled him even though they had enough space to sleep separately. They were both too cold to not share the blankets and the body heat. And either way, Eli didn’t seem to want to let go of him. They slept full nights and Stiles drove the entire day, he knew they were close. So close the weather was starting to let down.
Stiles tried to wake up Eli from time to time, to make him eat or drink water. He drank the water alright, eating was a bit more difficult.
“Come on, Eli. You need to eat something…” Stiles whispered and caressed his hair, trying to wake him up holding a spoon with warm lentils close to his mouth, he’d made him sit up.
Eli moved away his head but ended up opening his mouth when Stiles pressed the spoon against his lips. It took him a while to heat up the can, Stiles had made a fire outside, but he thought it would be something easy for Eli to eat. He was clearly wrong because after a couple of spoons, Eli started to cough and he moved to the side to throw up.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he immediately started to apologize and Stiles shook his head.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it, I’ll clean it up.” Stiles tried to soothe him and he made him sit in the passenger seat while he changed the sheets. Thankfully the blankets were fine, they could go without sheets for a few days, but they needed the blankets so they wouldn’t freeze to death. He didn’t know what he was expecting by giving him food, he was in the middle of healing his stomach and he didn’t know how supernatural healing worked on a fifteen-year-old recently turned werewolf.
Thankfully Eli woke up fully a few days later, he’d been waking up from time to time but he was never completely awake.
“How are you feeling?” Stiles asked him, he sat on the edge of the bed and he watched as Eli ate a sandwich, he looked better, less pale, more alive.
“Better,” Eli replied and smiled at him.
“Are you hurting anywhere?”
“No, I’m good now. Good as new.”
“Great, great. You had me worried.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, God. It wasn’t your fault. You’re still learning and the whole werewolf thing is still new to you. It just took a long time for you to heal.” Stiles smiled down at him. “I’m glad you’re okay now, we’re almost there.”
“Are we?” Eli asked, his mouth still full and his eyes impossibly wide. Stiles chuckled.
“Yeah, we’re in Oregon right now, had to take a detour but we should be there by tomorrow if everything goes well.”
“Oh my God!” Eli screamed excitedly and almost threw his sandwich in the air.
“Okay, calm down, we still don’t know if you’re completely healed and we haven’t gotten there yet. Remember how I told you to manage your expectations? We don’t know what we’re going to find there.”
“Yeah, I know. My dad.”
Stiles chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“All right, yeah. Just get on the seat, I’ve been driving without a co-pilot for two days, I need to unplug for a bit.”
Eli seemed way too excited to get there, so he looked at all the maps and tried to find the fastest way there. They still had to avoid the main highways so Stiles had to change the route a few times and in all that time Eli wouldn’t stop talking about what he wanted to do when he got home, he couldn’t wait to have a hot shower.
“You know even if you get home that doesn’t mean you’ll have hot water, right?”
“You never know! My dad’s pretty handy, I feel like he would fix that problem.”
“Okay, you’re getting a bit too excited. Just remember… Beacon Hills could be the same as the last town we were in.”
“And you’re a pessimist, have some faith.”
Stiles rolled his eyes and focused on the road. A few hours later Eli convinced him to just go all the way to Beacon Hills even if it was getting late. The sun was down and it was getting dark. Stiles felt a shiver go up his spine when he saw the “Welcome to Beacon Hills” sign. A month ago he told Eli he would leave him here, but now it seemed stupid to part ways, he needed to see it through, and he promised he wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Stop the car,” Eli warned him and grabbed his arm, Stiles pressed the break immediately. He looked back at Eli confusedly. “There’s a horde up the road, I can smell it.”
“How many?” Eli closed his eyes and tried to focus on his scent.
“I’m not sure. Not as many as the last one but definitely too many for us to handle.”
“All right, let’s try a different route.” Stiles did a U-turn and went to a different road, now Eli didn’t have to guide him since he was familiar with those roads. But when he started to make his way through a different road Eli stopped him again.
“There’s even more through here.”
Stiles sighed and scratched his head, it wasn’t looking good. If all the roads were blocked by hordes he seriously doubted there was anyone alive in Beacon Hills.
“The other road is on the other side of the city, it’ll take us like two hours to get there and even then we don’t know if it’s safe.”
“We can go through the woods.”
“The preserve? Are you out of your mind?”
“Stiles, I know these woods. I can get us there.”
“Yeah, I know these woods too, which means it’s dangerous. We’re not doing that.”
“Stiles. Please. What else are we supposed to do?”
Stiles was very sure there was no way Eli was going to give up without seeing his home first. He was going to do it, with or without Stiles. He sighed and leaned back in his seat.
“Fine. But we leave the car here, we don’t want to make any noise. We walk the rest of the way, all right? We come to look for it later.” Eli was in silence for a few moments.
“You think we won’t find anything and we’ll come back in a few hours.”
“Eli…” Stiles mumbled and sighed. But Eli didn’t answer, he simply grabbed his backpack and got out of the van, slamming the door behind him.
Stiles rolled his eyes and also grabbed his stuff to walk out of the car. Stiles checked that Eli had his bat and he had enough bullets. He took a couple of guns just in case.
They started to walk in complete silence. Stiles felt like the woods were darker now than they were when he was running around back when he was a teenager. Definitely scarier.
Everything seemed to go fine and he knew they were getting closer to the town. But just as Stiles thought it was all too good to be true, a zombie walked out from behind a tree, he motioned for Eli to kill with his bat so that they wouldn’t make any noise. Eli did as told, but as soon as he hit the zombie another one appeared behind him. Stiles got nervous when he saw Eli hadn’t noticed and in a second he shot it down, obviously alerting all the ones that were in the area.
“Shit,” Stiles mumbled and ran to where Eli was so they wouldn’t separate. “Do not leave my side, okay?” Stiles told him and placed himself against his back so there wouldn’t be any blind spots.
At first, it was just a few, but as time went on Stiles realized they had no chance, they needed to leave. They needed to get back to the car.
“Eli! We need to get to safety!”
“But we’re so close!” Eli exclaimed and swung his bat, hitting one of them in the head.
“If we can’t get help it’s best if we retreat, try again tomorrow. This place is filled with these fuckers.”
“Stiles! My dad might be less than a mile away, I’m not giving up right now!” Eli screamed and growled at one of the zombies before hitting it. Stiles gasped when he realized something.
“That’s it! Do you know how werewolves signal their location to other werewolves?!”
“Do you think this is the time for a fucking werewolf class?!” Eli screamed.
“They howl! You need to howl, if he’s near he’ll hear you!”
Eli stopped after he killed one, knowing he had a couple of seconds, and looked at Stiles like he wished he was kidding.
“Stiles, that’s so embarrassing,” he said before he raised his bat again.
“Oh, it is, trust me. But you will never be as bad as Scott the first time he did it. Just do it, we might get some help!”
Eli sighed heavily and looked like he was contemplating all of his life choices, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to stay in Washington just so he didn’t have to go through that. Stiles turned around when Eli tried to howl the first time, just in case he laughed. It wasn’t as embarrassing as the first time Scott did it, but just like him, the second time he did it perfectly. Stiles was sure that if there were any werewolves in the area, they would’ve heard him. It was a matter of waiting. They needed to last long enough.
“See?! I knew you could do it!”
“Never let me do that again!”
Stiles laughed out loud and had enough strength to kill one of them by hitting it on the head with one of his guns. After a minute, Stiles was starting to think that Beacon Hills had just been swarmed by zombies and there wasn’t a single werewolf around the area. But before he could kill another, it fell to the floor after being hit by a bullet straight to its skull. Soon, one by one they were taken down with bullets. Stiles kept looking around but couldn’t find who was shooting. He reached for Eli and made him stand next to him. Only when the entire horde was dead did Stiles see the guys that were shooting down the zombies.
They walked up to them without lowering their weapons and surrounded them. Stiles placed his arm on Eli’s chest protectively and made him stand behind him.
“We’re not infected,” Stiles said, but no one said anything. Stiles studied them, he hadn’t seen those weapons in Beacon Hills since Monroe took over. And those guys seemed trained. He feared that hunters took over after the apocalypse. “Are you gonna say something or just point your guns at us?” Stiles asked, sounding tired.
His heart stopped when he felt Eli slip from his grasp and run away.
“Eli!” Stiles screamed instinctively.
“Dad!” Stiles whipped his head when he heard Eli scream and start to run away.
He felt relief when he realized Eli was running towards his dad, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw who Eli was running towards.
His gun almost slipped from his hands and he started to walk towards Eli too, his step getting faster. He saw Eli crash into his dad in a tight hug. Stiles gulped and for a moment he couldn’t even believe his eyes. He watched Derek hug Eli tightly in his arms until Derek opened his eyes to look up at him, he seemed surprised to see him there.
“Stiles?” Derek whispered and Eli stepped aside to look back at Stiles.
Notes:
long chapter! but we got the long awaited reunion :) i'm excited for the next chapter, would love to hear your thoughts in the comments :))
Chapter Text
Stiles was completely breathless and his mind was completely blank, he had no idea of what to say. Derek was the last person he expected to see there. Eli was still grabbing Derek’s arm and he probably hadn’t realized his father said Stiles' name judging by what he said next.
“Uh, yeah, Dad, this is Stiles, he brought me all the way from Washington. He’s the only reason I’m still alive, honestly.” Eli introduced him in the most nonchalant way possible. Stiles almost flinched when he heard him call him ‘Dad’.
“You—” Derek took a step forward and Stiles felt his brain stop to a halt. “You brought him back?” He looked at Eli and then back at Derek, not believing his eyes.
“He’s your kid?” Stiles muttered before Derek took another step forward and embraced him in a tight hug.
“Thank you,” Derek whispered against his ear and buried his face in his shoulder, Stiles brought his hands up and hugged him back. “Thank you for bringing him home,” Derek muttered again and stepped back to look at him. He was teary-eyed and Stiles didn’t blame him, that was his son. He opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words to say, he hadn’t seen Derek in such a long time it almost felt surreal to have him there, to touch him. Derek still had his hands resting on his shoulders and he was looking at him like he was the second coming.
“You two know each other or something?” Eli asked suddenly and they both flinched, turning back to look at him. They suddenly both felt flustered.
“Uh, yeah… I grew up here, remember?” Stiles tried to play it off.
“You said you didn’t know anyone that had a kid!” Eli protested and Stiles looked over at Derek.
“And I didn’t think I did…”
“I can explain later,” Derek mumbled.
“Derek, everything okay? We’re gonna head back.” Stiles turned and saw the guys that had pointed their guns at them, they seemed less threatening now.
“Yeah, everything’s okay,” Derek assured them and they left.
“Who the hell are those?” Stiles whispered once they were a good distance away, Derek simply rolled his eyes and Stiles couldn’t believe how much he’d missed that expression.
“Argent’s. I’ll explain later. Let’s just… Go inside, okay?” Derek grabbed Eli by the shoulders in a half-hug and started walking to the town. “Everyone’s having dinner right now. Your dad’s gonna be pretty happy to see you.” Stiles stopped dead in his tracks when he heard that and Derek turned to look at him when he noticed his heart jump and his breathing stop.
“Wait, what?” Stiles asked, sounding breathless. Eli looked up at his dad, also looking confused. “He’s here? He’s not dead?”
“Ye— Yeah, of course, he’s alive, Stiles. Did you think he was dead?”
“Yes!” Stiles exclaimed and crossed his gaze with Eli, who seemed just as surprised as he was.
“Wait, your dad’s alive after all?” Eli muttered, still standing next to his dad and holding an arm around him, like he didn’t want to let him go.
“Where is he?!” Stiles asked and grabbed Derek by the shoulders.
“At the school’s diner probably…” Derek replied and Stiles started running before Derek even finished that sentence.
“Who’s his dad?” Eli asked, looking up at his father.
“The sheriff…”
“Wait, he’s sheriff’s Stilinski’s son?!” Eli exclaimed and Derek frowned at his reaction.
“Did you two even talk on the way here?” Derek asked him confusedly but Eli didn’t answer, he just grabbed his arm and forced his dad to walk faster so that he would be able to witness Stiles reuniting with his father.
Stiles knew the way, he’d walked that path a thousand times, and he knew where he was going. He usually did it on his Jeep, but he could get there on foot too. He was exhausted, but it didn’t really matter, he needed to make sure, he needed to see his dad before he passed out.
He walked into the school and hurriedly ran through the hallways, trying not to slip and having some serious flashbacks to being late to class. Before he could even think about it he busted the door open and about a hundred heads turned to look at him. Everything was suddenly silent even though he was able to hear the chatter before he opened the door. He didn’t care if the situation was awkward, he looked through all the faces, trying to find a familiar one. But he didn’t need to.
“Stiles?” He heard his father’s voice before he saw him, when he turned to the sound he saw his dad getting up from his chair on one of the back tables.
“Dad,” Stiles whispered and his feet were moving before his brain caught on. His father also ran to him and soon enough he was crushing into him in a tight hug. He knew he was tearing but he didn’t really care, he was surprised he wasn’t full-on sobbing.
It had been such a long time since the last time he gave his father a crushing hug, they used to do that a lot. It took everything in him to take a step back and look at him.
“I thought you were dead,” Stiles told him and his father smiled at him.
“Back at you.”
“Seriously?”
“Washington DC was the first to fall,” his father explained and Stiles remembered the city deserted when he left. They both looked back at the entrance door when it opened again, Derek and Eli were there.
“You must be kidding,” his father squeezed his shoulder before he took a couple of steps forward to greet Eli, but he didn’t have to move too much because Eli ran to him and almost jumped into his arms. Stiles frowned confusedly and looked back at Derek, who simply shrugged and smiled at him.
“You guys came here together?” His father asked him when Eli stopped hugging him.
“Yeah, Stiles brought me. But he didn’t say you were his dad.”
“Yes, Eli also failed to mention his dad’s name.” Stiles looked pointedly at Derek.
Stiles turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he immediately smiled widely when he saw Liam. Mason and Parrish were also there. Kira almost jumped into his arms and Stiles couldn’t even believe his eyes when he saw her.
“You’re here?”
“An apocalypse is apparently a great time to leave the skinwalkers. This was the first place that came to mind.” Kira explained, not wanting to let go. Stiles was holding back tears, he couldn’t believe there were so many people there.
“You guys should probably sit down, and eat something,” Derek told them and casually placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder. Stiles tensed under his touch but he tried to play it off.
They walked over to an empty table while everyone who was eating greeted them, even if they didn’t know them. Derek sat down next to Eli on the other side of the table and his father sat down next to him. Soon enough they had two plates of warm food in front of them. Stiles didn’t think he would ever be as happy to see those ugly cafeteria trays.
“You came all the way from Washington together?” Derek asked them.
“Yeah, tough journey. I wouldn’t even have done it if it wasn’t for him. I thought you were dead,” he explained and looked back at his dad. “And he was very adamant in coming back. Almost dragged me all the way here.”
“And the whole time you didn’t know Derek was his dad?” his father asked him.
“I thought you died, I shut him up every time he talked about his dad. Which was all the time, by the way, he would not shut up about you.” He finished and looked at Derek, who simply laughed. Eli looked flustered.
Everyone started bombarding them with questions about their journey. Stiles didn’t go too into detail, he thought the gruesome details needed more explaining and maybe privacy, like their fights or the fact that Eli almost died several times. As time went on the others started to leave, the cafeteria was almost empty and soon enough it was only Eli, Derek and his dad at the table.
“You’re barely touching your food, aren’t you hungry?” Derek asked Eli and he hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say.
“He shouldn’t eat too much. He’s been throwing up lately," Stiles explained to him, Derek looked at him in concern.
“You never throw up.”
Stiles pressed the palm of his hand, he still had the burn from when he had to burn the wolfsbane to cure Eli.
“We saw too many hordes, the smell is awful, Dad, you won’t believe it.” Derek nodded, understanding.
“Seriously? Did you manage to escape them?” His dad asked him, Stiles shook his head.
“We usually tried to avoid them. We still had to kill many.” Stiles smiled when he remembered something, one of the only good things to come out of that situation, and he could explain that one. “There was this one time… We were swarmed, there were like thirty zombies surrounding us and I didn’t have enough bullets. And I thought: ‘This is it…’ But then suddenly, this kid,” Stiles said and looked over at Eli with a smile on his face. “Out of nowhere, he tries to be the hero and obviously I tried to stop him so he wouldn’t die. But before I could do anything he shifted and killed all the remaining ones I couldn’t get.”
“You shifted?!” Derek exclaimed, sounding excited.
“I did!” Eli beamed at him. “Dad, it was amazing. And you don’t have to worry, Stiles already screamed at me enough about being careless and trying to shift when we were in danger. But I’m fine and he taught me how to control my shift, I’m pretty good now!”
“Huh,” Derek huffed confusedly but still turned to look at Stiles with a small smile on his face. “He did?”
“Just the basics, nothing important.” Stiles tried to shrug it off. “He saved my life, it was the least I could do.”
“Really Stiles?” Eli asked and raised an eyebrow at him. “Playing humble now? I would be dead by now if it wasn’t for him, I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s saved my life.”
“Well, like father like son, right?” Stiles joked and Derek snorted.
“You saved his life too?” Eli asked curiously, looking between them.
“A few times, yeah,” Derek answered for him. “But I saved his life too so I think we’re even.”
“I’d say I win on that one, Derek. You’ve died way more times than I’m comfortable saying around your son.”
“Died?!” Eli exclaimed and looked up at his dad, who didn’t know what to say.
“Stiles is exaggerating,” Noah tried to calm him down, Stiles raised an eyebrow at him.
“Definitely not exaggerating. Now that you say it… You mentioned your dad had like a dark past you didn’t know about, right? I can tell you all about it. He’s passed out on me more times than I can count. I had to wake him up by punching him in the face like…”
“Twice, that only happened twice,” Derek chimed in and Stiles smiled in a teasing way. “And you weren’t there half of the other times, so I wouldn’t count those as life-saving. I think we’re even, honestly. But I’d rather know about all those times my son almost died?”
“Oh, that’s only because you don’t want to talk about the times you died.” Stiles teased him and Derek rolled his eyes.
“I try to forget about those.”
“I brought him back safe, right? Isn’t that what matters? I honestly deserve compensation for putting up with him.”
“Stiles…” His father warned him and Stiles rolled his eyes.
“We encountered some hunters a couple of days ago.” Stiles finally explained and saw Eli hunch his shoulders. “They had wolfsbane bullets and we took their food without knowing it was theirs.” He saw Derek tense up completely and suddenly the silence in the cafeteria was even more deafening. Stiles smiled and tried to loosen up the mood. “Thankfully, I have experience in taking care of wolfsbane bullet wounds.”
“You almost cut my arm off,” Derek said, humorless. Eli perked up when he heard that.
“He–?!” Eli exclaimed but Stiles cut him off.
“You asked me to! And that wasn’t my fault, that was Scott’s fault. I was the one taking care of Eli, so obviously he was fine.”
“How did you do it?” His father asked him to try to ease the subject.
“I had to get the bullet so I could use the same kind of wolfsbane.” Stiles started to explain without taking his eyes off Derek. “So I got the bullet and I cured him. He was shot for literally two minutes before I cured him.”
“He shot them all dead,” Eli chimed in and they all turned to look at him. Stiles wanted to keep that part out, just because it sounded unbelievable probably.
“In two minutes?” Derek asked him and raised an eyebrow, Stiles smirked.
“Hey, those fifteen years in the FBI weren’t for nothing.” Stiles leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “He was shot in the stomach and he woke up just yesterday, that’s why it’s still difficult for him to eat. He took a pretty long time to heal, it wasn’t as fast as you.”
“It’s normal, he’s still young,” Derek mumbled and Stiles nodded, confirming his suspicions.
“Which is why you guys should probably go get some rest.” His father spoke up.
“Oh, I’m dying to sleep in an actual bed,” Stiles groaned and threw his head back.
“Hate to break it to you, son. But it won’t be your bed,” his dad said and slapped him on the shoulder, Stiles looked at him in confusion.
“What, we’re not going home?!” Eli exclaimed. “Dad, please tell me our house is still intact.” Derek chuckled before he answered, but Stiles opened his mouth before he did.
“You’re not at the loft anymore?”
“No, haven’t been for a while, I moved out after Eli.”
“Right, that place isn’t very baby-safe,” Stiles remembered and chuckled. “So you got a place?”
“Yes, but… You guys should know. It’s not like the last time you were here. We put a system in place to ensure everyone had a place. The population dropped and nobody wanted to stay on the outskirts because it was dangerous. So a lot of people are sharing houses.”
“So I can’t go sleep in my own room?” Eli asked, he sounded bummed.
“No, you can. We kept the place, it’s just me and Liam at our house, but he didn’t take your room. Stiles, however…”
“Sorry kiddo, our house was too close to the preserve, it was dangerous.”
Stiles nodded, he didn’t really mind, it’d been way too long since the last time he’d been in his room and he definitely outgrew it.
“Let me guess, you moved in with Melissa?” Stiles teased him and his father rolled his eyes.
“Her house was also too close to the woods. Neither of us is staying at our place.”
“Right, it was convenient,” Stiles said and chuckled, he saw Derek also try to suppress a smile.
“If you want to stay with your dad I can arrange something,” Derek started to say. “But for tonight… The loft is empty if you want it.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. And you don’t have to move anyone. I can annoy my dad from any part of town.” His father sighed and Derek chuckled as he reached into his back pocket to take out a key from his keyring. “Thanks,” Stiles said as he took the key Derek was giving him.
“I’ll be by tomorrow morning to give you some stuff, but you should be fine for tonight. The place still looks the same.”
“You mean empty?” Stiles teased and Derek rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, it’ll be good to see something familiar, honestly.” Stiles didn’t know what to think, that the only place left that actually felt like home was Derek’s loft.
“Derek and I need to go around the school to close everything out. You guys finish up here, we’ll drive you when you’re done.” His dad told them and squeezed his shoulder before he left, Stiles smiled at him and saw them leave.
As soon as Stiles turned around he was met with Eli’s death stare. If looks could kill Stiles would be joining the hordes in no time.
“What?” He asked him.
“You know… It’s funny, ‘cause…” Eli chuckled, humorlessly, and didn’t move his eyes away from Stiles. “My dad’s a really shy guy, but he gets hit on all the time. He just never… Flirts back, he’s super awkward when anyone tries to make a pass at him.” Stiles frowned and shrugged, not understanding where Eli was going with all of that. “So… Care to tell me why my antisocial father suddenly flirts back when you’re bantering?”
Stiles let his jaw hang open and took a second to answer.
“I am not flirting with your dad!” He replied in a whisper, not wanting to make too much noise.
“Do you think I’m stupid?!”
“Eli! I’m not!”
“Stiles,” Eli started in a very calm tone. “Did you fuck my dad?” Eli accused him in a whisper and Stiles choked on his food, suddenly having a coughing fit.
“What?! No!”
“Do you want to?” He asked, still sounding accusatory and like the idea disgusted him.
“That’s— That’s none of your business!”
“Oh my God, you do…” Eli whispered, looking exactly like a fifteen-year-old kid who had just walked in on his parents having sex. “Not you too…”
“What do you mean ‘you too’?”
“Everyone wants to get with my dad! Don’t you remember? All that pressure about me not living up to his image? I thought you were different.”
“In my defence, this started way before you even existed, so… Yeah, you can’t hold it against me.”
“Wait, is he the guy you told me about? The unattainable one?” Stiles didn’t have to answer that because his expression said everything. “Oh my God!” Eli exclaimed and threw his arms in the air, clearly frustrated.
“Well, you didn’t say your dad was Derek fucking Hale,” Stiles almost accused him of lying.
“Would that have changed anything?”
“Yes! I’ve seen that fucker die like five times, I would’ve believed you when you said he was alive.”
“You said you didn’t know anyone that had any kids!”
“Wait… you’re fifteen, right?” Eli nodded and looked like it was obvious. Stiles had to process it for a second, knowing that fifteen years ago he was still driving his Jeep on his way back to Beacon Hills with Derek on the passenger seat so that they could help out with Monroe.
Eli still had his arms crossed over his chest and he was staring him down like he wanted to chop his head off. Stiles took a deep breath in to say something, but the door opened and his dad and Derek walked in. Eli took that opportunity to get up quickly and walk out. Stiles sighed and grabbed both of their trays so they could leave.
His father and Derek both gave them questioning looks but Stiles simply shook his head, dismissing them as he walked out of the cafeteria.
Derek drove them first to the loft because it was closer and he got off with Stiles, telling Eli to stay in the car with Noah. Even though Stiles had the keys Derek walked him up the stairs to show him where the blankets and clean towels were.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said this place looked the same,” Stiles mumbled while he looked around.
“Yeah, I didn’t use it much once Eli was born, and I was never able to get long-term tenants,” Derek explained and came back from a closet room with a couple of blankets and sheets. “We use it for meetings now.”
“Like we used to?” Stiles asked and smirked at him Derek left everything on the bed and turned to look at him. “Sorry, it’s been so long. If you’d told me you had a kid maybe I would’ve come and visit.” Derek shook his head and took a couple of steps forward.
“That was never my business. I wasn’t going to force you to come if you didn’t want to.”
“I would’ve wanted to. I didn’t even know you were still here. Last time we came back we did it together, I never knew you stayed,” Stiles told him and took a step forward. He could tell Derek didn’t know how to answer that. “Just because I hate this town doesn’t mean I hate the people in it. You could’ve called.”
“You could’ve called too. You’re the only dickhead that had my number.” Stiles dipped his head down and chuckled. “But I guess you obviously would have my number since you gave it to me after the FBI stopped looking for me.”
“Okay, so we can agree we’re both stupid, right? But at least I didn’t hide a whole son.”
“He’s not hidden, you just brought him back.” Derek said nonchalantly. Stiles raised an eyebrow at him, and Derek just shook his head. “Listen, we could talk about this, but you’re tired and you haven’t slept in a bed in god knows how long. So just get some rest, I’ll come by in the morning, we can talk then, okay?” Stiles sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Derek could already tell that was not the right thing to say. He wanted to say so many things, but he didn’t think it was the right time. But then again, it was never the right time with them. He decided to say something he was sure of. "Thank you… For taking care of him, seriously," Derek mumbled and stepped closer to him.
"Well, he's a fifteen-year-old kid, I wouldn't have left him out there by himself."
"Yeah… Yes, I know you would've done the same with any kid, but… This one's mine, so… I feel like I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything, Derek. We've saved each other's life more than enough times to make up for this," Stiles replied and smiled at him. "Plus, I had to take him back to you, he would not shut up about his 'amazing dad'," Derek rolled his eyes and snorted, Stiles smiled. "I mean, I didn't believe him. But now that I know it's you… I get it. You are pretty amazing."
“I should’ve called you,” Derek blurted out, not moving his eyes away from Stiles’, who simply sighed and his smile turned sad.
“I’m here now, right? I’ll see you in the morning, Derek. I’m pretty tired.”
Derek nodded and wished him a good night before he left. Knowing that even if he wanted to, Stiles wasn’t exactly in the mood to unpack all that. He had a feeling it had something to do with Eli, who seemed to be rather angry. He spared him a glance when he got back in the car, he was sitting on the passenger seat with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Everything okay?” Derek mumbled while he turned on the car to drive Noah to his house.
“Eli here is mad that we never talked about Stiles.” The sheriff said from the backseat and chuckled.
“Eli, we do, obviously, it’s his son.”
“Never by name.”
Derek sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Is it really that important? Eli, you’re here, he’s here. You can’t be mad at us just because we don’t talk to you about him, you didn’t know him.”
“I would’ve wanted to. He’s practically part of the family, right?”
Derek looked at Noah through the rear-view mirror but immediately avoided his look, knowing damn well what Noah thought about the whole situation. Derek almost sighed in relief when he turned the corner and saw Noah’s house in the distance.
“We’ll talk about it in the morning, okay?” He said as he pulled up and the sheriff got out, wishing them a good night.
“So you’re just going to avoid the conversation?” Eli spoke up again once they were alone.
“What conversation?”
“Stiles! He’s the sheriff’s son. He's the one who almost cut your arm off?! You tell me that story all the time and you just failed to mention that the guy was Noah’s son?” Derek sighed, that wasn’t the only story Derek had omitted Stiles from. But he didn’t want to admit it. “We spend almost every Christmas at Noah’s house and you failed to mention even his son’s name.”
“You never asked either.”
“I thought they were estranged or something. Just please admit that it’s weird that you don’t talk about him.”
“I’m sorry, am I supposed to talk about someone I know I’m not going to see again?” Derek snapped, hoping that Eli would drop the subject.
“But why?! Stiles was devastated when he thought his father was dead, it’s not like they have a bad relationship, right? Why wouldn’t he come back?”
“It’s complicated, Eli. Stiles went through a hard time when he lived here, we don’t blame him for not wanting to come back.”
“He didn’t say that,” Derek looked at him confusedly. “He said he distanced himself because you guys lied to him about what was going on here because you didn’t want him to get hurt.”
Derek nodded slowly.
“I know what you’re talking about. But I wasn’t part of that. I was the only one that told him what was happening here. I even went to look for him once. Scott was the one who decided not to tell him anything to protect him, everyone else followed… But he wasn’t my alpha.”
Eli was becoming more curious by the second.
“What happened to him?” Derek looked down at him and thought about it for a moment.
“You already know, Eli. You’ve heard the stories. He was Scott’s best friend.”
Eli frowned and thought about it for a moment.
“He was the one that was possessed…” He mumbled, Derek nodded. “Shit.”
“It’s still a touchy subject. So if you’re going to ask him about it just don’t be careless.” Eli nodded slowly and Derek started to pull up to their house. “You shouldn’t be worrying about that. Just be happy that you’re here.”
“Stiles is the whole reason I’m here, of course I’m going to worry about him.”
“Worry tomorrow, right now, sleep.” Derek ended the conversation just when he turned off the car. Eli snorted and walked out of the car.
“Liam’s staying with us?” Eli asked when they walked into the house.
“Yeah, he’s probably passed out in his room, he’s in the guest bedroom.”
“Just him? The house’s pretty big, I thought you’d take in more people.”
“It’s complicated… But there’s someone else in the house that’s been waiting for you.”
Eli frowned and thought about it for a moment before he finally realized who his dad was talking about.
“Oh my God, Renaldo!” Eli bolted up the stairs to see his pet lizard.
He was hit by a wave of nostalgia as soon as he opened the door. He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed his room. Renaldo was in his enclosure and the lights were out, he was asleep. He knelt in front of the glass and almost took him out, but he didn’t want to wake him up. He heard the door to his room open and he knew it was his dad.
“He’s hibernating…” Eli mumbled, a little bummed that he couldn’t greet his friend.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine if you wake him up. He went to sleep last month. I woke him up a couple of times to feed him because he was too skinny. I wasn’t able to feed him very well when this whole thing started.”
“Honestly… I’m just glad you fed him through an apocalypse.” Eli smiled up at him. “But I don’t want to wake him up, I wouldn’t want to be woken up, honestly. I wish I slept through this whole thing.” He looked back at Renaldo and sighed as he got up.
“He wasn’t asleep through the whole thing, just the winter.”
“God, especially the winter. Dad, it was awful. I thought I was dying and it was so fucking cold. We probably would’ve taken longer if it wasn’t for Stiles. I think he was worried because I wasn’t healing so he just drove really fucking fast while I was asleep.”
“I’m so glad you guys found each other, you don’t know how hard it was in here.” Derek took a couple of steps forward and hugged him tightly.
“You guys seem to be doing okay.” Derek leaned back and looked at him with furrowed brows. “I mean as in, you guys aren’t hungry or cold. It’s honestly pretty great, that’s what I was expecting when I told Stiles to come here. It was awful for me on top of all that to question if you were alive.”
Derek nodded slowly.
“I can imagine. It wasn’t easy, Eli. It’s been months. I was honestly starting to lose hope. Do you know how hard it was to stay here? To not go looking for you? But it was the smart thing to do. You knew where I was but I didn’t know where you were. It would’ve been stupid and reckless to leave. What if you came back and I wasn’t here?”
“I’m back now, so it’s fine.” Derek smiled widely and hugged him again.
“Get some rest, okay? You need it. Just call me or Liam if you need anything.”
Eli nodded and started to feel his eyes drooping, he really needed the sleep. He curled up in his bed after getting changed and he couldn’t even remember when he fell asleep, he just blinked and he was out cold.
Derek looked up when he heard footsteps but it was Liam, he still needed to get used to not recognizing his son’s scent right away.
“Eli’s still asleep?” Liam asked him and Derek nodded while he grabbed the couple of toasts he made. “No wonder, I’d be out cold too.”
“Don’t bother him until he wakes up, okay?” Derek told him. “Stiles is staying at the loft, so I’ll go over there and show him around. Can you show Eli around when he wakes up?”
“Don’t you want to do that?”
“I want to ask Stiles to come to today’s meeting, I should be the one to explain this whole mess. You don’t have to say anything to Eli, just explain the general system, okay? If he wants to rest just let him be.”
“All right,” Liam mumbled and walked over to the bathroom. Derek sighed and walked out of the house while he grabbed his car keys.
Now that Stiles was there he hoped they could fix some loose ends, mainly Liam, who’d been distant the past week. But he had so many things in his mind, he couldn’t focus on anything. He walked up the stairs of the loft and was so distracted that he didn’t even think to check if Stiles was still asleep or not, he just slid the door open.
Derek flinched when he saw Stiles startle awake at the noise.
“It’s me, sorry…” Derek mumbled and hesitated for a moment. “Should I come back later?”
“No, no, it’s fine, come in…” Stiles replied sleepily and got up. “I should get used to sleeping a full night. I still wake up with every little noise.”
Derek nodded, understanding. Eli however was fast asleep, he’d checked almost every time he woke up through the night, and even when there was noise around, Eli still snored. This only meant that Stiles was the one barely getting any sleep just so Eli could get a full night's sleep while they were travelling. Derek felt a tightness in his chest that he tried to ignore.
“Eli’s still asleep, I should’ve realized you’d be sleeping too.”
“Don’t worry. What time is it?”
“Noon.”
“I got a full eight hours of sleep. I haven’t been able to do that in months.” Stiles told him and smiled. “Plus, it’s a big day today. You’re gonna show me around, right?” Derek nodded.
“Let me just take a shower real quick and we’ll head out.”
“Take your time, I brought you some clothes and food. Do you want anything for breakfast?”
“Literally anything,” Stiles called as he dashed to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
Derek walked over to the kitchen so Stiles could have something to eat when he came out. Stiles was pretty quick in the shower and he seemed hungry when he walked into the kitchen.
“I thought you would enjoy the hot water for a while longer.”
“Are you kidding? I took an hour-long bath yesterday after you left when I found out you guys have hot water. I didn’t fill it up too much, I wasn’t sure what your policy was on water saving.”
“We have more leeway with that. We get the water supplies from the dam a town over, no one was there so we redirected the water here,” Derek explained calmly and gave him a plate of scrambled eggs, Stiles smiled.
“Right, I have many questions.”
“Shoot.”
“What’s up with the military?” Stiles asked, mouth full.
“It’s all a bit complicated, honestly.”
“Can’t be more complicated than Game of Thrones, try me.” Derek smiled and rolled his eyes.
“After a few days of chaos I… I kind of came into power, ‘cause I’m close with the sheriff and everyone knows me. It seemed to be going well until a few humans remembered that I’m not like them and they didn’t want to be led by someone like me .”
“Wait, they know?”
“Stiles, it’s Beacon Hills and zombies are running around. Of course, everyone knows. It stopped being a secret almost immediately. Humans wanted to be protected, and we were there to protect them.”
“Then why does Argent have men with guns as soon as you get near the town?”
“They needed a human leader.”
“So Argent came in the picture? Why not my dad?”
“A lot of people didn’t trust him after so many years of unsolved cases.”
“And they trust fucking Argent?”
“That’s where the military power comes in…” Derek mumbled and crossed his arms.
“So this is a military dictatorship?”
“A bit, yeah… But Argent operates in a different part of town.”
“You have territories?” Stiles asked and his eyes bulged out of his skull.
“Kinda… Listen, I know it sounds bad. But that’s how people wanted it. Everyone who didn’t want to listen to me just followed Argent. But my territory is bigger, I manage more people, both supernatural and human alike. Even some of them moved here after being with Argent for a while. It’s not that bad, people don’t want to kill me, don’t worry. And Argent manages the borders and everything.”
“Is that why we were surrounded by guns as soon as we came in?” Derek chuckled and nodded.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I gave the alert when I heard Eli, but I wasn’t sure if it was him, I’ve never heard him howl, and I knew there was a human too.”
“It’s all right. I’m just glad we got here in one piece. And you’ve kept this place in shape.”
“Wasn’t easy, honestly.” Derek looked down and leaned against the table. “I packed my bags so many times, to go look for Eli. Your dad stopped me every time, said that my job was just to stay put, be patient and that he’d find his way home eventually.”
“Well, he was right. You cannot believe how annoying your kid was about you. I would’ve given up so many times if it wasn’t for how sure he was about you being alive. He’s really stubborn.”
“I know,” Derek replied and chuckled.
“Must’ve been awful not knowing if you were gonna see him again, but I bet you got a little bit of rest from that firecracker.”
“I’m living with Liam and he’s not talking to me right now, it hasn’t changed a bit.” Stiles threw his head back and laughed.
“What, why?”
“He asked me to do something last week and I’ve been putting it off, so he’s progressively getting more angry with me every day.”
“What is it?” Derek sighed and thought about it for a moment.
“We actually have a meeting here in a few hours, we have one every week. Chris is gonna be there, your dad too… I was hoping you’d come too. You’ll find out why Liam’s mad if you come.”
“The suspense is killing me,” Stiles mocked. “Sure, yeah, I’ll come. Although I don’t know how everyone is going to react to a newcomer being accepted in the inner circle so quickly.”
“You’re the sheriff’s son.”
“Yeah, and I’ve been gone for more than a decade. I wouldn’t trust myself if I were them, honestly.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, everyone misses you. And we’re going to discuss some stuff about the hordes right outside our borders, I want you to be there, since you’re the only one that’s been out there for so long.”
“Okay, yeah. I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Just wait for everyone else to hear.”
“Argent is gonna be there too? Are you two talking or something?”
“Yeah, yes, obviously. It’s more peaceful than it looks like, trust me. I’m honestly glad it’s Chris and not anyone… Dangerous to us, like Gerard or Monroe. He keeps to himself and helps with the border situation. Some people just needed a symbol to know that they weren’t being ruled by the supernatural, we mostly work together.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
Derek looked down and saw Stiles was done with his breakfast.
“Ok, let’s go.”
“Where are we going? You know I’m from here, right?” Stiles got up and walked over to grab his jacket.
“A lot has changed in fifteen years, especially with an apocalypse in the middle. There’s a lot you don’t know. Plus, I have a surprise for you.” Stiles whipped his head up and followed behind Derek.
“A surprise? What is it?”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, right?”
Stiles snorted and rolled his eyes. Derek drove him around town, Stiles could feel something familiar in his chest as he looked at the streets, but it wasn’t quite right. Derek was right, a lot had changed. There wasn’t any traffic since most people walked around on foot, so every time Derek stopped a few people greeted him with smiles.
“How did you become… A leader? Do you have names or positions?”
“Not really, no. Most people go by Hale, that’s about it,” Derek explained calmly. “And… It was pretty organic. I didn’t do anything special, people agreed with what I had to say and at some point everyone looked my way every time we needed to make a decision.”
“Wow, I would’ve never guessed that.”
“Why? Do I not seem like a good leader?” Derek teased him.
“No, you are, it’s just… You’re pretty quiet, having to raise your voice enough to be heard by everyone in the town is pretty impressive honestly.”
“Yeah, I was honestly surprised myself. But I was also pretty angry about Eli not being here, so I wanted everything done how I wanted it.”
“Nothing scarier than a parent I guess.” Stiles laughed and looked around. “What did you want to change?”
“Food, resources, housing,” Derek explained and made a left turn. “People started to get really aggressive with food. They were raiding every grocery store in town, some people were injured.”
“Yeah, it was the same in the city, I didn’t even try.”
“There it is.” Derek stopped the car when he saw what he was looking for. It used to be a Target. “You can still get food and supplies here, it’s just free now. We keep track of what you take so that everyone gets the same.”
“Where do you get it?”
“We have people that go outside to get supplies.”
“Really? You seem to have everything figured out.”
“It was hard to get to this point, trust me,” Derek said and smiled at him. “Oh, that’s right. Dinners are at the school cafeteria, like last night. Most people come but you can choose not to. It’s just easier and keeps morale high.”
Derek parked the car and got out, he gestured for Stiles to follow him. They both walked inside and Derek showed him the place, where he could get his food and where he had to go to check out, even if he didn’t have to pay. He introduced him to a few people in the meantime. Everyone seemed curious about him, Stiles thought it was probably because he was a newcomer. They didn’t grab the car again and instead walked around while they talked. They were mostly catching up, it had been fifteen years since the last time they saw each other, and they had a lot to say.
They stopped at a mechanic shop and Stiles frowned, not knowing what they were doing there. He looked at the sign and gasped.
“Oh my God!” Derek was startled by his reaction. “Eli said his dad was a mechanic, I just hadn’t put the pieces together!” Derek laughed. “Is this why you’re the only one driving around in a car?”
“Mostly, yeah. We also keep cars for supply runs.”
Stiles looked around the place, he didn’t have good memories from mechanic shops, the only thing he could remember was seeing that guy being crashed by his car while he was paralyzed and couldn’t do anything about it. That was mostly the reason his car still survived with just duct tape, he hated going to the mechanic. But if it meant Derek was going to fix his car, he wouldn’t mind too much.
“I knew that fancy car wasn’t just because it was your sister’s.” Derek chuckled and guided him through the place. “Nobody owns a batmobile-looking car without being a little nerdy about engines.” Back then Stiles used to make the same type of jokes, but Derek wasn’t laughing that much. It was a refreshing feeling.
They walked over to the back, where Derek had all the cars. Some of them were beaten down, others were brand new. Stiles looked around curiously and got a little bit distracted until Derek stopped in front of him. Before Stiles could register the movement, Derek grabbed the tarp that was covering one of the cars and pulled it off. Stiles recognized his prized possession the second he saw it. His jaw hit the floor and he stared at his Jeep wide-eyed.
“You’re kidding,” he mumbled and looked back at Derek, finally taking a step forward to check if it was actually his Jeep or if his eyes were lying to him. “No fucking way, Derek.”
“It still works, by the way, I fixed it.” Stiles whipped his head to look at him, a hand on the hood, still not believing his eyes.
“No way.” Stiles didn’t know what to say, but he did know what he wanted to do. “Hop in, let’s go for a ride.”
Derek didn’t protest and got in the passenger seat. Stiles let out a pleased sigh when he turned the key and heard the engine turn on.
“God, I missed this. You know I had to ditch my previous car because of your son?” Stiles told him as he drove out of the parking lot.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. If it’d just been me I would’ve been fine. But Eli hadn’t slept well for like a month when I found him. So I let him sleep in the back and I slept in the front. It was not comfortable. The second I saw an RV I ditched the car. It didn’t help that much because it was right before Eli got shot, so I still didn’t sleep very well.”
Derek was quiet for a moment before he said anything.
“I can’t… I can’t thank you enough, honestly.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I was trash-talking you all the way here.” Derek chuckled, not expecting Stiles to say that. “Eli had you on a pedestal, I had to bring him down somehow. For the first couple of weeks I was still devastated about my dad, I thought he died! And this little asshole was talking about you non-stop. It was very frustrating.”
“Well, we fought all the time when he was here, so…”
“He’s a teenager, that’s normal. My house was like a warzone when I was fifteen.” Stiles shrugged and chuckled when he remembered something. “And I had my fair share of fights with Eli, don’t worry.”
“Did you?”
“Oh yeah. It was normal, it was a stressful situation and we were both on edge all the time. We made up every time, so don’t worry about it.” Stiles looked at the road and thought about where to turn next. “What time is the meeting?” Derek raised his hand and looked at his watch.
“In an hour.”
“Should we go pick up my dad?”
“Yeah,” Derek agreed and guided him to Noah’s place.
Seeing his father’s face when he came out of his house and saw the car was absolutely priceless. Even Melissa walked out due to the noise Stiles was making by honking.
“You’re unbelievable…” His father said as he walked up to the car.
“Me? I’m not the one that fixed it,” Stiles protested and pointed at Derek. “Come on, get in, Derek said you guys had a meeting.”
“Yeah, we were gonna head out, actually. But I guess we can go with you.” Melissa smiled and walked up to the car to grab Stiles’ arm.
“We’ve missed you so much, Stiles,” she said before she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“I’ve missed you too,” Stiles replied as genuinely as he could, but nothing could convey how he was feeling at the moment.
He was driving around, in his Jeep, with Derek in the passenger seat. It felt like he’d died and gone up to heaven, if it was a dream he did not want to be woken up. He knew he would start sobbing if he suddenly opened his eyes and he was back at the RV shivering from the cold and having hallucinations from hypothermia or something. He pinched himself right after he parked the car near the loft and they all got out.
Kira and Mason were already there when they walked into the loft. Stiles went straight for a hug with both of them, but especially Kira. He really wanted to sit down and talk to her, about everything. But then Chris and Parrish walked in and he knew the meeting was about to start. They still waited for Liam to get there, Derek perked up when the door opened and Liam walked inside with Eli in tow. Derek frowned.
“He insisted,” Liam explained as soon as he saw Derek’s expression.
“Fine, but be quiet.”
Eli nodded enthusiastically and smiled at Stiles as he sat down on the couch. He knew Eli regretted that decision ten minutes later when he realized the meeting was actually to talk about town management. Stiles however listened curiously as he learned about how the managed everything. Melissa took care of the wounded and old people in the hospital, Chris managed the borders and his territory, his dad still ensured safety inside the town with Liam, Mason and Parrish, and Kira made sure they still had electricity. It was a good system and they seemed to manage fine.
“We had to take care of one of the hordes because it was getting out of control, but it’s fine now,” Chris mentioned and everyone looked at him.
“So we can leave? Is it safe now?” Liam asked and Stiles looked at him in confusion, but Derek sighed, everyone seemed to know what he was talking about.
“Yeah, I actually wanted to talk about that. We should send someone to look for Theo, it’s been a week.” Stiles perked up when he heard that name.
“Theo Raeken?” He asked in complete disbelief, everyone turned to look at him, Liam simply nodded.
“He went to get supplies, the trip usually takes only a couple of days. It’s been a week already,” he explained, looking pointedly at Derek, almost accusing him. “I wanted to go look for him but he didn’t let me.”
“It’s dangerous right now, we’re surrounded by hordes at the moment. We can’t just send people to their deaths, Liam,” he took a deep breath in before he spoke again. “But he’s right, it’s been a week, he should’ve been back days ago, we should go looking for him. Even if it’s dangerous.” Liam seemed pleased with that answer. There was a moment of complete silence until Stiles spoke up, the only one stunted by the subject.
“I’m sorry, since when do we care about Theo? That asshole tried to kill my dad, he tried to kill Scott, not to mention the bunch of teenagers he actually murdered to take their powers.” Everyone turned to look at Stiles and for a moment they stayed silent.
“That was over a decade ago, Stiles…” Liam mumbled while looking down with his arms crossed.
“Are you serious? You’re defending him? He manipulated you into killing Scott!”
“Stiles…” His father stopped him and Stiles looked at him in disbelief, he couldn’t understand why everyone was acting like that never happened. “You’ve been gone for a while, okay? That was a long time ago and Theo’s made some amends.”
“This is ridiculous. So what? You’re going to risk someone else’s life for his?”
“No, we don’t have to, I can go.”
“You can’t go on your own or we’ll have the same problem. But the only people I trust to go with you we need them here.”
“I can go,” Eli chirped and everyone turned to look at him
“Eli, this is not the time to prove yourself, you’re still healing,” Stiles told him and Derek almost looked like he wanted to kill him with his stare.
“I’m fine! And we’ve managed fine out there. I should learn to use my powers and Liam’s going to be there.”
“Eli, you’re not going,” Derek told him like it was final.
“I can go!”
“Eli!” Both Derek and Stiles exclaimed at the same time as they turned to look at him, but then they looked at each other in complete shock, not expecting the other to have the same authoritative tone as them.
“How about we take a break, okay?” Derek told everyone and they nodded, he made a gesture for Eli to follow him up the stairs. Eli didn’t seem happy.
Stiles almost felt embarrassed to have reacted that way, but it had become something natural to him. Everyone kind of relaxed when Derek and Eli left, Liam turned to talk to Mason and Cris and Melissa started to talk amongst themselves. He sighed and walked away, knowing his dad would follow him.
“That was stupid, right?” Stiles asked his dad once they were on their own. “I stepped on his toes.”
“I don’t think Derek will mind honestly, he knows you, and you’re the only reason his son is here.”
“I know…” Stiles mumbled, but he didn’t sound convinced.
“I heard he gave you the tour already.”
“Yeah. You guys seem to have everything figured out. Better than the government even.”
“Wasn’t easy, son.”
“I can imagine, Derek told me about a few problems you’ve had.”
“We still have them.”
“Everyone seemed really happy this morning when Derek showed me around.”
“Yeah, that’s because you’re new, and you’re with Derek.”
“Actually, yeah… I noticed a lot of people looking at us, what’s up with that?”
“Well, Derek…” he started to answer and Stiles raised his eyebrows in question. His father sighed and explained further. “He’s not usually the one giving out tours, he doesn’t like new people.”
“Yeah, well, I brought him his son and it’s not like we’re strangers.”
“I know, I guess everyone’s noticed… He seems happier.” Stiles looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Dad, we got here last night. I’d be pissed off if I went through all that for him not to be happy, do you know how annoying Eli is?”
“Oh trust me, I do.” Stiles frowned when he heard his tone, but he didn’t comment on it. “Either way, they’re all just a bit surprised, you have to understand, Derek did all of this almost on his own while he thought his son was dead this entire time. He wasn’t very cheery. People trust him, doesn’t mean they aren’t scared of him.”
“That’s bullshit.” Stiles chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“I know.” His dad smiled softly at him. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too, Dad. I really thought you were dead. You never went to the airport?”
“No, son. I wanted to, but everything was chaos over here. People were panicking and I had to be here and help. I regretted not going, I wanted to be with you.”
“No, that was the best decision you could’ve made. I checked your flight dad, everyone who took it is dead now. That’s why I was so sure you were dead. The only reason I came here was because Eli dragged me.”
“I’m glad he did.”
“Me too, honestly.” Stiles looked up at the stairs and uncrossed his arms. “I think I’m gonna go check on them.” For a moment he thought his dad was going to stop him, but he simply nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder to squeeze it before he left.
Stiles walked up the stairs and started to hear the mumblings of a conversation. They both turned when they saw him approaching.
“Stiles, can you please tell my dad I’m not fucking useless? I was on my own for a month before I found him,” he turned and looked between Derek and Stiles as he said that. Stiles simply sighed and walked up to them.
“You’re not, Eli. But we’ve also been out there for months. You were shot a few days ago and we could barely sleep, why are you so eager to go out there again?”
“I need to learn to defend myself, to use my powers! I can’t do that trapped in here.”
“Trapped?” Derek questioned with a raised brow.
“I didn’t mean it like that, I—”
“Eli, this is completely out of the question, you’re not going out there again.”
“Ever?!”
“Jesus, Eli. You’re not Rapunzel, town’s pretty big,” Stiles said and tried to soften his mood. Eli turned to his dad.
“Dad, this is my opportunity to learn, okay? The full moon isn’t too far away, I can use my powers, right?” Derek looked at him with his eyebrows raised.
“Stiles, mind telling him what you did to all of your friends every full moon?” They both turned to look at Stiles, who chuckled awkwardly.
“I chained them. Every full moon. Trust me, Eli, it’s worse if you try to learn on a full moon.”
“This is— You’re not listening to me, I can defend myself. I saved Stiles during a full moon. I want to help.”
“Eli, I will help you learn, but you will not, under any circumstance go out there again right now.”
“Dad, seriously…” Stiles frowned when he heard him start to protest again.
“Eli, just do what he says and shut the fuck up,” Stiles told him in an authoritative tone. “You’re not going, end of discussion.” Eli groaned and rolled his eyes before he left the room.
Derek looked over at him, looking impressed.
“He never does what I tell him, how did you manage that?”
“Well… Out there, if he didn’t do what I told him to, he’d die, so… I guess he’s used to it now. He’s a little shit but he’s not dumb, at least.” He shrugged and took a couple of steps to stand in front of Derek. They were in one of the guest bedrooms that Derek had on top of the loft. He hadn’t seen those until after he graduated high school. “And I’m sorry. You know… For stepping on your toes. He’s your kid, I should… Step back.” Derek shook his head.
“No, don’t even worry about it. It’s fine. Sometimes I’m a little soft on him.”
“You? That’s unexpected.” Stiles chuckled and Derek rolled his eyes.
“By the way, about Theo…” Derek started to say and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you hate him… Because of what he did to your dad.”
“Not just my dad, everyone.”
“I know, I get it. But you have to be more tactful with the way you talk about him… Especially around Liam.”
“I remember they fucking hated each other.”
“Well… People change.”
Stiles frowned and looked at Derek as if trying to understand what he was telling him.
“Wait a second… Are you saying that–?” Derek nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “What? Are they together or something?”
“Or something. I think Liam thinks he's being casual about it. But Theo came back to Beacon Hills just when this whole thing started, they've been… Getting closer these past few months. Until, well… Until Theo had to leave to get supplies. He should’ve been back last week. So Liam's been on edge lately because we haven't sent out anyone to look for him.”
“Why haven’t you?” Stiles asked him outright, knowing that Derek wouldn’t be mad at him.
“We have a little bit of a problem with our borders, they’re filled with zombies so it’s hard to get out. I didn’t want to risk losing anyone else.”
“You guys don’t even have walls around the town, how do you stay safe?” Stiles asked him.
“Deaton set up some wards, only living creatures can come inside, that’s why you had no problem. Zombies however can’t come in, so they gather on the outskirts because they know we’re here but they can’t advance, that’s why you encountered that horde when you tried to come in.”
“That’s… Kind of smart… Could be done better, you could have a decoy so you don’t have a horde all the time just waiting outside of town.”
“I know, it’s been tough, the Nemeton attracts them too. Beacon Hills became a death town before we thought of putting up the wards.”
“Really?”
Derek nodded and grabbed the edge of his t-shirt to pull it up slowly, Stiles frowned at the motion but gasped when he saw the scar on his side. A huge bite.
“What? You got bitten?” Stiles asked and instinctively stepped closer to see the scar. “I didn’t know you guys could get scars…”
Derek shook his head and pulled down his shirt.
“I got bit and I thought I was done for. I even asked your dad to shoot me before I turned. But he… He couldn’t do it, and he hid me in your room so nobody saw that I was infected. I spent three days holed up in there with a fever that would’ve killed any human. My body was trying to heal the bite. In the end, I guess it healed properly and I didn’t have the virus anymore, but it took a toll on me. Healing the virus was so difficult that my body didn’t get a chance to heal the bite, it left a scar.”
“So werewolves are immune?” Stiles asked, fascinated.
“Some, we’ve had a couple of deaths. I guess it’s just like a werewolf bite, there’s a chance that you might die from it. From what we’ve gathered it affects the werewolves that aren’t too strong yet.”
“Still, this is great. You guys might have a chance!” Stiles said excitedly.
“Sort of, but don’t tell this to anyone, not even Eli, okay? Promise me.”
“What? People don’t know you were bitten?” Stiles asked confusedly.
“No, only your father knows. You know what people do when they realize they have a slight chance of being immune? They get reckless. And we’ve only had two instances of bitten werewolves. One a chimera, which we don’t even know how they work and then me, and I’m an alpha. This might not work for betas and I’m not willing to risk anyone.”
“Theo got bitten?” Stiles mumbled.
“He was already bitten when he came here. We didn’t even know if he was going to survive, but we wanted to give him a chance. Liam took care of him until he got better…” Stiles nodded, understanding why Liam was so stressed about finding Theo.
“Wait… Did you just say you’re an alpha?” Stiles asked when he finally realized what Derek told him. Derek simply nodded. “What– What happened? Did you have to kill someone?”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Derek mumbled. Stiles looked at him completely dumbfounded, Derek could almost see the gears turning while Stiles tried to understand the implications of that statement.
“Wait…” Stiles whispered and slowly opened his eyes very widely. “You’re a true alpha!?” Derek nodded slowly.
“It was after I got bit. It took a lot out of me, but I didn’t want to give up if there was even the slightest chance of Eli being alive.”
“Derek that’s awesome. I guess that’s why it was so easy for everyone to follow you, right? Born leader.”
“I guess…” Derek shrugged and Stiles couldn’t believe he was being nonchalant about being a true alpha. He remembered Deaton saying that only happened once every hundred years, and he met two in his lifetime.
“So I guess you’re Liam’s alpha now, right? Is that why he’s so mad?”
“He is. Theo too. Theo was staying with us at the house, it was calm for a while before Theo had to go get supplies, I told Liam to stay here and he’s hated me ever since.”
“But it’s so weird to see Liam respond to you. He was always Scott’s beta. How is he taking to the new leadership?”
Derek chuckled and lowered his head.
“He wasn’t too keen at first. But when people started questioning me he was the first one to vouch for me.” Derek explained calmly. “I guess he trusted me since Scott also did the last time he saw us together.” That’s when Stiles had the courage to finally address the elephant in the room.
“Do we know where Scott is?”
“Last I heard he was near L.A. with Deaton, helping out anyone in the big city. Tough job, only Scott would be so suicidal.” Stiles smiled widely, happy to hear that he had a chance to see his best friend again. “He makes the trip sometimes to check in on Melissa. But he doesn’t exactly want to come back, says it should be a Hale taking care of Beacon Hills and two alphas might create some conflicts. We already have enough with Argent.”
“What about the others?” Stiles mumbled he had avoided the question, but knowing that Scott was doing well made him want to know about everyone else.
“Malia turned into a coyote and I haven’t seen her since. That was honestly the smartest choice, zombies don’t care for animals,” Derek explained, although Stiles could tell it hurt him to not be able to see her again. “I’ve been trying to contact Cora ever since this whole thing started, but she’s too far for me to reach, even when I try to contact other packs. But I’ve heard her pack is still alive. Everyone else is MIA.”
“Even Lydia?” Stiles whispered, almost not wanting to know the answer.
“Haven’t heard anything from her, but… I wouldn’t expect much, Stiles. Banshees, in a time like this, are probably hurting too much to even function properly. Even if she was lucid I don’t think she would want to come back here. But with so much death…”
Stiles nodded slowly, he knew the implications of that, she either went mad or killed herself. He only hoped she had the time to expect what was going to happen and took refuge.
“At least Kira’s here… I never thought I would see her again.”
“I know, and she’s helped out a lot. She wants to go look for her parents at some point, but she doesn’t want to leave us. She said Beacon Hills was the only thing on her mind.”
“God, I didn’t even want to think about it, Eli had to drag me all the way here.” Derek chuckled at that.
“I guess it’s because you’re human. Kira wasn’t the only one that was drawn back here. Theo was almost dying and the first place on his mind was Beacon Hills.” Stiles looked down and Derek sighed. “We should probably get back, I fear if we take five more minutes Liam will take off on his own.”
Stiles nodded and he followed him down the stairs. Everyone else was still roaming around and talking. Eli was sulking on the couch and Noah was talking to him, probably trying to console him. When they heard the footsteps everyone gathered around the table like they were doing before.
“Reached a verdict?” Liam asked Derek, who took a deep breath in to answer him, but Stiles beat him to it.
“Yeah, I’ll go look for him,” Stiles said suddenly and everyone turned to look at him in surprise, even Derek. Eli almost screamed but Noah was faster.
“What? You just got here!” His father protested.
“Exactly. I’m the only one who’s been out there long enough to know what I’m dealing with. Plus, I know the territory. It won’t be too hard to find him.”
“Usually we send in a werewolf, it’s easier for them to track someone lost.”
“Right, yeah, ‘cause Theo will definitely be traceable if he’s trapped in a horde of zombies. Come on, there’s a reason you didn’t recognize Eli’s scent when he came in here, it smells like death out there. Even to me. Do you know how hard it was to get Eli to stop throwing up when we were near a horde? It’s truly revolting. Another werewolf would only slow me down, no offence.” Everyone kept quiet, knowing damn well Stiles was right.
“I’ll go with him just in case,” Liam mumbled.
“Absolutely not,” Derek spoke up before anyone else could object.
“Why the hell not?!” Liam protested. “I’ve been telling you for a week to go find Theo and you weren’t listening. Now that we can finally go I have to stay behind!?”
“Exactly. We don’t need any self-sacrificing heroes right now. If Theo is in a tight spot and can’t be saved I trust Stiles to make the right choice. You? You would jump in a horde of zombies to save him and then we’ll have two corpses to worry about.” Liam huffed out a breath, knowing that Derek was right. “You stay here. I’ll go with Stiles,” he said like it was final and Stiles turned to look at him with wide eyes.
Notes:
i hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and the dynamic I wrote for eli/stiles/derek, don't worry we'll have loads more coming this trio is just so much fun to write. I hope everyone's enjoying the story as much as I am :) Remember that feedback is always appreciated, tell me what you thought in the comments! :))
Chapter Text
“This is a joke, right?” Eli exclaimed as he saw his dad pack a bag to leave. “Why do you guys get to go? I want to go with you!”
“Eli, did you not hear me before? You’re not going.”
“This is bullshit.”
“Yeah, you didn’t seem to have any objections when Stiles told you to shut up,” Derek said and turned around to look at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m your father, if I tell you to stay, you do it. Why does Stiles have to tell you to listen to me?” Derek could tell Eli didn’t know what to say to that. “Listen. I understand you appreciate Stiles and you want to learn and be independent. But the world ending doesn’t change the fact that you’re still fifteen. Which means I’m not going to throw you into danger the first chance I get. You’ll stay here. We’ll only be gone for a few days.” Derek turned around to grab one of his t-shirts to put it on his duffle bag.
“And what if you’re not?!” Derek stopped and turned to look at him.
“Is that it? Are you worried something will happen to us?” Eli huffed out a breath and crossed his arms over his chest, not wanting to answer that. Derek softened and smiled at him. “Didn’t you hear Stiles? I’m pretty hard to kill and we make a pretty good team.”
“But I just got here! Why does it have to be you two? I’ll stop saying I want to go if you stay here!” Eli exclaimed and Derek chuckled.
“Come here,” Derek grabbed his arm and hugged him tightly, Eli hugged him back reluctantly, and Derek chuckled. He really missed his angsty teenage son who hated hugs. “We’re going to be fine. Stiles wants to go and I don’t want him to be alone. You don’t have to worry about it.” He left a kiss on his head and turned around to grab his duffel bag. “Don’t make Noah’s life too difficult and listen to Liam, okay? You don’t want to get on his bad side, he hasn’t seen his boyfriend in a week, he’s in a mood.”
“I hate you!” Eli called to him and Derek chuckled.
“Do you really want that to be the last thing you say to me?”
“Dad?!” Derek snorted when he heard the fear in Eli’s voice.
“I’ll be back soon, calm down.”
Eli saw his dad go into the garage, probably to leave his stuff in the car, so he took that opportunity to go out the front door and grab his bike. He was probably going too fast, but he was glad there weren’t any cars around, the only people that used cars anymore were his dad and the sheriff.
He went straight to the loft, where he knew Stiles was staying. He’d been at the loft a couple of times when he was a kid, but his father didn’t let him go there before everything went down and he wasn’t curious enough. Now he thought it would’ve been a great place to have high school parties without his dad finding out. But that was all just a dream now, he would never be a normal teenager.
He went up the stairs and slid the door open. Stiles turned around when he heard the door but went back to packing his bag when he noticed it was Eli.
“I thought it was your dad,” he said calmly.
“You planning on killing him for good or something?” Eli asked him, seething.
Stiles turned and looked at him completely baffled.
“I’m sorry?”
“We just got here and you’re taking him away to die.”
“Hey, nobody is going to die, and yesterday you were saying you wanted to come too. Pick a side, kid.”
“Because we’ve been out there together so I know we can survive this. You told me my dad has died several times on your watch, how can I trust you guys to come back?”
“Eli, God, there’s nothing out there that we can’t handle. We’re going to be fine.”
“I just don’t understand why nobody else can go!”
“Because I volunteered! Kira needs to stay here to keep the electricity going, you already heard why Liam can’t go, and anyone else will be too weak and out of their element to manage to survive out there. Trust me, I’m the best choice. I wanted to go on my own, but I knew Derek would never let me do that. So if you have a problem with us going, talk to your dad.”
“I already did, but he won’t listen to me.”
“Well, Eli, sorry to break it to you. But if your dad said so, there’s nothing you can do. We’re leaving in an hour, and we’ll be back in a few days. Stop worrying about it.”
“What if I go with you guys? I’ll be fine if I’m with both of you, right?”
“You’ll stay here, Eli. End of discussion.”
“Why? Because you want some alone time with my dad?” Stiles stopped and turned to look at him, knowing damn well what Eli meant by that.
“Hey, I get that you don’t like this. Fine, he’s your dad, you’re possessive, I get it, I was never like that with my dad but I could understand why you are,” he started to say and Eli looked up at him, he opened his mouth to protest but Stiles kept going. “But I want you to understand one thing, whatever I have with your dad, unrequited or not, is not just sex, got it? Do you think I’ve been thinking about the same guy for the last fifteen years just because I wanted to get in bed with him? You seriously think I would’ve talked about him to a random kid and made him out to be ‘the one that got away’ only because I wanted to have sex with him?” He could see in Eli’s expression he was regretting saying that. “I don’t care whatever happens, okay? I’ve had a decade to make peace with the fact that Derek is just not meant to be. But don’t you dare make jokes about me wanting to fuck your dad. Got it?”
“Okay, I’m sorry, you’re right,” Eli grimaced and rolled his eyes. “And please don’t say the words ‘sex’ and ‘dad’ in the same sentence.”
“Hey, you made the accusation, own up to it now,” Stiles told him and chuckled while he closed his duffel bag after he finished packing.
“Don’t be so obvious about it, then.”
“Okay, we’re not that obvious…”
“To me, you are!” Eli exclaimed and Stiles frowned. “Listen, I’m not fucking blind okay? I’ve seen the way people act around my father since I was a little kid. Everyone flirts with him. Single mothers, married mothers, my teachers, grocery store workers, baristas, even my fucking friends when we started growing up. But do you know how my father reacts? He never flirts back, he’s shy . He doesn’t want anything to do with people who try to get with him. And then you come along, tease him a bit, and he teases back? He smiles and flirts with you? Yeah, that’s not how my dad behaves around people he doesn’t like.”
“Don’t you think I know your dad is shy?” Stiles asked him, exasperated. “I knew him before you did, okay? This has been like this for as long as I’ve known him. So thank you for saying it looks obvious, now you’ve made me feel like a fool.”
“Honestly, I’m kind of glad it didn’t work out between you two.”
Stiles frowned and looked at him, completely baffled, and honestly, a little hurt.
“What?”
“If you two had gotten together back then I wouldn’t even exist!”
“Oh… Oh, yeah, you’re right.” Eli slapped his forehead and sighed loudly, which made Stiles chuckle a bit.
“He’s here, by the way,” Eli mumbled when he heard his dad’s car pull up. Stiles smiled warmly at him.
“Hey, you’re getting better at it.” Stiles ruffled his hair and went to grab his jacket.
Eli rolled his eyes so hard they almost hurt, but he turned to the door when he heard his dad coming up the stairs. He smiled when he saw Eli there.
“Trying to convince him too?”
“No luck, obviously,” Stiles explained.
Eli made a show of huffing out a sigh and walking out of the loft. Stiles raised an eyebrow when he saw the reaction.
“I swear he wasn’t like this with me.”
“No, it’s me, probably.” Stiles laughed, thinking that Derek was joking, but he stopped when he realized he wasn’t.
“You’re kidding, right?” Stiles asked him. “He came here to ask me to go on my own, he didn’t want you to go.”
“Stiles, he’s fifteen. That was probably a lie so he could get you to agree to go with him.”
“I’m no werewolf but I don’t think he was lying,” Stiles shrugged and checked if his gun was loaded. “We left the van just outside of the preserve, it has more ammo if you want to stop by to stock up,” Stiles explained and changed the subject.
“Okay. I have some in my car either way.”
“We’re not taking my Jeep?” Stiles asked in a teasing tone, Derek snorted.
“I know I fixed it but I still wouldn’t put my life on the line for that car. We’re taking mine.” Stiles made a fake disappointed sound, he knew they were going to take Derek’s car. “Did you tell your dad what time you were leaving?”
“Yeah, he was here this morning to have breakfast with me before I left, don’t worry.”
“Okay, should we go or do you need anything else?”
“Let’s go,” Stiles replied and clapped his hands before he grabbed his backpack.
Stiles was the one driving out of town, mainly because he knew which roads were clear and which weren’t. Derek only indicated which exit Chris Argent had cleared. Thankfully it was still empty, full of bodies, but none were moving.
Stiles saw Derek bring up his hand to his mouth as they drove away.
“Please don’t tell me you’re gonna be sick. I had enough with your kid.”
“No, I’m fine. You’re right though, smells awful.”
“You never encountered a horde?” Stiles asked him.
“Never this many. I got bitten trying to save your dad and there was only like… Twenty?” He explained, trying to remember. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than thirty in the same place honestly. Chris takes care of the big hordes.”
“Eli started throwing up a mile before we reached a horde once, it must’ve been almost a thousand.”
“Jesus…” Derek mumbled under his breath.
“We didn’t go near it though, so it was fine.” Stiles moved his hand to the gearshift and tried to be soft with it, his hand was still bandaged and it didn’t help that he had been driving ever since he got that wound. He grabbed the steering wheel and could almost feel Derek’s eyes following the movement.
“What’s that?”
“Uh… Nothing, just burned myself trying to make a fire,” Stiles mumbled and Derek looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.
“You know I can still tell when you lie, right? Why would you lie about it?”
“It’s, uhmm… When Eli got shot I was kind of anxious and I burned the wolfsbane in my hand to press it against the wound. I didn’t think to burn it on a different surface.” Derek frowned but didn’t say anything. “Barely hurts anymore, don’t worry about it.”
“When was the last time you changed those bandages?” Stiles shrugged and didn’t answer, so Derek rolled his eyes. “Give me your hand.”
Stiles sighed and moved his hand away from the steering wheel to offer it to Derek. He carefully undid the bandages and winced when he saw the injury.
“This is definitely infected…” Derek mumbled and didn’t want to touch the wound directly.
“Sorry, I was too busy freaking out about your son getting shot, I forgot I even had it…” Stiles replied and Derek rolled his eyes, he opened his mouth to say something but closed it almost immediately.
He opened the glove compartment and grabbed a small first aid kit he had there. Stiles drove for a while with only one hand, thankfully the road was straight so he didn’t need his other hand. Derek finished cleaning the wound and placing new bandages, when he was done he grabbed Stiles’ hand with more intent and Stiles didn’t have to look over to know that he was taking away his pain.
“You don’t have to…”
“Shut up.” Derek cut him off. Stiles sighed and almost melted against the seat.
Derek stopped taking his pain ten minutes later when Stiles had to move his hand to move the gear stick. Stiles told him he was fine and he didn’t feel any pain anymore.
Derek could point out in a map the general area where they usually got their supplies, which is where they were headed. Still, Derek was trying to register Theo’s scent or get a trail, even if Stiles told him that wouldn’t work out there.
At some point Stiles was distracted by the hum of the engine, he was startled by Derek speaking abruptly.
“Stop the car,” Derek said suddenly, he looked angry. Stiles looked at him in confusion but stopped the car nonetheless.
Derek opened the door and Stiles had to scramble out of the car to follow him, but Derek only went to open the trunk. When Stiles saw what was inside he knew immediately why Derek was mad.
Eli looked at them from the trunk of the car with a sheepish look.
“Do you have a death wish?” Stiles asked him calmly and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Get up, we’re going back,” Derek told him and walked back to the passenger seat.
“Wait! Dad! No, we can’t go back!” Eli got up and chased after his father before he opened the door of the car. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t want you guys to go on your own. But we can’t go back, you’ll lose the trace and time!”
“Eli…” Derek didn’t say anything else and simply looked at him like he was just too disappointed to say anything. “Can’t you just listen to us for once? Does anyone know you came here? Please tell me Noah isn’t stressing right now thinking that you’re missing.”
“No, I left a note!”
“When did you have time to do that?” Stiles asked him, he remembered Eli leaving the loft just ten minutes before Derek and Stiles got into the car.
“I kinda knew you guys wouldn’t agree, so I had a backup plan….” He mumbled, knowing that they’d get mad.
“And that was getting in the trunk of the car? Are you stupid?” Stiles asked him, although that sounded like something he would’ve done when he was his age. “How did you not notice it until now?” He asked Derek who just shook his head.
“The smell was too much, I tuned out everything else,” Derek explained. “Did you think we wouldn’t notice? How long were you planning to stay there?”
“I honestly didn’t get that far in my plan…” Eli scratched the back of his neck and tried to think of something to say. “I just didn’t want to stay behind when you two are out here, probably in danger.”
“We can handle ourselves, Eli,” Derek told him as if it was obvious.
“I know, and I can too! I want to help.”
“Well, you’re not giving us much choice now. Now, on top of trying to find Theo, we have to make sure you’re fine too.”
“Did you not hear me? I can handle myself,” Eli protested.
“Derek, it’s fine, he’ll manage…” Stiles backed him up and Eli smiled.
“Exactly! I can take care of myself.”
“Right, of course, he can. You wanna play in the big leagues? You gotta keep up with an alpha and an FBI agent, think you can manage? I think I’ve saved your ass enough times already.”
Stiles smiled when he saw the hesitation on Eli’s face.
“Get in the back, do not move unless we tell you to. I mean it Eli, I’ll cut your head off if you don’t listen to me, got it?” Derek sentenced and Eli opened the door to get in the back before Derek could change his mind.
Stiles shrugged and gave him a small smile just as Derek let out the longest sigh.
“I’ll drive for a while, you take care of the map, okay?”
“Sure,” Stiles answered and went to sit on the passenger seat to grab the map from the glove compartment. He knew where they were headed now, so he just needed to check which roads were safe to take.
They were all in complete silence as Derek drove, clearly mad that Eli didn’t listen to him despite them being very adamant about him staying in Beacon Hills. He kind of wished he could call his dad to tell him they had Eli and he was fine, he was probably worrying about it.
“Stop. There’s a horde up ahead,” Eli said suddenly and Derek stopped the car before he even realized it.
Both Derek and Stiles turned to look back at him, he looked very convinced even if he was pouting about the silent treatment.
“Do you smell it?” Stiles asked Derek.
“My scents are kind of fucked up now after that horde, I need to get used to it. I can smell it but I don’t know where it comes from,” Derek explained and looked back at Eli.
“A mile ahead, this same road. About fifty probably,” Eli answered and caught them both off-guard.
“I guess werewolf scents develop differently depending on the environment…” Stiles mumbled and turned to look at the front so he could grab the map again. “We need to change the whole route then, we can’t get rid of fifty and it’s a pretty important road.”
Derek turned to the front too, still looking a little confused. Stiles watched him sideways before he said anything.
“You know how good Scott got with his hearing just because he wanted to listen to Allison’s conversations all the time? Pretty creepy, at least Eli’s useful.”
“I’d rather have him trying to listen in on his crush than smelling a horde of zombies just so he doesn’t die…” Derek mumbled and started the car again to make a U-turn and go back to where they came from. Stiles had to agree with him. He checked on Eli through the rearview mirror and saw him looking down at his hands.
He’d been changing routes for the past few months so he was used to those changes of plans, but Derek clearly didn’t think that was an option. There was a reason they took so long to get there. After the second time they had to take a different route, Stiles realized Derek was getting frustrated.
“It’s getting a bit late, how about we stop and eat something? I packed a few sandwiches. Although I think they’re going to ran out faster than I thought they would…” He said and looked over at Eli, who shrugged like it wasn’t his fault they had to use more food than what they were expecting.
“We shouldn’t stop, we need to find Theo.”
“Derek, trust me when I say this, this isn’t like a road trip, it takes a toll on you, and you need to rest from time to time.”
Derek didn’t say anything but he must’ve agreed with him because he pulled over when he saw a place they could stop. Stiles knew he had to lift up their moods, Derek was clearly still mad at Eli and Eli didn’t want to say anything to piss him off more.
“All right, you two,” Stiles said once the three of them were out of the car to stretch out their legs, Derek was leaning against the driver’s seat door and Eli was sitting on the hood of the car. “I won’t drive for two days with you two pouting at each other, so either you get your shit together or I drive you both back to Beacon Hills and find Theo on my own.”
“I don’t trust you not to kill him as soon as you find him,” Derek said and Stiles smiled, he knew Derek, and that was a joke in Derek’s book.
“I won’t kill him, I promise. If you guys promise to make up.” Eli and Derek had matching eye-rolls and Stiles kind of thought that was the most adorable thing ever. “Jesus, I can’t believe I didn’t clock it earlier that you guys are related…” He mumbled and they both looked at him in confusion.
“Nobody says we look alike. Some of my teachers even thought I was adopted.” Eli explained and Stiles snorted.
“That’s because they haven’t seen your dad when he was your age. Maybe not the same face but definitely the same attitude,” Stiles explained and threw a sandwich his way, Eli caught it in the air and looked back at his father.
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Not as long as you’re thinking…” Derek replied and caught the other sandwich Stiles threw at him.
“Actually, I have the same question, how old were you when we met? ‘Cause I know that I.D. I found was fake. By the way, very bad fake I.D., mine was better.”
Eli whipped his head to look back at his father when he heard that.
“Never broke the law, huh?” He accused him and Derek shook his head slowly, he walked over to where Stiles and Eli were sitting, standing in front of them.
“Life or death situations, it was different.”
“Come on, Derek. Don’t try to be all mysterious, we both know you got that I.D. to get into clubs when you were in New York, don’t lie to him.” Eli dropped his jaw when he heard that.
“You know, I’m trying to educate him. I didn’t have parents, so I have an excuse. He doesn’t.” Stiles threw his head back and let out a loud laugh, but he could tell Derek was smiling too. Eli was probably too stunted to laugh about it. Stiles kept talking before Eli could say anything else.
“Your fake I.D. said you were twenty-four when we met, I know that’s a lie. How old were you when you came back to Beacon Hills?”
“Twenty,” Derek answered easily. “I got the I.D. when I was seventeen because my sister worked at a night club and I couldn’t get in without one. I also picked up a couple of shifts to help out, and you can’t have a seventeen-year-old selling alcohol.” He explained and Stiles never thought it would be so hard to be punched with the truth. He could almost feel Eli tensing next to him.
“Wait, if you guys met when he was twenty then you never knew him when he was my age,” Eli guessed and Stiles gave him a wide smile, waiting to tell him that story.
“It’s complicated.”
“Your dad got kidnapped by his crazy ex and she took him to New Mexico to wrap him in wolfsbane, which made him revert back to when he was sixteen… Or was it fifteen? I’m not exactly sure, Peter’s awful at telling stories.”
Eli gaped at him for a full twenty seconds, trying to process the new information.
“Maybe ease into it next time?” Derek broke the silence and Stiles almost giggled, he was having fun with it.
“Are you serious?! And I get grounded for a week for stealing the Jeep?!”
“Hey, it’s not like I wanted to get kidnapped, this was all out of my control. You steal the Jeep willingly.”
“Wow, you stole my Jeep?” Stiles cut in and Eli looked at him, confused.
“It’s not your Jeep, it’s…”
“Eli, it’s his Jeep,” Derek corrected him and Eli’s eyebrows went up his forehead.
“It was my mom’s first actually. I don’t know how that thing’s still going. I would’ve taken it with me but it won’t survive a cross-country trip.”
“Is that why it was parked at the loft? I wondered why you would take it out of the garage, you hate that thing.”
Stiles shook his head quickly and looked at Derek completely baffled, Derek opened his mouth to say something but he only sighed.
“You hate my Jeep?”
“I don’t hate it…” Derek started to say.
“That Jeep has saved your life more times than you can remember, I would—!”
“Which is why I don’t hate it,” Derek cut in. “I just don’t like seeing it, is all.”
Stiles could tell what Derek meant by that, he didn’t like the memories it brought him. Stiles couldn’t tell if those were bad memories or nostalgic ones. He didn’t dare to ask.
“Either way, I get pulled over every time I steal it because the cops recognize it.”
“Yes, dickhead, that car belonged to the son of the sheriff for years, of course, they recognize it!” Stiles explained and pointed at himself.
“How was I supposed to know that? No one ever told me that!”
“Maybe stop stealing it?” Derek suggested and Eli groaned and rolled his eyes, Stiles couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hey, grand theft auto is better than your murder charges…” Stiles said and immediately regretted it when he saw Derek losing the smile and shaking his head as if to motion him that he shouldn’t say that.
“What?!”
“Innocent, innocent! He was innocent!” Stiles immediately corrected. “He wasn’t charged for the ones he committed.”
“Stiles!” Derek yelled and Stiles threw his head back to let out a loud laugh, Eli made a sound of complete bafflement and didn’t know what to say.
“Listen, kid. Like he said, he was an orphan, at least he had an excuse. You can be a little weird if you have mommy issues, but if you have mommy issues and daddy issues? You become a mass murderer.”
“Oh my God, Stiles!”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Stiles threw his hands in the air in a sign of defeat. “Life or death situations. No one that I knew from back then had their hands clean. Even I made some mistakes,” Stiles explained. “But, I’m sure your dad made sure to make you as normal as he could. No running from hunters or supernatural creatures that want to murder you, right?” Eli was still looking at them like he didn’t know them at all, after a few beats of silence he finally said something.
“Yeah, way too normal. I’m mediocre.”
“You’re not…”
“You say that because you don’t know what it’s like. I don’t—”
“Well, I do,” Stiles cut in and Eli turned to look at him. “I was pretty mediocre when I was your age. A benchwarmer with only one friend that no one ever talked to. And I kinda wish it would’ve stayed like that because I was never the same. You have enough with an apocalypse happening right now, I think that’s enough adventure in your life, you don’t need to sneak into your dad’s trunk to try to get yourself killed, you’ll have enough opportunities for that, you’re a Hale.”
Derek dipped his chin down and suppressed a smile, he definitely should not be laughing at that joke, but he was desensitized at that point.
“Very funny…” Eli replied humorlessly. “Still, he makes it look like he wants to embarrass me on purpose sometimes. I twisted my ankle during a game last year and he carried me to the locker room bridal style, you know how embarrassing that is?” Eli protested and Stiles threw his head back to let out a loud laugh, Derek snorted.
“Oh God, he did that to me once!” Stiles exclaimed. “But it was because I got shot in the foot.”
“If you weren’t a werewolf you wouldn’t pick people up that much,” Eli protested as he looked at his father.
“You’re not that heavy and I was pretty skinny when I was eighteen, I think he would’ve done it regardless.”
“Wait, how do you know I’m not that heavy?”
“Who do you think carried you to the van after you got shot?” Stiles asked him and Eli suddenly remembered.
“Oh God, not bridal style, right?” Stiles chuckled and shook his head. “On your shoulder?”
“Are you crazy? I couldn’t put pressure on your stomach, you’d just been shot.” Stiles replied, exhausting all the options. Eli glared at him.
“On your back…?” Eli mumbled, grasping at anything now, even though he probably already knew the answer. Stiles shook his head again with a big smile on his face. “Please don’t tell me…”
“Like a baby,” Stiles replied quickly, still grinning. “A huge baby. It was quite easy actually.”
Derek let out a loud laugh.
“Okay, we should probably get going, Theo’s not gonna be less in danger any time soon,” Derek told them and they all got back in the car, now with new energies and a better mood.
Stiles was the one driving this time, Derek was sitting at his side and Eli was in the back. Driving around, trying to find a clean road that would get them to the point where Theo probably was, was harder than trying to get back to Beacon Hills, and that was already hard enough.
“If he’s in that area I understand why he can’t go back to Beacon Hills,” Stiles muttered under his breath after the third left turn. It had already gotten dark but he didn’t know if stopping was the best decision.
“You should probably get some rest…” Derek told him and Stiles kind of agreed with him, he was tired of driving.
“If we could just get past this area we should be able to at least get to the next town over, Theo might be there.”
“It’s late and you and I know that being out there during the night is not the best option. Get some sleep, if you want me I can keep driving for a while so we don’t lose the journey, we’ll find a place hidden to stop the car and get some sleep, okay?” Stiles sighed heavily and stopped the car.
“Fine.”
“Eli, get in the front,” Derek told him as he got out of the car.
A couple of minutes later Eli was sitting in the passenger seat while Derek drove and Stiles settled in the back. Stiles still had trouble sleeping but he was exhausted and it didn’t take too long before he was nodding off. Derek and Eli kept quiet in the front so they wouldn’t disturb him. Eli kept checking the rearview mirror to see if Stiles was asleep, but the back was too dark to see if his eyes were open or not.
“He’s fast asleep, don’t worry.”
“How do you know?” Eli asked him curiously.
“Listen to his heartbeat, it’s even.” They both kept quiet for a few seconds so that Eli could listen.
“Yeah but his heartbeat’s even most of the time.”
“Well, not in Stiles’ case. His rhythm is always a bit faster. But in general, your heart does slow down when you fall asleep. It’s more pronounced with Stiles so it’s easier to tell. You’ll learn to differentiate it with time.” Eli nodded slowly and looked back at Stiles through the rearview mirror.
“You remember how Stiles' heartbeat sounds?” Eli asked him and Derek simply shrugged.
“When I met him we were constantly on the brink of death, Eli. Especially Stiles. Everyone lied, constantly. It’s like muscle memory for me to check in on everyone’s heartbeats. I don’t do it anymore, but I guess I’m used to it with Stiles,” Derek explained nonchalantly.
“He lied a lot?”
“To me? Not particularly, but he lied to everyone else, especially his dad.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t blame him. He’s smart and his dad found out about us much later than everyone else.”
“‘About us?’” Eli questioned.
“Yeah, werewolves, the supernatural,” Derek answered as if it was obvious. “Why?”
“No, nothing.” Eli looked back at Stiles. “Why did you never tell me anything about what happened to you guys? I can’t believe I found out more about you because of Stiles than because you told me yourself…”
“You’re fifteen, I thought that kind of stories should wait a bit longer. Or did you want me to tell you about the time I was forced to kill one of my friends when you were twelve?”
“Forced?” Eli questioned.
“They impaled him on my claws while they held me so I wouldn’t move.”
“Oh my God, dad??”
“They’re not stories for kids. The only reason Stiles is telling you this is because he knows you’re almost the same age he was when he went through all of that, so he thinks you can handle it. But I’m your dad, you’ll always be a kid in my eyes, no matter what you do.”
“Is that why you baby me?” Eli asked and rolled his eyes. “Stiles does too but at least he tells me the truth.” Derek sighed and shook his head.
“Listen, I know you think I’m soft with you… And one of the reasons I’m not hard on you or– Angry… Is because of Stiles,” Derek mumbled and tried to keep his eyes on the road.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure Stiles told you about anchors…” Eli nodded slowly. “Back when I met him, and for a long time before that, I relied on anger.”
“Yeah… He told me he knew someone who used anger as an anchor, I didn’t think it was you. Doesn’t… It doesn’t sound like you…”
“Right, yeah, that’s because I’ve had years to improve. Stiles helped to keep myself grounded.”
“Did he?” Eli asked and looked back at Stiles through the rearview mirror.
“He’s a good teacher and he was always the only one that kept a head on his shoulders when everything was going to shit.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I think I would’ve gone insane if it wasn’t for him.” Eli noticed his father’s soft expression when he said that.
“Let’s stop, we should get some sleep too,” Derek mumbled and pulled over when he saw a place where the car would be well hidden so they could all get a few hours of sleep before they resumed the journey.
“Yeah, if we can fall asleep with Stiles' snores,” Eli mumbled and rolled his eyes.
“He doesn’t snore that loud,” Derek said slowly and crossed his arms over his chest to get settled. Eli looked over at him.
“Dad, is there something you need to tell me?” Derek looked at him in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“How close were you and Stiles when you met?”
“He hated me, actually. He asked Scott a couple of times to just let me die…” Derek remembered but smiled at the memory like it made him laugh.
“But you didn’t hate him?”
“I thought he was obnoxious.” Derek settled on before he closed his eyes, trying to end the conversation there, but Eli wasn’t done.
“Dad, I know you like him,” Eli said suddenly. Derek snapped his eyes open to look at him. “I’m not stupid and I know you.”
“He’s been back for two days,” Derek tried to reason.
“I know, it’s pathetic how obvious you two are, honestly.”
“We’re not obvious.”
“So you’re admitting it, you like him?”
“Eli,” Derek tried to warn him to stop there but, obviously, Eli never listened.
“Dad, it’s obvious. It might not be to everyone else, but I know you.”
Derek sighed and looked to the side, avoiding his gaze.
“You’re not mad.”
“Oh, fuck yeah I am,” Eli said without hesitating. “What the fuck?!” He exclaimed in a whisper, trying not to wake up Stiles.
“Language?” Derek mumbled, not knowing how to react to his son’s reaction.
“Are you kidding? I spent months with Stiles trying to convince him that you’re a cool guy and he would definitely want to meet you so that he could get me here. The whole time Stiles said ‘Your dad sounds like a douche who peaked in high school’. So I thought, ‘Cool, at least he won’t be like everyone else, tripping over themselves to talk to you’. Then we get here and he’s just like everyone else, only this time you’re the one tripping over yourself to talk to him,” Derek really wanted to be mad at him, but the only thing he could do was suppress a smile. “Seriously? ‘I’ll give you a tour tomorrow, don’t worry’, ‘Oh, you can have the loft if you want it’,” Eli started mocking his father and that’s when Derek had to bring his hand up to cover his mouth so that he wouldn’t laugh. “Just give him a ring while you’re at it.” Derek completely lost it at that and had to bring out both hands to cover his face when he started laughing, all while trying to not make too much noise because Stiles was asleep. “This isn’t funny, Dad. It’s pathetic. Fifteen years? And you never thought of calling him once, or, I don’t know, talking about him?”
“It’s complicated…”
“It’s really not,” Eli said, sure of himself. “And I think you know that too.”
Derek didn’t move his eyes from the windshield and he hoped Eli didn’t notice the split second he checked on Stiles through the rearview mirror.
“Let’s just go to sleep, okay?” Derek mumbled and dipped his head down as he closed his eyes. He could tell Eli was debating on whether to say something else, but he settled on trying to sleep too. Derek was grateful that he didn’t push the subject.
Stiles could feel a kink in his neck and he knew he’d fallen asleep in a really bad position. He was cold, but he was glad he didn’t have any nightmares and didn’t wake up gasping, like most nights. He noticed the car wasn’t moving and when he looked at the front he saw that Eli was passed out and Derek seemed to be asleep, but he opened his eyes and looked back when he heard movement.
“Can’t sleep?” Stiles asked him, Derek shook his head. “You should probably sleep back here, the driver’s seat is the worst place to get some sleep, I speak from experience.”
“You slept here?” Derek asked him.
“No, I always moved to the passenger seat, it’s more comfortable. Eli slept in the back,” Stiles explained and saw Eli almost dropping his head to the side, he was out cold. “Seriously, there’s place in the back and you haven’t slept anything.”
Derek sighed but complied. He opened and closed the doors as gently as he could so he wouldn’t wake up Eli. Stiles moved to the laft so Derek could sit behind the driver’s seat. He suppressed a laugh when he saw that Eli’s head was hanging between the two front seats, he hadn’t even noticed he leaned so far left and he was still snoring peacefully.
“I swear he sleeps like the dead…” Stiles commented and Derek nodded with a smile on his face.
“Yeah, now, but getting him to fall asleep when he was a baby was the hardest thing ever,” Derek commented, they were both whispering so they wouldn’t wake him up.
“God, I wish I could’ve met him when he was a baby. Was he cute?”
“Very,” Derek replied and smiled at him. “He was also a nightmare toddler, broke everything around him and had the lung capacity to get the police called on me a few times for noise complaints. Thankfully everyone at the station knew me because of your dad, so… It wasn’t too difficult to deal with that.”
“Isn’t it worse when they’re babies? You know, the dreaded two? I’d rather deal with a fifteen-year-old than a two-year-old.”
“I’m actually good with babies,” Derek mumbled in response. “Toddlers, children, I can handle… Teenagers? Not good at all.” Derek started to explain and Stiles snorted. “I took care of Cora when she was a baby and most of my cousins, I’m used to kids. Teenagers are more complicated. And it’s been a while since my relationship with Eli has been a little… Strained.”
“That’s because he’s a teenager, Derek. They’re the worst now. But they won’t be. This isn’t your fault, every parent goes through this with their kid, and it’s normal. Trust me, you’re doing great.” Stiles reassured him. “I told you I had my fights with Eli. It’s normal.” He looked back at Eli, who was sleeping peacefully. “You raised a good kid, Derek, don’t worry about it.”
Derek couldn’t move his eyes away from Stiles’ expression. He was looking at a sleeping Eli like he was the world, but Derek could sense some nostalgia, which was weird because he never met him when Eli was a baby. He suddenly thought about what would’ve happened if Stiles had met Eli sooner, the image of Stiles holding Eli as a baby came to mind and it filled him with a weird sad feeling.
“I also wish you would’ve met him when he was a baby,” Derek mumbled suddenly and Stiles whipped his head up to look at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I just… I didn’t know what to say.”
“‘Hey, I got a kid and he won’t stop screaming, come help?’” Stiles suggested and shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it didn’t feel like it wasn’t a big deal to Derek.
“You’re saying you would’ve come to help me out?”
“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, no one else did. Everyone came by when he was just a baby, you know, shiny and new. But when he started crying…”
“Well, I’m almost deaf in my left ear so I wouldn’t even have noticed it. And I kind of always wanted kids.” Derek frowned at him in confusion so Stiles explained himself. “A colleague shot a gun right next to my head, it left some damage, so if I can’t hear you sometimes, it’s because of that.”
“Don’t change the subject. Did you just say you would’ve taken care of him with me?”
“Uh— Yes.”
Derek didn’t think twice before he leaned in and grabbed his face to kiss him. Stiles was completely caught off guard by the kiss, but he still leaned into it and kissed him back. He didn’t know what to do, he’d been waiting for that moment for so long, he always thought he’d be the one making the first move. Never in a million years would he have imagined that Derek would be the one to kiss him first. He rested his hand against his leg and leaned against Derek, who leaned back against the door without letting him go. Just as they were starting to get into it, they were both startled by a loud snore coming from Eli. They immediately stopped kissing and checked if Eli was awake. Thankfully he was fast asleep.
“Maybe not the best time to be doing this…” Derek whispered and Stiles turned to look back at him.
“I completely disagree,” he said as he leaned in and kissed him again. “If we keep saying that it will never be the best time.” He added before he went back to kissing him. Derek kissed him back for a few moments before he leaned back and chuckled.
“As much as I want to be doing this, I can’t really stop thinking about the fact that my son is less than two feet away from us.” Stiles laughed and dipped his head down, almost touching Derek’s chest.
“Fine. Then we better find Theo soon and go back home. I’m done sleeping in cramped cars and having no privacy.” Derek laughed and nodded.
“Let’s get some sleep,” Derek mumbled but he didn’t make an attempt at letting Stiles go, so Stiles leaned in and rested his head against Derek’s chest. He was so exhausted he almost fell asleep immediately. It probably helped that Derek was breathing slow and deep and it dulled him to sleep.
Stiles opened his eyes very slowly, trying to adjust to the light, he was still lying against Derek and he’d had such a deep sleep he was almost drooling. Derek was sleeping pretty peacefully too, even though they were a tangled mess of limbs, barely fitting in the backseat of the car. Stiles brought his hand up to rub his eyes and looked at the front seats to check on Eli.
His heart stopped when he realized he wasn’t there.
“Derek,” Stiles said, feeling the anxiety in his voice, he tapped his chest to wake him up. “Derek, wake up, Eli’s gone.”
“What?” Derek mumbled and raised his head to check on Eli too. He gasped and immediately sat up when he didn’t see him there. “Where is he?”
“I– I don’t know,” Stiles almost jumped out of the car and Derek did the same on the other side.
“Eli!” Derek yelled, but he got no response.
They both started yelling his name and walking around, but there was no sign of him.
“Maybe he just went to take a leak or something,” Stiles tried to reassure him.
“He wouldn’t leave the car door open and he wouldn’t go too far away that he wouldn’t hear us or I wouldn’t hear him. He should be back by now,” Derek replied, clearly getting desperate. Stiles thought about the fact that the car door was open when they woke up and he went back to the car. He frowned when he saw marks on the mud.
“Derek!” He called him and Derek came immediately. “Look at this.” Stiles pointed at the ground, they could see different footprints and two very clear tracks coming from where Eli was sleeping.
“Someone took him…” Derek mumbled to himself, Stiles could tell he was getting anxious. “And we didn’t even notice? How didn’t I wake up?!”
“Derek, it’s not your fault. we were all exhausted.”
“What does it matter now? He’s gone!”
“And we’ll find him, okay? Clam down.”
“Did you ever get him out of your sight in all the months it took you to come back to Beacon Hills?” Derek questioned and Stiles didn’t want to answer that, he knew it would only make Derek feel bad about losing sight of him. He didn’t have to say anything, his expression was enough. “Seriously? He’s been with me for two days and I lose him?”
“You didn’t do anything. Do you want to do something? Get the scent of this trail before we lose it,” Derek looked down at the ground where the footprints were still fresh, Stiles grabbed his face to make him look at him. “We’re going to find him, okay? I promise.”
Notes:
i extended the chapter count to 6 chapter instead of 5 and I split the last one in two 'cause I was having a hard time writing the second part and I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging.
hope you liked this chapter! lemme know what you think in the comments :)
Chapter Text
Derek trusted Stiles to the point it made him blush at times. There was no one else he would ever trust with his life or the life of his family, which surprisingly included Stiles’ father now, but especially Eli.
Knowing that Eli had been sheltered by Stiles during those months where the world went to shit was as much a relief as when Derek realized he was in love with Stiles. It had been so easy to just accept it, to give into the fact that he’d given his heart to Stiles and he’d probably be the only person he knew who wouldn’t stomp on it or use those feelings against him. And it was just as easy to give Eli to Stiles, knowing that he’ll treasure him just as much as if he was his own. If it’d been anyone else, Derek might’ve hated how Eli listened to them more, or how they spoke to Eli or gave him orders. He would’ve probably gone insane the second he heard them yell at Eli the same way he did.
But it was Stiles. And that changed everything.
Seeing Stiles walk into Beacon Hills with his son was the most jarring picture he’d ever seen, but also the most comforting. It was like a weight had been lifted off his chest. Seeing them talk to each other was even weirder, somehow. He always thought Eli reminded him a little bit of Stiles, but he never thought he would be able to compare notes, it was like he was staring at the Stiles he met back when he was twenty and Stiles was just sixteen. They talked to each other and bit back like they were speaking to a mirror.
He was at least glad that Stiles found so many similarities between him and Eli. He never noticed them himself, but that gave him some relief, it probably meant that Stiles hadn’t noticed how similar he was to Eli. One never saw their own similarities to someone.
Maybe he should’ve listened to Eli for once and let him go with Stiles, they’d been fine for months on their own, and the first day Derek joins them they lose Eli. He was completely devastated, but Stiles was the only thing that kept him going.
“Derek, do you remember Canaan?” Derek snapped out of his thoughts when he heard him.
“What are you talking about?” He asked him, he’d been lost in his thoughts ever since they stopped to look at the map, he lost Eli's trail when they got to the highway, so he could be anywhere by now.
“Canaan. It was the town Lydia and Scott visited when they were looking for me. When I was taken by the wild hunt.”
“I wasn’t here back then, remember?” Derek told him and Stiles nodded.
“The wild hunt was in Canaan before they hit Beacon Hills. But they couldn’t stop it and it wiped off everyone’s memory,” Stiles started to explain. “And I mean the town too, they couldn’t find it in any maps dated after the eighties.”
“But the town is still there?”
“Yes, it’s a ghost town. I’ve never been and we can’t exactly find an old map or ask Scott where it was, but if I’m not wrong, it should be around here, right?” Stiles pointed at the map and Derek leaned closer to see where he was pointing out. He frowned and realized Stiles was right, there was an empty patch on the map where there were no mountains and it was close to where they usually get their supplies.
“Do you think they might be there?”
“It’s a ghost town, no zombies, probably some supplies. It’s the perfect place to hide out. Nobody besides Scott and the pack know about this place.”
“That we know of.”
“It’s worth a shot.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Stiles was the one driving, which meant Derek had nothing to do besides stress, he was bouncing his leg up and down and almost biting his nails off. Stiles kept glancing over at him until he was finally done.
“Derek, seriously, calm down.”
“How can I calm down?”
“Were you like this for five months? Did you sit in your room for however long this shit started and you just… What? Bounced around and bite your nails ‘till you only had claws? I know this is scary, but he was right, okay? He can take care of himself, and whoever took him, took him alive. He’s a werewolf, he’s not easy to kill, and it wasn’t zombies because we would’ve woken up.”
“It’s easy when you say it,” Derek sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. “I’m sorry I’m not the composed heartless asshole you remember, okay? I have a kid, who I just got back and disappeared in less than 24 hours.” Stiles let out a long breath and shook his head.
“Composed heartless asshole? I don’t know what picture you think you painted, but it definitely wasn’t that. You were an asshole, yes. But you stood in dark corners until someone showed up just to scare the shit out of us. I know you were doing that shit just to piss us off and have a laugh, that’s not heartless,” Stiles told him and saw Derek visibly calm down. “And me telling you to calm down isn’t new, okay? You behaved just like this when Erica and Boyd were missing and I was the only dickhead that stuck around to help you. You thought you held yourself together, but you didn’t, and I saw that.” Stiles looked at him for a second before he looked back at the road. “Eli isn’t the first kid you have, you and I know that. It’s not the first kid you lose either. And we are not going to lose him again, I refuse.”
Derek raised his eyebrows, noting the way Stiles used ‘we’ in that sentence.
“Okay,” he mumbled.
“Okay, great,” Stiles agreed and nodded. “Canaan is less than an hour away. Eli will be there, probably Theo too ‘cause two people going missing in the same area can’t be a coincidence, we get them, go home and…” He took a deep breath and shrugged. “You and I have a lot of catching up to do.” Derek chuckled and nodded.
“Yeah, sounds like a good plan.”
Stiles smiled to himself and they both kept quiet for a while, he could tell Derek was a bit more relaxed, which is exactly what Stiles wanted. For a second he thought about reaching over and grabbing his hand, giving him some reassurance, but he felt kind of guilty, the only reason neither of them heard anything was because they were both passed out on the backseat, and it was Stiles' idea to sleep there.
After a few hours they got to Canaan, neither of them had ever been there, they only knew what Scott told them, but he could tell they were there. That town looked like the apocalypse had started decades ago instead of months ago.
“Not a single zombie in a mile radius…” Derek mumbled as he looked around.
“Which means someone’s killing them,” Stiles followed his line of thought and stopped the car. “We should go by foot now, just in case they don’t know we’re here yet,” Stiles told him and they stepped out of the car.
Derek looked around and tried to listen for any heartbeats, his senses were still a bit fucked up due to the enviroment, but he could still make out some heartbeats nearby, he just wasn’t sure if it was Eli.
“This way,” he whispered and started walking towards the sound of the heartbeats.
“Any zombies?” Stiles asked.
“No nausea, so I don’t think so…”
They were both startled when they heard a gunshot and they looked at each other before they started running in the direction of the sound. Derek was faster, obviously, but Stiles saw in the distance Eli running towards them.
“Dad!”
Stiles could see that he was being chased by three guys, so he started to run faster and aimed his gun at one of them, he shot one on the leg and he fell to the ground with a scream. But Eli looked back to see what had happened and that gave one of the guys the opportunity to grab him and place a gun against his temple. Eli struggled but he knew he couldn’t get away. Stiles almost ran into Derek due to how abruptly he’d stopped, not wanting them to shoot Eli.
“Jesus, you’re stubborn. We told you not to try to run away…” the guy holding him threatened.
“Let him go!” Stiles exclaimed, gun aimed high and pointed at them.
“So you’re the guy?” The one holding Eli said and smiled, Stiles frowned but he didn’t hesitate. “You stole our food and killed our men.” He remembered immediately what he meant, the hunters that shot Eli just the week prior.
“You shot him!” He exclaimed.
“Yeah, and he’s completely fine. So really, we’re the only ones that lost something.”
“They have Theo too,” Derek whispered next to him, Stiles cocked his head but tried not to show his anger in his expression.
“What do you want?”
“We just want you, you’re the one that killed our partners. We’ll let him go if you turn yourself in.”
“Lie,” Derek whispered again and Stiles didn’t react, so that they wouldn’t find out Derek was reading them.
Stiles had his gun raised and was pointing at the guy who was holding Eli, he took a breath in and let it go very slowly. Derek had his gun in his hand but he wasn’t aiming, probably too scared to hurt Eli.
“Eli,” Stiles whispered, knowing damn well Eli could hear him but the hunters couldn’t. Derek looked at him expectantly and saw Eli perk up when he heard Stiles. “Can you break free?”
It was almost unnoticeable but Eli nodded quickly and Stiles squinted.
“On my mark, okay?”
“So? Are you gonna turn yourself in or do we kill him right here right now?” The hunter threatened and pressed the gun against Eli’s temple a bit harder.
Derek looked over at Eli and got ready for a fight as soon as Eli broke free. He could scent Eli starting to shift, slowly extending his claws to use them to break free from the guy.
“Ready?” Stiles locked eyes with Eli and took a breath in before he spoke. “Now.”
Everything after that went too fast even for Derek to do something about it. Eli broke free from the man by slashing him with his claws and he started to run away towards Derek. Stiles fired two quick shots and Derek only noticed where they landed after Eli fell into his arms. He’d shot the guy who was holding Eli on the head and another one on their hand, preventing him from shooting his gun. He was aiming his gun at the third one, still on the floor since he’d already shot him in the leg.
“Don’t fucking move or you’re next.”
Derek was holding Eli so tightly he might’ve broken a bone if Eli was human. Both guys held completely still, one of them holding their injured hand and the other one throwing his hands in the air so he wouldn’t get shot.
“Now, where’s Theo?” Stiles asked.
“Killing our people is what got you into this mess and you choose to kill more of us?” The guy holding his hand spoke up. Stiles cocked his head to the side and frowned.
“Killing you was only a consequence of you shooting Eli. You thought you could get away by killing werewolves but you didn’t expect we would defend ourselves?” He answered. “And you didn’t take Theo because of me, you didn’t even know I knew him, you just took him because he’s a werewolf. So where the fuck is he?” He pressed, not lowering his gun.
“There’s more of us, you know that right?”
“Back at you. You think we’re alone?” Still, neither of them said anything. “Now, either one of you tells me where Theo is or I shoot one of you in the head and the remaining one tells me.” They looked at each other, clearly trying to choose what they should do, Stiles was getting impatient. “We’re going to find him eventually. So your only choice is whether I let you live or not. So what will it be?”
Stiles could tell the exact moment they both decided thay valued their lives more than keeping a werewolf.
“Fine, come with us.”
They guided them to one of the houses in the town, Stiles never lowered his gun and Derek kept Eli close to himself, afraid he might lose him again. Stiles looked around, it seemed that they were going into the house where Eli had escaped from when he sensed his father and Stiles were close. They went into the basement and saw Theo tied up and passed out.
“Untie him,” Stiles told them and made a gesture with his gun. The guy without the injured hand untied him while he sat on the floor, he limped all the way to the house but Stiles didn’t particularly care. Theo woke up with a gasp when he felt something moving him. He looked up and frowned when he saw who they were.
“Derek?” He asked when he saw Derek standing there, but he immediately moved his eyes towards Stiles. “Holy shit, Stiles,” he exclaimed and got up when he noticed he wasn’t tied anymore.
Stiles took a step back and was stunned into silence when the first thing that Theo did was go in for a hug. He looked over at Derek with a puzzled look but Derek only gave him a shrug and a soft smile. When Theo took a step back he looked at the two guys, holding their injuries and looking a little scared. He opened his mouth to say something but Derek was faster.
“Don’t take our people ever again. Am I clear?” He said and flashed his red eyes, Stiles hadn’t seen those in a while. “And don’t even try to follow us, we’ll know and we’ll come back to finish the job.”
Stiles could tell Eli was surprised to see his dad be so threatening, judging by the way Eli described Derek, he wasn’t used to seeing him be threatening. Derek made a gesture with his chin and so that they could leave. Theo closed the door of the basement with a latch.
“That’ll slow them down,” he mumbled and followed them outside. “Please tell me you have a car, I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah, it’s just down the road,” Derek told him.
“So this is the son you’ve been talking about non-stop,”Theo guessed, looking over at Eli.
“They weren’t keeping you in the same place?” Stiles asked him.
“No, but I could hear him, he really gave them a hard time, kept saying that ‘his dad’ was coming to get him. I thought he was joking, if I’d known it was Derek I would’ve held out more hope.”
“I can relate to that…” Stiles agreed and snorted, remembering all the months Eli called Derek ‘my dad’ and Stiles never, in a million years, would’ve imagined it would be Derek.
“I’m not gonna start calling my dad ‘Derek’ just for your sake.” Eli protested.
“Please never do that,” Derek agreed and they all laughed.
They reached the car and Stiles got on the driver seat without thinking about it. Eli and Theo got on the backseat while Derek sat on the passenger seat.
“Theo, you can grab a jacket from the back, it’s really cold.”
Theo didn’t hesitate, they were all wearing jackets except for him and he was shivering. It was cold enough that not even werewolves could do anything about it. He was just glad he wasn’t on the road alone with Eli when he was injured. It was extremely cold and it was a pretty scary moment. But he knew they would be back in Beacon Hills by the morning.
“We should make some distance between us and Canaan and then find a place to rest for the night,” Stiles told everyone and they agreed.
“When did you get back to Beacon Hills?” Theo asked him once they started driving,
“Just a couple of days ago. I wasn’t planning on coming back, but that little fucker forced me,” he said and made a gesture to Eli, who was sitting behind him.
“Hey, you’re welcome, you saw your dad again.”
“Yeah, and you yours, you should be thanking me.” Derek laughed when he saw Eli’s reaction, which was huff and cross his arms.
“You guys are okay, right? They didn’t do anything to you?” Derek asked them while Stiles drove.
“They were all bark, just a few threats but they didn’t do anything,” Eli answered easily. Theo shook his head.
“Nothing I haven’t handled before. Amateurs. They reminded me a little bit of Monroe’s hunters.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. We got rid of Monroe but I’m sure all the people that joined her are still out there, it was pretty much the whole town,” Derek explained and Theo nodded.
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Theo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back on the sweat. “You guys took so long to come and get me, I thought no one was coming.”
“We had no one to send out,” Derek explained. “Stiles volunteered when he came back.”
“Really? To save me?” Theo asked in a teasing tone, Stiles rolled his eyes.
“The only reason I’m not driving this car straight over a cliff is because Derek and Eli are here. Don’t think I’m forgetting what you did just because everyone else did.”
“Stiles, it was years ago,” Theo tried to reason and Stiles looked at him through the rear-view mirror.
“Yeah? Tell that to Tracy.”
“And Donovan?” Theo countered and Stiles slammed the breaks so fast they all lunged forward. Stiles went to grab his gun immediately but Derek was faster and took it from him.
“You are not killing Theo,” he told him and Stiles looked him in the eyes. “You know he’s doing this just to rile you up.”
“Well, it’s working, give me the gun.” Derek sighed.
“Theo, show him your eyes.” Theo frowned and shook his head.
“What, why?” Stiles asked, confused.
“Theo,” Derek said again in a more authoritative tone and he flashed his eyes red. Theo’s eyes immediately flashed blue and Stiles gasped when he saw that.
“Why are they blue now?” Stiles asked in confusion.
“Guilt,” Derek answered for him and Theo avoided Stiles’ questioning eyes. “Now, can we drive in peace without trying to kill each other?”
Stiles gave a short nod and looked back at the road to start the car again. They continued the drive in complete silence and Derek put the gun on the glove compartment. Eli looked really confused by the whole exchange but he didn’t dare to ask questions, Theo simply looked out the window with his arms crossed.
“We can stop around here to get some rest,” Derek said after a while of driving, it was already dark out. Stiles pulled over and saw Derek pull the gun out of the glove compartment. “Eli, come with me, let’s check if there are any zombies around, you two stay put, try not to kill each other, okay?”
Derek didn’t wait for an answer and he opened the car door to leave, Eli hesitated and looked at Stiles before he followed his dad. Suddenly the car was in complete silence as Stiles watched Derek and Eli leave. It took a whole minute for Theo to open his mouth and break the silence.
“So what’s the deal between you and Derek?” Theo asked suddenly, catching Stiles off-guard.
“What do you mean?” Stiles asked, feigning innocence. Theo chuckled and gave him a look.
“I’m not stupid, Stiles,” he said and laughed. “It’s kind of obvious.”
“Are you serious? We haven’t even changed that much, it can’t be that obvious!” Stiles said, frustrated, Theo shook his head.
“Wait, what do you mean by ‘changed that much’, were you like this before?” He asked and Stiles suddenly realized something, Theo laughed. “Stiles, I met Derek after you left Beacon Hills, I didn’t even know you guys were close.”
“So you’re telling me that if you met him before…”
“Yeah, I would’ve still asked. It was probably obvious back then too, if you’re saying you haven’t changed much.”
“You know, I hate having you around.”
“Why? Because I tell you the truth? You were never the one to follow orders and Derek didn’t have to ask twice.”
“I don’t know what Liam sees in you…” Stiles said and let out a loud sigh as he leaned back against his seat.
“What?” Theo asked and perked up, Stiles scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Did he say something?”
Stiles gave him a baffled expression throught the rear-view mirror and turned his head slowly to look at him.
“Are you a puppy?” He asked him, almost mocking him. “No, he didn’t say anything, but he almost bit Derek’s head off when he wouldn’t let him go after you.”
“Why wouldn’t he let him?”
“Have you met Liam? He’d jump in front of danger to save a butterfly, I don’t want to know what he’d do for you. Apparently he’s in love with you or something.”
“Wait, what?”
“Okay, Theo, I got back three days ago, calm down. I don’t know shit, I’m just calling it how I see it.”
“We only…” Theo started to mumble but stopped to think for a moment. “We only kissed for the first time right before I left. This whole time I thought he would think I ran away or something. He wanted to come look for me?”
“Yeah, he was convinced you were in danger,” Stiles replied and shrugged. “What’s up with the blue eyes?” He finally broke and asked.
“I was bitten,” Theo answered. “By a Zombie, I mean.”
“Yeah, I know, Derek told me.”
“Seriously? He said we shouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Well, I’m not anyone, I’m Stiles,” he said as if that was enough explanation. “What does a Zombie bite have anything to do with your blue eyes?”
“It took me almost a week to completely heal without dying or turning. In that time I guess it triggered my transformation completely. I’m not a lab-rat anymore, I’m a werewolf. I can’t walk through mountain ash, I get hurt with wolvesbane, and I can’t fully shift. And I got blue eyes,” he explained and shrugged. “Derek said it’s because of guilt.”
“I never actually got an answer as to why werewolves have blue eyes, if it’s just guilt or killing.” He looked down at his hands before he looked back up at the rear-view mirror. “But I’m gonna choose to trust Derek on this one, so don’t fuck it up.”
Theo nodded just as the car door opened and Derek and Eli sat back down next to them.
“It’s clear. We should eat something and get some sleep. Especially you two,” Derek said, looking back at Theo and Eli, they nodded.
“God, yes, I’m starving,” Theo lamented and they all got out of the car knowing that they were safe now.
Stiles went to topen his duffel bag with food to see what they could eat.
“I’ve only got one sandwich left, we can heat up a few cans but we need to make a fire,” he informed them while he took out the water bottles that were left.
“All right, I can go look for some wood,” Eli perked up and Stiles nodded and gave him a gesture as if to saying’go ahead’, they were used to that, it was their usual routine when they were on their own.
“Theo, go with Eli,” Derek told him and Theo nodded, following behind Eli so he wouldn’t go alone.
“It’s weird seeing Theo following your orders…” Stiles mumbled when they were far away enough that they wouldn’t hear him, although with supernatural hearing he could never be sure.
“Imagine how I felt when I saw Eli doing whatever you said, I guess it’s the same feeling,” Derek joked.
“Eli’s just a rowdy teenager, Theo was a murderer, there’s a difference.”
“Stiles…” Derek started and took a step forward, Stiles leaned against the car and looked at him. “I get that it’s hard to forget what he did, trust me, I understand. And I’m not even sure I know the whole story, I wasn’t there. But you have to try, does it help if I say that I trust him?”
Stiles sighed and looked down.
“Fine, just because you say you trust him. But it hasn’t been that long since you know him.”
“About the same time you know my son. Do you think you’ve made a good assumption on his character?”
Stiles grinned and leaned closer.
“I’m a better judge of character than you are,” Stiles teased and Derek chuckled, nodding.
“True. But can I trust you at least to not turn my house into a war-zone whe we get back? Theo’s living with Liam and I, and Eli’s back in his old room.”
“Well then it’s a good thing that I’m at the loft. You probably need to get away from that house for a while. I get that they’ve grown but I’m sure staying with Liam and Theo has been just like living with a couple of teenagers.”
“Oh, trust me, it has.” Derek replied and chuckled, he leaned on the car too. “Do you want to stay at the loft?”
“Yeah, I’d rather have that than share, honestly. Plus, I feel like it’s the only place that still feels like home. Even the school changed so much.” Derek gave him a soft smile when he heard him say that. “By the way, why isn’t Mason sharing with Liam? I thought if they had to share a house it would be together.”
“Oh, yeah, we had a bit of trouble with that. Some humans didn’t want to share with werewolves or other supernatural creatures. So we made the houses either fully supernatural or fully human,” Stiles frowned when he heard that. “I know it sounds bad but it’s better honestly, it’s easier to handle full moons and we can locate everyone easily. That’s why Liam is with me, Mason is with your dad.”
“How many people live in each house?”
“Depends on how big they are, but usually around four or five,” Derek explained. “I got lucky with Liam and then we had Theo. We talked about Kira moving in with us too, but she’s with Parrish and a few other werewolves.”
“Pretty good system. Did you come up with it?”
“Yeah…” Stiles could register some bitterness in his tone. “I just— I was tired about how things were being done. And I was angry because I couldn’t go look for Eli, your dad wouldn’t let me, he said it was better to stay put…” Stiles listened intently, knowing he was going somewhere with that. “I got into an altercation at the grocery store, people were still just stealing everything and we still had fights almost every day. This guy tried to steal some milk from a woman and I knocked him out with a punch. I’m not proud of it, but I think everyone started listening to me after that because they were afraid.”
“Derek, I can tell they’re not afraid anymore,” Stiles reassured him. “I saw how everyone talked to you when I was there. They really see you as a leader. Because it’s what you are, and a good leader has to be scary sometimes.”
“You know Eli was scared of me for years?”
“He was three, Derek. I was scared of fucking Elmo when I was three, what matters now is that he’s no afraid of shifting anymore,” Derek chuckled when he heard that. “Do you know how happy he was when he shifted? Trust me, he really wanted to be a werewolf. Just so he could be like you.”
Derek smiled and it took him a few seconds to say something back.
“Elmo?” He finally asked and Stiles threw his head back, laughing.
“What? His eyes bugged me and that shade of red made me think he was a little demon or something. Don’t question me!”
They both laughed loudly until Derek leaned closer and placed a hand against his cheek so he could kiss him. Stiles melted against him and moved his hands to rest them against Derek’s hips. It wasn’t ten seconds later when they heard a gasp and some rustling. Derek immediately stepped back and they both turned to look at where the sound came from. Standing a few feet away from them was a gaping Eli who definitely had just dropped all of the branches he picked up as soon as he saw his father kissing Stiles.
There were a few seconds of silence before Eli spoke and broke it.
“You know, when I said I wanted you to meet my dad, I didn’t mean this.” Stiles dropped his head and brought his hand up to his face to suppress a laugh. “Although I can’t say I didn’t expect it, just not this soon. How did you manage fifteen years?”
Derek opened his mouth, but it didn’t look like he knew what he was going to say. THankfully, they were saved when Theo walked up behind Eli and gave them a puzzled look when he saw they were all just standing there without saying anything.
“Are we eating?” He asked and Stiles nodded.
“Yeah,” he answered and leaned away from the car. “Yeah, Eli come start the fire with me, you have to learn at some point,” he said and guided Eli away from the car, he never liked making the fire too close to where they were going to sleep, just in case it ignited again while they slept. Derek and Theo stayed behind, seeing what Stiles brought to eat.
“Seriously?” Eli whispered once they were alone. “You spend months telling me my dad is dead and the second you meet him you’re making out with him?”
“Eli,” Stiles brought a hand to his forehead and tried to start a fire while he thought about what to say. “I already knew him,” he tried to reason with him but Eli didn’t seem convinced. “Listen, Eli. I can handle it, if you don’t want me to be with your dad just say the word and I’ll back away.” Eli frowned when he heard him say that.
“What?”
“It’s your dad, your call. You don’t want me to be with him, I’ll keep my distance.”
“No, Stiles. God, I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t do that to you, or my dad. You both clearly want to be together, I’m not going to be the one standing in your way,” he said, Stiles felt relief fill him. “Plus, isn’t it a little too late to be asking that? You seemed pretty chummy earlier, if you tell him you don’t want to be with him you won’t just be the guy that’s dating my father you’ll be the asshole that broke my dad’s heart, and we’ll have a problem then.”
Stiles threw his head back and let out a loud laugh.
“Hey, I was actually going to ask you first, it was Derek the one who kissed me, I wasn’t going to reject him.”
“I’ll break your legs if you hurt him,” Eli warned again and Stiles chuckled.
“All right, got it, never break your dad’s heart.”
Eli still didn’t manage to start the fire on his own, it was hard Stiles understood that, even with matches, it usually died before they could heat something up. Stiles made sure it burned for a while longer while they were eating just so they didn’t freeze to death. He knew he was probably the one that suffered the cold the most since he wasn’t a werewolf, but he was sure they were cold too.
“You two should sleep, Derek and I will keep watch for a while, okay?”
Theo and Eli seemed too tired to protest, so they went to the car to get some sleep before they went back to Beacon Hills. Derek helped him clean up and put everything back in the trunk. Before they could close the trunk they heard Theo snoring in the backseat and Eli in the passenger seat. Stiles sat on the open trunk and let out a long sigh, Derek sat next to him. They both looked at each other before they said anything.
“We are definitely not sleeping,” they said at the same time and chuckled when they realized. Neither of them wanted a repeat of what happened the night prior. Especially when they knew there were hunters out there looking for them.
“Do you think they’ll follow through with their threat?”
“They’re not that many, trust me. And even if they go to Beacon Hills, you know exactly what will be waiting for them.”
“Yeah, fucking Argent. Jesus, it was pretty scary when they surrounded Eli and I before we set food in Beacon Hills,” Stiles chuckled and nodded. “What do you think’s harder, handling the border or the inside?”
“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t trade handling people to handling zombies, I hate them,” Derek mumbled. “I hate every time I have to go get supplies. But I don’t really do it anymore, they need me to be there. Last time I left for two days when I got back the place was a mess.”
“Do you just let werewolves go outside?”
“I mean, we’re not holding anyone hostage. We’ve had a few people leave because they wanted to go look for their family outside of Beacon Hills. But for supply runs… Yeah, usually just supernatural creatures, it’s easier. We haven’t lost anyone on a supply run yet.”
“Except Theo…” Stiles reminded him. “The places where you usually get your supplies don’t have any stuff anymore so you have to go further to find something, right?” Derek nodded slowly. “Don’t let other people out of the town, werewolves can’t handle zombies due to the smell and you guys are needed inside. I’ll take care of looking for supplies, I’m good at that,” Stiles said and shrugged as he studied Derek’s expression and smiled at him. “You’re welcome to come with me whenever you want to, obviously,” he added and Derek chuckled, noticing how transparent he was.
“Eli’s not gonna like that.”
“Yeah, because he gets FOMO, not because he doesn’t want us to be together, he just wants to be there when we’re together.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I asked.” Derek raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t steal his dad. No matter how long we’ve known each other. I wanted to know if he was cool with it.”
Derek smiled, Stiles hadn’t seen that genuine of a smile on Derek since… Ever. He could tell he valued the fact that Stiles took into account Eli as part of the package that came with Derek.
“By the way,” Derek said suddenly, breaking the silence. “How did you teach him control? Did you use a mantra or something?” Stiles choked on nothing, he didn’t think Derek would be keen on the fact that Stiles basically shot a gun at Eli.
“Listen,” Stiles started to talk and raised his hands in surrender, Derek was already frowning. “If I’d known it was your kid I would’ve gone about it differently, okay?”
“What did you do?” Derek asked, getting concerned.
“Well, let’s just say, he won’t be needing any mantras because he’ll be able to control his shift even in really high stress situations.” Derek raised an eyebrow and brought a hand to his temple.
“Please tell me you didn’t throw him to a horde of zombies…”
“Oh my God! No! I’m stupid but not that stupid! It was a controlled environment, okay? Just maybe not the safest in your eyes.”
“But he was safe?”
“He was with me, of course he was safe,” Derek was surprised by Stiles’ confidence in his tone, and it made him believe him. “Remember how I taught Scott to find an anchor?”
“You let him get beat up by a bunch of guys, please tell me you didn’t do that with my son.”
“I did not! Okay, my first attempt with Scott was throwing Lacrosse balls at him. In lieu of that… I used a gun.” Stiles had never seen Derek’s eyes go as wide as they did when he heard that. “I didn’t actually shoot him! I’m a perfect shot, okay? I just used the sound to scare him… I know it sounds bad. I’m sorry.”
“Stiles…” Derek mumbled and took a deep breath in, clearly trying to control his anger. “If you were anyone else…”
“I know, you’d rip my throat out with your teeth. I call that progress.” Stiles tried to joke and Derek simply rolled his eyes and sighed. “He’s fine, okay? That’s all that matters. I know you can’t bring yourself to be mean to him because you don’t wanna repeat what happened to your previous pack. But sometimes that’s just what he needs, trust me, I know. You threw me around enough for me to leave, but I’m still here, right? Different people, different teaching methods, and I know he’s just like me.”
Derek looked at him with a blank expression, Stiles still had a hard time desciphring his expressions, especially after so many years of not seeing him. He got nervous and shook his head, regretting bringing up his old pack, that was probably a sore spot for him.
"I'm sorry, I stepped on your toes, he's your son, not mine…" Stiles said and hung his head low. There was a moment of silence before Derek spoke.
"No, you’re right. You’re the one who would know how to teach him, he’s just like you. Even looks the part…" Derek snorted, Stiles raised his head when he heard him admit that.
"Uh, yeah, what's up with that, actually?" Stiles finally asked, he'd been thinking about it ever since he found out Derek was his father.
"The truth?" Derek asked without looking away from the floor.
"No, lie to me," Stiles replied without missing a beat, Derek chuckled.
"It was a hook-up."
"You, hooking up?" Stiles asked, genuinely surprised.
"I know, shocker." Derek followed and shook his head. "You know I don't usually do that, but I guess loneliness caught up to me. Tried to fill a void."
"Stiles' sized void?" Stiles guessed and leaned closer, Derek turned his head to look at him.
"She… Yeah, she kinda looked like you…" Derek finally admitted it and tried not to feel embarrassed about it. Stiles grinned like he just found it amusing, Derek wasn't expecting that reaction.
"I can't blame you for that 'cause I did the same thing," he said and shrugged, Derek frowned. "I started hooking up with this guy from work because he kinda looked like you."
“Seriously?” Derek asked and chuckled, baffled.
“Yeah, it was pathetic. And you don’t even want to know how long it took me to figure out the resemblance. Pretty embarrassing.”
“More than having a kid?”
“Okay, yeah, I think you win on that one,” Stiles replied and they both laughed, trying to keep it down so they wouldn’t wake up Theo and Eli. “So when was it? ‘Cause Eli’s not that young, and I’ve been trying to do the math here… Was it when we came back to defeat Monroe? ‘Cause if you were hooking up with chicks that looked like me while we were sharing a ride to Beacon Hills… That seriously takes the cake as the most embarrassing story.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly like that…” Derek mumbled and looked down. “It was a bit earlier than that… Scott called me after everything went down with the riders. Essentially… I knew I was forgetting something but I didn’t know exactly what it was.”
“Wait… You forgot me too? I guess I never thought about everyone I knew that wasn’t in Beacon Hills.”
“Yeah. Well… I guess my subconscious kind of knew what I was missing.”
“So you hooked up with a female version of me?”
“That sounds awful out loud.”
“It’s okay, I did the same, but I wasn’t straight about it.” Stiles laughed and leaned back.. “So Eli was already cooking when we met back in Beacon Hills? After the Anukite?” Derek chuckled.
“‘Cooking’? Sure, yeah. He was. But I didn’t find out until much later. And you were already dating Lydia. That’s why I didn’t talk to you after that.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m not sure that was the best decision, honestly.”
“I thought you dated her for two years.”
“Yeah, and half of that time was spent on missed phone calls and weekend flights.”
“Right, you were in Washington.”
“And she was in California, pretty long ride. It just… Yeah, wasn’t meant to be.”
“Do you miss her?”
“Yeah, of course. But because she was one of my best friends. We stayed in touch after we broke up. Grew apart after a while. I honestly haven’t been able to hold down a relationship ever since then.”
“Same here, being betrayed by two of my exes has done wonders to my trust issues.” Stiles threw his head back and let out a laugh.
“That sounds like something your therapist would say,” he commented and they both chuckled. “What happened to Eli’s mom?”
“Oh, she wanted to give him up for adoption. She was going into her second year of college and had her life planned out, apparently, me or a kid were not supposed to be in the picture.”
“So you kept him?”
“Yes. I had nothing going on and I thought it would be my only chance to build my own family.”
“Wait, so she never saw Eli again?”
“I sent her pictures the first few months, but then she asked me to stop because it was hard for her. So I respected her privacy.”
“And Eli never asked for her?”
“No, not really. I guess if you’ve never had a mother you don’t really miss her. Trust me, I sent him to therapy when he was a kid so that I could be sure he wasn’t just lying to me about not caring.”
“Aw, you sent your kid to therapy? You are a good dad.” Stiles cooed and then laughed. “You’d be a great dad if you went to therapy yourself.”
“I did. I found a therapist that specializes in the supernatural. Eli got really scared of my shift when he was a kid, I needed him to talk it through.”
“Hey, and it worked. Now he’s not afraid of shifting.”
“Yeah, but he’s moody and closed off, so… Still got a lot of work to do and not a lot of therapists still alive after the apocalypse.”
“I’m sure we’ll find one,” Stiles joked and bumped his shoulder. “And he’s not that bad, I was like him when I was a teenager, I turned out fine, right? Don’t answer that,” he added immediately before Derek could contradict him. Derek simply laughed.
He slipped an arm around Stiles’ shoulders and brought him closer in a half hug. Stiles nestled against Derek’s shoulder and tried not to fall asleep. They couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“We shouldn’t fall asleep…”
“What time do you think is an appropriate time to wake them up so we can go to Beacon Hills?” Stiles asked and looked up at him.
“I don’t know, but we can also try to drive without them waking up…”
“Two werewolves? Yeah, no way in hell they’re not waking up. And one of us would have to ride in the trunk ‘cause I honestly don’t know how Theo can comfortably fit in the backseat.”
“Well, he’s had some practice…” Derek mumbled and Stiles looked at him confusedly. “He lived out of his car for a few years… I thought you knew.”
“No, I had no idea, when was this?”
“Right after you came back from the riders.”
Stiles nodded and thought about it for while, that was a weird time in his life that he mostly wanted to forget. It wasn’t too hard to think about something else, since Derek was basically holding him. If anyone told him where he would be now a year ago he would’ve thought they were insane. But they truly needed the world ending to finally get together, only they would be stubborn enough to wait that long. They continued to talk calmly for a few hours so they wouldn’t end up falling asleep and when they saw the sky start to get a bit clear they decided to wake up Theo and Eli. They were not happy about that.
“We’re going to get there eventually, can’t we sleep a bit more?”
“No, Eli, we should get going, come on. At least get in the backseat.” Derek tols him and tried to wake him up fully, Eli simply groaned.
“Eli get up,” Stiles said suddenly, a bit more loudly than Derek, and Eli groaned loudly but still got up to move to the back seat where Theo was already sitting and rubbing his eyes to keep himself awake.
Derek looked at Stiles over the car-hood after Eli closed the door and Stiles gave him a questioning look.
“You gotta teach me how to do that…” Stiles frowned and gaped at him, suddenly realizing something.
“I can’t believe that out of the two of us I’m the bad cop,” Stiles said, sounding completely baffled. “What the hell happened to us?”
Derek chuckled and shrugged before he got into the car, Stiles followed him and sat on the driver seat. Eli spoke up right after Stiles turned on the car.
“Because you’re a bit more scary than him, my dad’s harmless,” he said, still a little bit sleepy.
“Your dad? Harmless??” Stiles asked, sounding more surprised by the second. “Yeah, right.” Stiles laughed and Derek sighed as he covered his eyes with his hand. “Except when he was throwing me against walls and threatening me to rip my throat out, with his teeth!” Stiles exclaimed and Eli dropped his jaw, suddenly awake. “And that’s not counting the time you slammed my head against the steering wheel or that other time you almost broke my hand.” He continued and pointed a finger at Derek, who lowered his hand to look at him.
“You had those last two coming… And I didn’t break your hand, you asked for it, we were joking.” Derek replied and Stiles simply rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the chuckle.
“What the hell?” They both turned to look at Eli, who was looking at them like he didn’t know them.
“Yeah, you got the soft and mellowed out version of Derek, he was pretty scary when I met him.”
“‘When you met him’? He still is, you’re just his son,” Theo cut in and Stiles let out a loud laugh. Eli didn’t say anything and simply settled on the backseat to catch up on some sleep, but he could see through the reaview mirror a soft smile curling up in his lips.
They kept in silence while they drove because Stiles noticed Eli and Theo had fallen asleep again. So he turned to look at Derek for a second before he looked back at the road.
“You can sleep too if you want to.”
“No way, and let you fall asleep on the road? We’re holding on until we get home.”
Stiles chuckled and nodded.
Thankfully they already knew the way back without encountering any hordes, so they didn’t need Eli to stay awake. They got there a few hours later without any hiccups. Chris Argent probably alerted everyone that they were coming back because a few people came to greet them while they were getting their stuff out of the trunk. Liam was the first to ran out of the door and almost jump in Theo’s arms, Stiles suppressed a chuckle and gave Derek a look. He was about to tell them to get a room but something else caught his eye, a few people were approaching them.
Stiles squinted his eyes and tried to guess who had come to welcome them, his dad was there, but he wasn’t alone, Melissa was next to him and was that…?
“Scott!” Stiles yelled and started running immediately, Scott smiled and picked up the pace to catch Stiles’ bone crushing hug, which he didn’t even feel because he was thirty times stronger than Stiles. “Dude! I can’t believe you’re here!”
“They told me over the radio that you were back, I made the trip immediately.”
“You guys use radios?” Stiles asked and looked back at his dad.
“Just the one, we had a pretty old one at the station,” his dad explained and Stiles clapped Scott on the shoulder, glad that he was back.
“And they told me you brought Eli back,” Scott said and looked over at Eli, who smiled at him widely.
“Yeah, almost, he basically strung me along.”
“Stop being humble, come on, let’s go inside, it’s cold out,” Derek told them as he started to walk towards the entrance.
It was the first time he was in Derek’s house, but with everyone there it didn’t feel that strange. After a while Kira and Mason joined them, Stiles studied the way Kira and Scott greeted each other, they seemed friendly, so he guessed they’d already seen each other before that encounter. He was happy that he was talking with Scott again, it was almost like they picked up right where they left off.
“I’m gonna go take this upstairs,” Derek said suddenly, picking up his backpack and a couple bags that they had in the trunk. Stiles got up and helped him carry the remaining ones. “You can leave that one in Eli’s room, it’s there.”
Stiles nodded and left the bag inside the room before he closed the door again and followed Derek. He was locking up his weapons in a safe that he had in his closet, Stiles looked around the room curiously, guessing that this was Derek’s room.
“I need a shower, a change of clothes and 48 hours of sleep,” Stiles commented casually.
“I think I could do with maybe a few hours of sleep before I even think about doing anything else,” Derek mumbled and turned to look at him.
“I don’t want to go back down…” Stiles complained and reached a hand to grab Derek’s wrist so he could make him step closer to him.
He casually looked up at him and kissed him, Derek moved his hand and wrapped it around Stiles’ waist before he took another step forward. As soon as Stiles’ knees hit the bed he sat down and made Derek follow him, they ended up lying on the bed while they kissed lazily. At one point Stiles moved his head to the side and sighed, Derek leaned down to kiss down his neck but stopped when he noticed Stiles breathe deeply.
“Stiles, you’re falling asleep…” Derek said before Stiles could fully fall asleep.
“Mh,” Stiles groaned and wrapped his arms around Derek’s shoulders to hug him, Derek tried to stop him but he ended up dropping on top of him. “Let’s just sleep, okay? I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah, me too, but don’t you want to at least take off your shoes? Let me move so I don’t crush you?” Derek asked and chuckled.
“No, this is nice,” Stiles whispered and fell asleep almost immediately. It didn’t take too long for Derek to follow and they both ended up falling asleep like that.
Half an hour later Eli opened the door to his dad’s room and saw them completely passed out and snoring lowly. Eli chuckled and leaned against the doorframe.
“Found them,” he said, he didn’t even care about lowering his voice because he knew nothing would wake them up. Theo and Liam stuck their heads inside the room and suppressed a laugh when they saw them. They shifted while they slept and now they were just a messy tangle of limbs.
“You guys should probably just let them rest,” Noah told them and grabbed the door to close it gently.
Stiles stirred in his sleep when he heard the door close, but he continued to breathe deeply and he only moved to bury his head against Derek’s neck. Derek rested his cheek on Stiles’ crown. They hadn’t had a deep sleep in months and they knew it was only because they were next to the right person.
Notes:
aand that's a wrap!
sorry for the long wait, i had a hard time finishing this last chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed this fic.
Comments are greatly appreciated, I want to hear your thoughts!
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Last Edited Mon 19 Feb 2024 12:43PM UTC
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