who we are

by LookWhatIHaveWaitingForMe

Summary:

How Eli fought his way out of pain and misery into the hearts of a very special family.

Notes:

** disclaimer **

There is some depiction of violence at the beginning of this story. While it's never explicitly mentioned what Eli's father does to him, it hints at sexual abuse.

 

we’re born at night

so much of our lives

is just carving through the dark

to get so far

and the hardest part

is who we are

- Who We Are (Hozier)

 

Eli was only six years old when he decided that living wasn’t as fun as people made it out to be. It had been tolerable when he was around three, although he couldn’t really remember it that well. But when he was three, his mama had still been around and she had taken him to the park occasionally and let him play with children his age – he remembered that much. Sure, she had had her episodes as well, but she had always been nicer and less cold than his daddy, whose only way of talking to Eli was through yelling and throwing things at him.

It was a bit better now that he had a girlfriend, so every time he was angry, he would just let it out on her. Occasionally, Ruby even defended Eli when daddy was yelling at him. She once stood between them when daddy had thrown another bottle at him. Eli had hidden in his room immediately after hearing the bottle break into a thousand pieces, but through the door he had been able to make out the screams of both adults.

Ruby didn’t even come close to his mama. She was a beta while his mama had been an omega, so she smelled different. There weren’t many Omegas around, not even in school. Most of the time it felt like Eli was the only one, so he missed having someone around who reminded him of his mama.

Ruby was fine, but he didn’t even like her that much. Still, he hoped with all his heart that she would never leave. Sometimes he got on his knees before bedtime, folded his hands together and squeezed his eyes shut tightly to pray to God that Ruby would stay with them or – even better – take Eli with her once she decided to leave his daddy.

He had enjoyed kindergarten because it had been the only way to get a break from everything going on at home, but once he had started elementary school everything had changed. During kindergarten, no one had batted an eye when Eli had been absent for over a week because his daddy didn’t feel like walking him. Sometimes he had waited for certain bruises to fade on Eli’s skin before he was allowed to go again. Now that he attended elementary school, the teachers were a lot stricter when it came to attendance.

In the beginning, daddy had often forgotten to wake up on time, since school started a lot earlier than kindergarten. He had gotten in trouble a lot the first few weeks, but after a while the teachers had stopped scolding him for it. Now they just nodded in his direction when he entered the classroom after everyone was already sitting at their tables.

One time, Eli had dropped a whole carton of milk on the kitchen floor, causing the milk to splatter on the tiles and kitchen cabinets. Daddy had shoved him so hard that he stumbled and crashed into the open door of the refrigerator. His entire arm had been bruised, so his daddy hadn’t let him go to school again. It lasted for almost two weeks until the police appeared at their door and got angry with daddy. Luckily, the bruise had almost disappeared by that time, so they didn’t notice anything. All they did was talk to his daddy in a really serious voice about how important it was that Eli attended school regularly and how he was breaking the law if he kept him home for too long without a good reason.

After that incident, Eli had rarely missed school again. When bruises did form on his skin, he had to cover them up with long-sleeved shirts that were much too hot for summertime in California, or he had to make up a convincing story about how he got them.

It was around Christmas time when his daddy became uncharacteristically nice to him. He stopped punishing him for every little mistake and never made him late for school again (probably because Ruby was the one getting him ready every day). However, he also started inviting his weird friends over more often. Eli didn’t really like them – they talked too loudly and aggressively, and they always smoked together, so the whole apartment stank of it for at least three days. It was a different smell than the smoke of cigarettes he sometimes encountered in public.

On Christmas Eve, his daddy had his friends over again. They left late at night; maybe it was already Christmas Day (Eli didn’t know how to read the time yet). Eli lay in his bed and couldn’t fall asleep. He was excited for Christmas and couldn’t wait for his presents and the food they would order, even though nobody had asked him what he wished for this year. He wasn’t a baby anymore – he knew there was no Santa Claus, but that it was the parents who bought their children Christmas presents every year. He had found out the truth two years ago when Santa had visited them in kindergarten. He had given them candy and colored pencils, but when Eli had approached the bearded man, he had clearly recognized that it was Luca’s grandfather – some kid in his class – who had visited them a few months earlier on family day. Eli was good with faces, so he had been sure it was him.

So, when he heard strange noises in the living room, he got up quickly to check whether his daddy or Ruby were actually preparing something for Christmas. They didn’t have a Christmas tree or a chimney, but Eli didn’t really care. Sure, he would have loved to have either, but he could live without it as long as there were presents.

Carefully, he opened his bedroom door and peeked through the narrow gap in front of him. He could see his father sitting on the couch, a cigarette in his hand. He was staring at the ceiling, watching the smoke move above his head. His feet rested on the small table in front of him, which always made Ruby mad. She would always swat his feet away and scold him for it, while daddy would yell at her that he had bought the table, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with it.

Eli watched him for a long time. He was disappointed that there were no presents in sight. Just as he was about to turn around and go back to bed, his daddy’s eyes fell on him. Eli expected him to yell or maybe throw his cigarette at him to make him go to bed, but he did neither. He watched Eli for a long time and occasionally took a drag from his cigarette. Eli knew that he could just turn around and leave, but it was like he was frozen on the spot. His fingers, gripping the door handle, went numb, and there was a lump in his throat that wouldn’t go away.

In the dim light of the lamp next to the TV, his daddy’s face looked kind of scary – like the face of a villain in a TV show.

“What are you doing up at this hour?” he asked. His voice sounded weird, really unlike him. He was dragging his words, and it was less deep than it normally was. Eli frowned while trying to figure out why it was different.

“You look like your mother when you do that,” his father smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. At least Eli thought so. He tried to relax his face because it sounded like his daddy didn’t like the way he looked, but he wasn’t sure it was working.

Meanwhile, his daddy got up from the couch and put out the cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table. He walked toward Eli, who quickly backed away from the man and tried to close the door before his daddy could reach him. A strong hand was placed on the door handle and opened the door wider.

“Let’s put you to bed,” his daddy muttered and entered Eli’s bedroom. There was a flicker of hope that rose inside Eli’s body when he heard those words. His daddy had never put him to bed before. That was something his mother had done when he was younger. Eagerly, he hopped on the bed and waited for his daddy to join him.

After that night, he decided that he didn’t like it when his daddy put him to bed. He hoped no one would put him to bed ever again.

 

***

 

When it started to get warmer and spring break came closer, his daddy’s and Ruby’s fights became more frequent. They argued loudly most nights, prompting neighbors to knock, but his father always ignored them. He and Ruby threw dishes and bottles at each other, and for the first time Eli wished she would simply leave so his daddy would stop yelling. It was also because every time he was extremely mad at Ruby, he started coming over to Eli’s bedroom more often – and that was something Eli disliked the most of all the things his father did.

One night, Eli saw red and blue lights from outside his window. Ruby and his daddy had been yelling at each other for almost two hours, so Eli had gone to bed early. He didn’t have many toys, just his favorite stuffed bunny Thumper and a few race cars, but he wasn’t a big fan of cars. Most of the time he just lay in bed, looking at the ceiling, cuddling Thumper, and imagining what his life would be like if his mama was still around.

He didn’t realize that the police car parked in front of their apartment complex was there for them until the doorbell rang. He heard his daddy curse loudly, and afterwards everything went quiet. There were clinking noises and muffled sounds in the living room, then the doorbell rang again. Finally, somebody opened the door, and Eli made out the sounds of a deep male and a strict female voice that probably belonged to the police officers.

Eli knew he was supposed to stay in bed. It wasn’t the first time the police had visited, and his father had always told him to stay away when they came over. But Eli loved the police. He had been able to talk to them twice already – once in kindergarten and once in school. In kindergarten, it had been an older alpha woman who had taught them everything about her job. She had even brought handcuffs, and they had been allowed to sit in her police car. In school, a male beta police officer had visited them to teach them about traffic rules and road safety.

On top of that, he really loved Chase from Paw Patrol. His friend Poppy once showed him her little Chase toy with the matching police car that she had gotten for her birthday. If his daddy had asked Eli what he wished for that Christmas, that probably would have been his answer.

So naturally, he couldn’t hold himself back at that moment. He got up from his bed and opened his bedroom door carefully. From his room, he had a good view of the entrance door. Two police officers stood there, heavily armed from head to toe; both seemed to be around his daddy’s age. They were both alphas – Eli could smell it.

It was mainly the woman who did all the talking. While Eli’s daddy tried to come up with excuses and lies about why Ruby and he were screaming at each other, the other police officer walked around the living room, inspecting the ashtray and the empty bottle by the TV. He looked at the ceiling until his eyes fell on a dark spot that Eli had noticed before. He didn’t know what it was, but there were some dark spots in his room too, and they seemed to grow each year.

At some point, the police officer turned around so quickly that Eli didn’t have a chance to hide behind the door. They locked eyes, and Eli’s heart started pounding. He quickly moved back into his room, closed the door behind him, and jumped onto his bed to hide under the blanket.

It didn’t take long before somebody knocked on his door.

Eli pretended to be asleep when the door opened and the light from the living room illuminated his room. He held his breath and listened to the footsteps coming closer until they stopped next to his bed. He heard joints cracking and the rustling of the policeman’s uniform before the blanket above his head was lifted carefully.

“Hi, buddy.” The police officer had a really kind voice, even though it was deep like his daddy’s. Eli slowly opened his eyes, which he had squeezed shut tightly, and looked at the alpha’s face. He had a beard, but it looked much cleaner than his daddy’s. He had dark hair and only a few wrinkles around his eyes. They didn’t make him look old but kinder somehow – as if he got them from laughing too much.

Eli didn’t dare say a word.

“That was quite the fight your parents had, hm?” he asked, and Eli couldn’t hold himself back.

“Ruby’s not my mama,” he corrected the man, because that fact was important to him. The police officer immediately nodded.

“Is she your father’s girlfriend?” he asked, and Eli nodded. He pressed Thumper closer to his chest and buried his nose in him. His heart was still beating very fast, and he was scared the man could hear it.

“I’m Derek,” he said. “What’s your name?”

 

“Eli.” There was a strange look on the man’s face, but it disappeared quickly. Derek nodded and got up from where he was kneeling on the ground. He looked around the room until his eyes fell on the chair in front of Eli’s desk. He moved the chair next to the bed and sat on it, so he wasn’t towering over Eli.

 

“Do they fight often?” he asked and nodded toward the living room. Eli paused for a second because he didn’t know how to answer that question. He knew what his father would want him to say, so he went with that option.

“No,” he lied and shook his head. The man’s eyes moved down to Eli’s arm where he was holding his bunny. He seemed to think about something for a while before he locked eyes with Eli again.

“Where did you get that from?” he asked suddenly and pointed to the bruise on Eli’s arm, which was visible even in the dim light from the living room. Immediately, Eli covered it with his other hand. He panicked and tried to think of a good lie.

“I bumped into a table at school.” That was the best he could come up with. Again, Derek’s eyes moved toward his chest, and he got more serious before a small smile appeared on his lips and he nodded – apparently believing Eli’s lie.

“Is daddy going to jail?” The question had been burning on his tongue the entire time, so he had to ask it. The officer smiled again and seemed to think about it for a second.

“Do you want him to?” he asked, and Eli felt like that was a trick question. Even though he still wasn’t a big fan of Ruby, living alone with her without his father sounded heavenly. But he knew his father would get extremely angry if he ever found out Eli thought that, so he just shrugged.

“Do they yell at you like that too?” Derek wanted to know and nodded toward the living room again. Eli knew the police couldn’t arrest anyone for yelling, so he finally nodded.

“Does he hit or shove you when he does that?” he continued asking, and Eli suddenly felt uncomfortable. His skin was prickling, and his heart was beating faster and faster. His palms were sweating as he gripped Thumper more tightly.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you can always talk to a teacher at school,” Derek suggested. “You can tell them, and they can call us to come and help. If you’re scared your father will get into too much trouble if you tell someone, I can assure you that’s not the case. But if you’re scared, you’ll get in trouble for talking to someone, I promise you that people like me or Ms. Reyes”, he pointed toward the other police officer, “will protect you from that.”

Eli stayed frozen. He didn’t dare move or react in any other way. He thought about Derek’s words, but all he could really focus on was the fast beating of his heart.

“Hurting people is wrong. You know that, right?” Derek asked after a while, and Eli nodded eagerly.

“Of course you know that,” Derek smiled, “You’re in school, right?” Again, Eli nodded.

“Which school do you go to?”

“Beacon Elementary,” he answered. He was so nervous that he had almost forgotten the name.

“No way!” Derek beamed. “I went to that school too when I was a kid,” he said excitedly, and Eli couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t imagine Derek as a child.

“That was almost thirty years ago,” he laughed, and his eyes looked so kind when he did that. “Let me think,” he said and looked up at the ceiling to give himself time to think. His smile faltered for a second, so Eli followed his glance to the ceiling. There was another one of those dark stains that Derek had inspected in the living room earlier. Eli didn’t know if it was a bad thing, so he looked at the alpha to check his reaction. The man quickly looked away from it.

“Mrs. Wiggins,” he said and looked at Eli again, “is she still there?”

Eli shrugged. He hadn’t heard of a teacher with that name. But he didn’t know every single teacher at his school, so who knows.

“Maybe thirty years is too long ago,” Derek admitted. “What about Mr. Preston?”

“He teaches math and art,” Eli said and was surprised that Derek had had the same teacher as him.

“No way!” Derek laughed again. “He was so strict! I never liked him as a child. Do you like him?” he wanted to know, and now Eli was smiling too. He shook his head hesitantly, because he really disliked Mr. Preston. He didn’t let them count with their fingers in math because they had to do it all in their heads.

“He has to be so old now.” Eli nodded. It was strange to him to have such a normal conversation with an adult. He never really talked to Ruby or his daddy, and when they did talk to him, they only scolded or yelled at him. In school, he sometimes had to talk to his teachers, but that was different. He had never laughed with an adult before. Derek didn’t talk to him like he was a toddler, and he really liked that.

“Derek,” the female police officer appeared in the doorway. Derek nodded in her direction and then turned back to Eli.

“You talk to your teachers if something’s wrong, okay? They can call me — you know my name now.” He pointed to the name tag on his uniform. Eli knew he should be able to read it, but he couldn’t.

“Derek Hale,” said the officer, and Eli nodded.

After they had both left, Eli sat by the window for a long time, even after the police car was long gone. He really wanted Derek to come back. He had never felt that way about another adult before.

The next day, his father made sure Eli would never tell his teachers a single thing about what was going on at home. He had to wear long-sleeved shirts for an entire week.

 

***

 

He had feared he would never see Officer Derek again, but only two weeks later, he was standing in front of their door again. This time, he had a male officer with him who looked much older than him.

Eli was confused because there had been no loud yelling the past couple of days. Daddy’s friends had been over, and they had been quite loud, but that had been more than three days ago, maybe on the weekend. Eli actually wasn’t sure which day it was, since they had spring break. All days felt like Saturday to him.

This time, both officers weren’t as calm as the other day. They had a big brown dog with them that patiently sat between them, and they immediately entered the apartment after Eli’s daddy greeted them. He waved his arms and got mad, and Eli was scared he would do something stupid like hit Derek and his colleague, but he didn’t. He just stood by while they seemed to search for something inside the apartment.

They kept the dog on a leash, but Eli was still a bit scared and closed his bedroom door again to hide under his blanket. Like last time, it didn’t take long for Officer Derek to open his door again.

Eli was surprised when Derek addressed him by his name, since they hadn’t talked for long the last time the police man had been here, but he still remembered. He introduced him to the big brown dog, who he called Zeus, and Eli had to admit that he looked less scary up close. Derek even let him pet the dog after he had sniffed around for a bit. Eli flinched when Zeus barked loudly but pretended that he wasn’t scared. He really hoped Derek hadn’t noticed because being afraid of dogs was kind of embarrassing – at least his friends in school thought so.

Apparently, Zeus lived at Derek’s place which honestly surprised Eli quite a bit. He had always assumed that police dogs lived at the police station, but then again, police officer also didn’t live at the police station, so who would care for the dogs when they went home?

Zeus barked very loudly at something in the living room, which is why Derek had to end their little conversation in Eli’s bedroom. He heard his dad getting angry again, Ruby was yelling too.

After that night, he never saw Ruby again.

 

***

 

The next time he saw Derek was not at their house but at the police station in town. His daddy had dragged him there without explanation, but Eli didn’t mind because he had only been at the police station once before in his life and he couldn’t really remember what it looked like inside. He always walked past it on his way to school and tried to get a glimpse of the inside through the barred windows, but they were tinted, so you couldn’t look through them.

From what he gathered, they were there because of Ruby, but that was all he had understood. He was kind of excited to see her again, but then it turned out that he had to wait in the waiting area until his daddy was finished. He sat on one of the uncomfortable chairs and looked at the posters around him – some of them looked kind of scary with angry people on them, printed in black and white.

He was swinging his legs back and forth until Derek walked in. He was smiling at Eli, and the boy couldn’t stop himself from smiling back.

“Your dad will join you in a minute,” he informed Eli, who just nodded his head.

Eli was too shy to ask Derek why his daddy was here in the first place. He wasn’t really good at talking to adults, even though Derek looked so kind and surely wouldn’t judge him for anything he said.

To make his wait less boring, Derek handed him a tiny police car that he grabbed from behind the reception desk. There was nothing special about it – the wheels were kind of squeaky, the doors couldn’t be opened, and it weighed practically nothing, but still, Eli loved it.

He wasn’t a big fan of race cars, but this one was different. First and foremost, it had been Derek – an actual police officer – who had given him the toy, and secondly, it came from an actual police station. He was certain no other kid in school had the same one.

Derek sat next to him while Eli fidgeted with the toy. He talked about Zeus, who apparently had his day off today and stayed home with Derek’s husband. Eli looked up at him curiously when he found out that the officer was married. It was only then that Eli noticed the ring on the man’s finger, even though he was pretty sure it had been there the entire time.

There was one important question burning on his tongue, so he tried to gather all his courage to ask it.

“Do you have kids?”

Because if he did, they would be very lucky. Derek was so funny and nice – it was a shame that his own daddy couldn’t be like him.

There was a funny look on Derek’s face after he had asked the question and Eli feared that it might have been too forward. His daddy sometimes called him annoying when he asked too many questions, but he was sure Derek wouldn’t do that.

“No,” Derek shook his head, “I don’t have any kids.”

Eli didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded. Maybe he would have kids with his husband in the future. He couldn’t have imagined that Derek didn’t want any, because he spent so much time with Eli. Someone who didn’t like children wouldn’t do that.

 

***

 

His daddy hadn’t been in a good mood lately, and Eli guessed it had to do with Ruby. He had gotten angry when Eli asked about her, so he decided not to do it again. Every day, he wished for spring break to be over because he didn’t want to spend his entire day in his bedroom or with his daddy, who would just yell at him for no reason.

Maybe he should have appreciated Ruby more, but now she was gone, and Eli was sure she wasn’t coming back. In a way, it reminded him of his mother.

Eli wasn’t having a good time. In fact, he was having a miserable time, even though school holidays were supposed to be fun. He didn’t like when his daddy’s friends came over to watch football and smoke together, because it always ended with his daddy coming to Eli’s bedroom after they had left, and Eli absolutely hated that.

It had just happened a day ago, and since then, Eli had not left his bedroom. Now, the sun was setting once again, and when he opened the door carefully to look through the small gap between door and door frame, he could see that his daddy was still in the living room smoking. He was half asleep, one arm hanging from the couch, a cigarette in hand. Maybe Eli would be able to sneak past him because he really needed to use the bathroom, but he was too scared.

In the end, he decided against it and just went to bed early. He wasn’t tired at all because he had slept the whole day anyway, but there was nothing else to do, and maybe he wouldn’t think about having to pee all the time if he just went to sleep.

It turned out to be a very bad idea, because after a particularly scary dream, Eli woke up in the middle of the night with a terrified gasp on his lips and wet pajama pants that clung to his legs uncomfortably. He got out of the bed as fast as he could, his heartbeat quickening, turned on the bedside lamp, and moved the blanket aside to inspect the visible damage he had done to the mattress.

His father would be so mad.

Quickly, he stripped his soiled pants and underwear, just to throw them into the corner of the room where his father wouldn’t find them. He didn’t know what to do next, so he just grabbed some new pants from his wardrobe and pulled them over his legs without cleaning them. He had to do something about the sheets next, but his father kept the clean ones in a cupboard in the living room, so he had to get there unnoticed first.

When he opened his door again to see whether his father had already gone to bed, he found the man asleep on the couch, the TV still running in the background with some random ads playing on mute.

For a moment, Eli thought about just letting the sheets dry on their own, but the idea of sleeping on dirty sheets disgusted him so he gathered all the courage he had and walked into the living room. He tried to move extra quietly, all the way up on his tip toes to not wake his father.

When he tried to pull out the fresh sheets out of the cupboard, he was too small to reach the very top, so he had to jump a bit to pull it down. Unfortunately, this resulted in him pulling down the entire shelf, so everything fell down with a loud crash that would have woken up even the deepest sleeper.

Eli froze in place and chose to do the first logical thing that came to his mind. He didn’t turn around to his father but ran straight into his room, slammed the door shut behind him, and leaned his whole weight on the door so his father couldn’t open it. Frantically, he looked around his room to find something he could move against the door since he knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to keep his father from entering.

He laid eyes on his desk chair, so he ran for it. It had wheels, though, which meant it wouldn’t be of much use, but he’d seen people use the back rest of chairs before to keep doors from opening. He tried to move the chair under the door handle, but his father was faster and stronger and opened the door without hesitation.

The chair rolled over Eli’s feet and collided with his shin, but he tried to stop himself from screaming, because he knew it would make his father even more furious.

“What the fuck are you doing?” his father screamed angrily. He took in the scene in front of him – a terrified Eli, the chair between them that was now lying on the floor, the unmade bed.

“Why are you up?” his father continued asking; he then looked back into the living room, probably wondering why Eli had opened the cupboard. He kept yelling about the mess Eli had made and that he should clean up after himself. He was angry because now he had to fix the shelves and it was something he didn’t have time for, and Eli kept messing everything up. Eli prayed that he wouldn’t find out about the reason he had gotten up in the middle of the night.

“What did you want to do anyways?” Eli bit his tongue and shrugged.

“It’s three in the fucking morning and you want to change your sheets or what?” he continued, and Eli shrugged again.

Of course, he found out about Eli’s little accident after taking a closer look at his bed and turning on the big light in the room. As expected, the fact that Eli had wet the bed had him fuming. He kept going on and on about how Eli was a big kid now and children that went to school didn’t wet the bed anymore. He threatened to notify Eli’s teachers about it so they would send him back to kindergarten; and his friends’ parents as well, so they wouldn’t let him stay over, because what if it happened at their place, too?

Eli was full on crying by the time his father had finished his great speech. He felt absolutely humiliated and wished he had just slept in the soiled sheets instead of getting up to change them. He was wailing so hard, he couldn’t breathe, but that seemed to irritate his father even more.

He grabbed Eli by his arm roughly and dragged him into the living room. There, he made him clean up the mess he had made. He also ordered Eli to change his sheets while he stood by and watched. Eli had never done that before, so naturally he struggled to strip the bed and put fresh sheets on. His father, however, was too impatient and screamed at him the entire time to do it differently. At some point, Eli was crying so hard that he couldn’t move anymore.

He wasn’t exactly sure what had happened afterwards, but he remembered that his father had grabbed his arm roughly to pull him away from the bed. He had placed both hands on Eli’s shoulders and had shaken him violently which made Eli feel dizzy. Eli screamed loudly in his face so that he would let him go but instead he had just pushed him back with so much force that Eli stumbled and slammed into the bedside table.

Eventually, his father had enough of his whining and pushed him down on the unmade bed. He yelled at Eli, told him to finally go to sleep, but Eli kept crying and couldn’t calm himself down. Suddenly, he grabbed his shoulders again and hurled him against the headrest of the bed. There was a loud bang which made Eli stop crying instantly. A sharp pain radiated through his head, moving down his spine and into his arms and legs. He couldn’t make a sound since all the air had been knocked out of his lungs. Completely in shock, he just looked at his father who had finally stopped yelling, and just looked at Eli with a weird look on his face. He almost didn’t seem angry at that moment.

“Go to sleep,” he said finally and gave Eli another push, which made him fall to the side like a ragdoll. Eli heard him leave the room, turning both lamps out too, so the room was completely dark. There was a weird feeling in Eli’s limbs, and he was surprised to notice that the pain in his head was starting to vanish. There was only a dull throbbing in his entire body – listening to it made him tired.

Even though it was pitch black, he still felt like everything was turning in front of his eyes. It kind of felt like floating – like he was ascending into the air, kind of like in a spaceship with no gravity.

He just looked at the ceiling for a while, or at least he thought he did because he didn’t feel his eyelids drop. He must have fallen asleep because when he woke up again, he could hear voices in the living room. For a moment, he feared his father had his friends over again, but the voices sounded different. There was yelling, and Eli was so tired of hearing people yell; he just wanted to sleep.

His father was talking to someone, but Eli was too tired to figure out with whom.

“He’s sleeping,” he heard his father say, this time angrier and with more force than before.

“Move aside, I will not repeat myself,” another male voice said. Eli immediately recognized Derek’s voice. He tried to open his eyes and wasn’t sure if they were opened or closed when he was met with complete darkness again. This time, he told himself, he would tell Derek about what his father had done. He felt brave all of a sudden, but he just couldn’t move, no matter how hard he tried to.

Derek sounded angry. It was scary to hear him talking this angrily – it reminded him too much of his father’s voice when he had yelled at him just moments before.

“Alright, hands where I can see them!” Eli flinched when he heard the female officer yell, “Stand over there!” He could hear his father’s footsteps moving away from the door. There was a dog barking, which surprised Eli because he hadn’t expected there to be one. Maybe it was Zeus again – he would love to pet him.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Eli flinched again when Derek’s face appeared right in front of him. He hadn’t heard the door open or noticed Derek stepping closer. Had his eyes been closed? Were they closed now? He opened them wide and still couldn’t tell. His vision was blurry — it reminded him of his dreams. Like when you try to look at something really closely in a dream, but you can’t quite focus on it, no matter how hard you try.

Somebody had turned on the light, and Eli squeezed his eyes shut, which only made his head hurt more. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. They rolled down his temple and tickled his ear, so he tried to reach for it to wipe it away. When he looked at his fingers afterward, they were covered in red. Blood, he realized.

“You’re okay,” Derek assured him and covered Eli’s hand with his larger one. He heard multiple voices at once and realized that there had to be more than one other police officer. He could make out another male voice that wasn’t his father’s or Derek’s, but he didn’t understand what the person was saying.

He couldn’t understand anything anymore, really. Derek was talking to him, but it sounded mushy, like he was speaking gibberish, and Eli almost wanted to laugh because it sounded so silly.

“I’m going to lift you up, okay?” That, he understood. He nodded – or at least tried to. His head wasn’t listening to him anymore, but Derek didn’t wait for an answer anyway. He placed his hands under Eli’s armpits and lifted him from the bed. There was a sharp pain in his shoulder that made Eli yelp. He bit his lip to push through the pain, but it was over quickly once he settled in Derek’s arms. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been carried, and now he realized that he had kind of missed it.

“Thumper,” he murmured when he realized Derek was carrying him away from his bedroom. It sounded more like Fumper; he didn’t know why he couldn’t say it properly.

“Yeah, I got him. Don’t worry, buddy,” said Derek quietly. He didn’t even turn back around, which meant he hadn’t forgotten about Thumper in the first place. A warm feeling spread through Eli’s body even though he now realized that he was in a lot of pain.

With his head on Derek’s shoulder, he dozed off a bit, but one of the other police officers kept talking to him. It was the same woman who had been there during the first visit — he couldn’t remember her name, though. It was hard to stay awake when Derek kept petting his back so nicely and rocked him from side to side.

He closed his eyes for only a second, but when he opened them again, they were outside the house. Eli could see red and blue lights reflecting in the windows of his home. There must have been multiple police cars because the lights illuminated the whole street. Someone put a blanket over him, even though he wasn’t cold.
“He’s shaking,” the female officer commented, and Eli frowned – he wasn’t feeling cold. He wanted to tell Derek but couldn’t get any words out. He suddenly panicked – what if he would never be able to speak again?

“You’re okay,” Derek said again, his voice soothing, almost as if he could read Eli’s thoughts. He continued rocking him, which reminded Eli of his mother – but it was a distant memory he had almost forgotten about.

In the distance, he heard sirens coming closer. It took a while for him to realize they seemed to be there for him. The sound was starting to give him a headache, but then the hand that had been petting his back was placed over his ear. His other ear was pressed to Derek’s shoulder, so the sound became muffled and stopped hurting.

Once Derek took his hand away, Eli could hear many new voices, but he was too tired to look up. Derek started walking while Eli decided to just close his eyes because everything was twisting and turning in front of him. He felt nauseous and, for a second, was scared he would puke all over Derek’s uniform.

Even with his eyes closed, he noticed the light changing – it was brighter and whiter than the streetlamps. Derek held him tightly as they moved up a short flight of stairs.

“You can put him down here,” a strange voice said. He felt something soft under his legs, but he didn’t want to leave Derek’s warm embrace. When he opened his eyes, he realized they were inside an ambulance. He had been in one once before, when a few paramedics had visited his kindergarten.

He didn’t want to admit it, but the thought of being alone in the ambulance without Derek holding him really scared him. He wanted someone there with him — preferably not his father, though. Even Ruby would have been fine, but she wasn’t here anymore. Derek would be the best option, but the man was gently trying to pry Eli’s hands off his uniform.

Normally, Eli would’ve let him, but he was so scared right now that he physically couldn’t let go.

“I’ll be right next to you, Eli,” Derek assured him, but it didn’t convince him. He clawed at Derek’s uniform until the man carefully lifted him up again. Derek sat down somewhere and turned Eli around carefully. It wasn’t as comfortable as before, but it was better than sitting alone on the stretcher.

He barely remembered anything that happened afterward. The older woman in front of him asked his name, and suddenly his brain went blank. He didn’t know – and he panicked because he didn’t know. There was a gentle hand on his forehead, steadying his head so it wouldn’t loll to the side. Somebody shone a bright light into his eyes, and he tried to squeeze them shut.

Every time he tried to fall asleep, somebody shook his shoulder to keep him awake. He wanted to cry because he was so, so tired. Tears of frustration were starting to form in his eyes. On top of that, everything was spinning, even when his eyes were closed.

The hands holding him reacted quickly once he gagged. At first, nothing came out, but when he gagged again, he vomited so hard that his nose burned. Someone petted his back soothingly while he kept puking and puking until there was nothing left in his stomach. Somebody wiped his mouth with a tissue, and Eli decided that he had never felt worse in his entire life.

When he came to again, it was because somebody lifted him up. He pressed his cheek against the person’s shoulder and breathed in deeply. The scent was familiar and calmed him, even though he didn’t know who was carrying him.

“Everything’s going to be just fine, buddy. Don’t worry,” said a soothing voice directly into his ear. Cold air tickled his neck, but only for a short moment. When Eli opened his eyes, he saw a big red door and multiple people in bright jackets walking behind him.

“Six-year-old male omega, unknown mechanism of injury, not fully responsive, GCS 6 on scene, vomited twice on the ride here, pupils equal but sluggishly reactive, dislocated shoulder, multiple bruises of varying age on arms and torso, cervical spine not yet stabilized.” Eli didn’t know what any of those words meant, but he started to realize he was probably in the hospital. The strong scent of antiseptic burned in his nose, so he tried to bury it deeper against the neck of the person carrying him. He was also pretty sure he’d only puked once on the ride here.

“That’s Eli,” he felt the chest he was leaning on vibrate as the man spoke.

“We found him like that.” This time, when he was moved onto a stretcher, he didn’t protest — because he didn’t know how. His arms and legs felt like cotton candy, and he didn’t even notice when they’d placed him there.

“Hello, Eli,” a kind face appeared in front of him. It was a man wearing colorful scrubs and a mask pushed down under his chin. He carefully lifted Eli’s head and placed something hard and cold around his neck.

Eli was pushed through a corridor on the stretcher; he could see the ceiling moving above him. The man who had just spoken stroked his cheek gently while walking next to them.

“Everything’s going to be just fine, sweetheart,” the man promised, and with his hand so close to his face, Eli could smell that he was an omega. Eli stared at him in awe.

“That’s my husband, so you’re in good hands,” said the man who had carried him. Eli knew him — his scent was familiar — but he couldn’t find a name to match the face. His words calmed him, though.

“I’m Stiles,” the nurse said, and Eli remembered the name. Everything was foggy inside his brain, but he knew these people weren’t strangers.

“Derek told me so much about you,” Stiles said. Derek. Eli looked at the alpha walking beside them, one hand securely placed on Eli’s belly.

“Alright, Eli.” He almost flinched because he hadn’t realized he’d fallen asleep again. When he opened his eyes, he realized that they had stopped in a strange room with bright lights on the ceiling.

“We’re going to take some pictures of your head so the doctor can see how to help you feel better,” Stiles told him. He could feel him petting his head gently. “You’re going to lie down on a soft bed, and I’ll be with you the whole time, alright?” he continued. “We need to keep your head very still, like a statue, so the pictures come out clear.”

He barely noticed being lifted onto another mattress. It was softer than the stretcher.
“I know it’s loud and a little scary, but I’ll tell you exactly when each sound happens. You can hold Thumper the whole time, alright?” Thumper was placed on the bed next to him. The bunny was so close he could smell him, so he closed his eyes and focused on that smell.

“I’ll be here with you the entire time,” Stiles assured him again and placed a gentle hand on Eli’s thigh. His heart started beating loudly when he was moved into a big tube that reminded him of a spaceship. The last thing he remembered was a deafening noise and a warm hand on his leg before he passed out.

 

***

 

For the next couple of days, he lost track of time. Maybe it had been weeks or months; he really couldn’t tell since he was sleeping the entire time anyway. He sometimes woke up to find someone standing next to his bed, clicking buttons or touching him, which he was barely able to feel. Sometimes he woke up on his own because the pain became too unbearable, but most of the time someone would quickly appear at his side again and make the pain go away.

It took some time for him to remember where he was and what had happened, though he had forgotten the important details. He remembered the red and blue lights of the police cars and the ride on Derek’s lap in the ambulance, but the rest was blurry. He also remembered Stiles – the omega nurse with the nice smile. He always recognized his hands when he touched him because he had the warmest hands of all of them.

He always called Eli sweetheart when he entered the room, and he always made sure to brush Eli’s hair out of his face when it had gotten too annoying and tickled his nose. Eli didn’t even have to say anything – Stiles simply seemed to know.

As time went by, he grew tired of sleeping all the time, but being awake and staring at the ceiling was even more boring. Sometimes, one of the nurses stopped by to check on him, and there was another boy in the bed right next to him who was visited by his parents regularly, but Eli didn’t interact with him. In fact, Eli was pretty sure the little boy was still a baby, so he wasn’t interested in him anyway.

He felt happiest when Stiles stopped by to see him. His smile always lit up the entire room, and he was funny, too. He told Eli all sorts of things: about his day at work, about Zeus, or something he had seen on TV. Eli wanted to talk to him too, but every time he tried, nothing came out. It was like Stiles was talking in another language he could understand but not speak. In his head, he was able to form the words perfectly, but when he wanted to say them, his lips simply couldn’t move.

When the fog inside his head slowly disappeared, people started coming in more regularly, or maybe he was just more aware of it now. He also started to grow more uncomfortable and irritated, which was really unlike him. While he hadn’t minded people touching him before, he became angry when they did it now. He squirmed and wiggled when doctors forcefully moved certain parts of his body to check on him, or when nurses tried to change his bandages or clothes after washing him.

At some point, when he had gained control over his arms and hands again, he started pushing them away. Normally, he would never have done so; he had always been a good child who listened to adults, but he couldn’t stand the way his skin prickled when they did it. He was like that with everyone but Stiles.

He didn’t mind when the omega touched him. He actually enjoyed it, especially when he would brush Eli’s hair and let his fingers linger on his scalp for a little while longer to massage it gently, or when he tickled his feet while washing him.

After a while, the others seemed to realize that, because the other nurses stopped bothering him. It was always Stiles who did everything for him – washing him, changing him, feeding him. He was there all the time, to the point where Eli wondered if he ever went home. There were certain days on which he wouldn’t come, but it was only like once a week. On those days, Eli was particularly sad and lonely. It was even worse when the little boy in the bed next to him was visited by his entire family and no one came to check on Eli.

Derek came by at some point. He entered the room together with Stiles and another woman that Eli did not recognize. She was way older than Stiles and Derek and had short red hair with bangs. She wore big black glasses and green clothes that made her look like a cartoon character.

Eli was so happy to see Derek that he forgot about her at first. He looked weird without his uniform and in normal clothes. He sat in a chair next to Eli’s bed and handed him a stuffed bunny much like Thumper but smaller and fluffier.

“It’s for you,” he told Eli, so the boy pressed it to his chest tightly. A warm feeling spread through his arms and legs, similar to the day Derek had given him that little toy car. He was kind of sad that he had left it at the apartment.

The older woman who was in the room as well turned out to be something called a social worker. Her name was Mrs. Walker, and she had a really calm voice that Eli kind of liked. She grabbed a chair, too, and had placed it next to Derek, so she was sitting in front of Eli now, talking to him. Meanwhile, Stiles had settled next to Eli’s legs on his bed. Since he was lying on top of the blanket and not underneath it, he was able to move his legs freely. He used that advantage to put his socked feet against Stiles’ legs and playfully kick him gently. He had done that before, so he knew that Stiles didn’t mind. The omega smiled softly and placed his warm hand on one of Eli’s cold feet.

He had noticed before that there wasn’t as much strength in his legs as before, but he assumed it was because he had spent so much time in bed. His PE teacher had once said that you had to use your muscles regularly to –

He paused for a second, because he couldn’t believe that he had forgotten what his PE teacher looked like. He had even forgotten his name.

“Eli?” the woman’s voice brought him back to reality. “Are you listening?” she asked him in a friendly voice. Eli looked at her with wide eyes and nodded hesitantly.

He sat in his bed quietly while the woman told him that he was not returning home again. Ever. He had to stay in the hospital for a while, which he didn’t really mind because Stiles was here and so far nobody had yelled at him, and afterwards he would live somewhere else – though he didn’t really understand that part.

Mrs. Walker seemed to notice. She told him that there were families out there who took in children like him to care for them, although only temporarily, until they found another family he could stay with permanently.

For the first time since arriving at the hospital, Eli felt like crying. There was a big lump in his throat and his eyes were welling up with tears when he thought about living in a strange new house with people he didn’t know. It wasn’t like he wanted his father back, but at least he knew him. He wanted to go back to his room, his bed, and his toys.

He shook his head in disbelief, but Mrs. Walker didn’t change her mind. She tried to come up with more reasons and arguments that would make him like the idea, but Eli didn’t listen anymore. He turned to Derek, who just looked at him with sad eyes, staying completely silent while Eli’s whole world was falling apart.

Desperately, he turned to Stiles, who was still petting his foot. Eli moved it away because he was angry the omega wasn’t saying anything, but immediately regretted it when he noticed Stiles’ worried eyes watching him.

Eli didn’t know what to do, so he burst into tears right on the spot. Stiles shushed him softly when he wailed loudly, and placed a hand on Eli’s shoulder to soothe him. Blindly – since all the tears had blurred his vision – he reached for the omega, who instantly pulled him into a tight hug that Eli tried to return. It was a bit difficult since he was hooked to a lot of monitors and other stuff that Eli didn’t know the name or purpose of, but Stiles placed him on his lap nevertheless, rocking him from side to side just like Derek had done on the day of the accident.

“I think that’s enough for today,” the alpha said, and Eli heard him get up from his chair. Tiredly, Eli placed his head on Stiles’ shoulder, letting him take the weight of his body.

“Maybe we can talk outside for a bit,” Derek said to Mrs. Walker, making her get up too. They walked outside without saying another word, leaving Stiles and Eli behind. The boy next to Eli’s bed wasn’t there today, so all Eli could hear was Stiles’ even breathing and the ticking of the clock on the wall. Sometimes he heard his own hiccups that he had gotten from crying too hard.

“I will stay with you tonight, alright?” Stiles whispered and Eli basically melted into his embrace.

It turned out to be one of many nights that Stiles spent in Eli’s hospital room. It had been weird seeing him without his scrubs for the first time, but Eli had quickly gotten used to it. After Mrs. Walker’s first visit, Stiles basically stayed with him around the clock, except when he was working and had to attend to other patients.

Whenever he wasn’t at the hospital, Derek would visit him. Eli didn’t want to admit it but sometimes Derek’s visits were even more fun than Stiles’ because the alpha brought him little presents – at least most of the time. On top of that, he sometimes carried Eli through the hospital corridors, letting him look at the colorful paintings on the walls or the giant pinboard covered with pictures children had drawn. He definitely wanted to add one himself once he felt a little bit better.

On Easter, Stiles surprised him with his very own Easter basket that already had some chocolate eggs in it. Eli beamed when Stiles placed it into his lap, and he couldn’t wait to go on his very first Easter egg hunt. Sure, there had been some egg hunts at kindergarten back then, but this basket was just for him, so it felt extra special.

It was also special because Stiles dressed him in a brand-new outfit Eli had never seen before. The sweater had a picture of a giant white bunny in the front, and his pants had little carrots on them. Even his shoes were new – they had blinking lights on the side that lit up when you stomped your feet really hard. They made Eli want to run around in them, but he wasn’t allowed to, yet.

Stiles carried him all the way through the corridor – even further than Derek had taken him – all the way to the elevator and down into the lobby. Eli couldn’t believe his eyes when they exited the building. For the first time in what felt like years, Eli was able to feel fresh air on his skin and sunlight on his face.

His next surprise was Derek, who was standing in the parking lot, a big smile on his face. Down at his feet sat Zeus and Eli feared that his heart would jump out of his chest if he got any happier.

“Zeus!”, he wanted to say, but it sounded more like Duth and it was way quieter than he intended it to be. Stuff like that had happened a lot since the accident. Eli knew what and how he wanted to say certain words, but they just didn’t come out the way he wanted to.

"Yes!”, Stiles laughed, “It’s Zeusy-boy”, he put Eli down carefully until he was standing on both feet. They had practiced that before but only for a really short time because Stiles had said it was bad for his head. Stiles held on to Eli’s hands tightly so the boy wouldn’t lose his balance because that happened a lot recently, too. He helped him walk a few steps toward Derek, which was quite difficult, and Eli still didn’t understand why. He had been really good at running and jumping but now he had to think for a long time about how to move one foot in front of the other.

“Happy Easter, buddy”, Derek said and knelt down in front of him. He ran a hand through Eli’s hair which he could do now that Eli had finally gotten rid of the giant bandage around his head. There was only a big plaster left now that covered the side of his forehead and temple.

Zeus greeted him by licking his cheek; Eli returned the gesture by burying his hand inside his soft fur.

They stayed outside for a while because Zeus wasn’t allowed to enter the hospital. Eli thought it was quite silly of Derek and Stiles that they made him close his eyes while hiding Easter eggs in the bushes of the nearby park that belonged to the hospital. They told Eli the Easter bunny had hidden them even though he knew fully well that it had been the both of them.

Still, he enjoyed looking for eggs. Most of them turned out to be chocolate eggs but some of them you could open. There was LEGO inside of them and after the hunt was over and Stiles had carried him to his room again, he found out that all the pieces he had collected belonged to a small LEGO set with a police man, a police dog, two robbers, and a tiny police car. Eli was over the moon when he saw it.

 

***

 

During the following month, his speech became a lot better, and he was able to walk for longer periods of time, so Stiles and Derek were able to take him for little walks through the hospital garden. It started to get warmer, so they basically spend the whole time they had together sitting on the benches outside playing card games or simply talking. Eli thought it was weird that Stiles and Derek always involved him in their conversations, because his father had never done that. He had never asked Eli about his favorite color or animal, but Stiles and Derek always asked him questions as if they wanted to know every small detail of Eli’s life.

Not only did they ask questions, but they also remembered random things he had told them. They bought him a green toothbrush, green clothes and a green suitcase because it was his favorite color, and they picked out anything bunny-themed because it was his favorite animal. He had two new stuffed bunnies sitting in his bed, a bunny-themed coloring book, and pajamas with bunnies on it only because he had told them about it once.

Sometimes Eli pretended that Stiles and Derek were his parents. When they sat together in the cafeteria or in the garden, he liked to imagine that all the other people thought of them as a normal family. They probably did since they actually did look alike. His brown hair was the same shade as Stiles’ and Eli’s eyes were also hazel – just like Derek’s.

Nevertheless, there was always that unpleasant realization in the back of his mind that served as a reminder that none of that would be forever. Stiles and Derek were just a nurse and a police officer that were looking out for him until Mrs. Walker found a new family for him. Sometimes, that thought kept him awake at night.

Occasionally the thought made him so sad that he just burst into tears. He never told Stiles and Derek why, but they hugged him regardless, holding him close, not realizing that that made it even more difficult to let go.

 

***

On Mrs. Walker’s next visit, Eli wanted to hide in the bathroom and never come out, but when they sat him down on his bed to have a serious conversation with him, he could see a bright smile on Stiles’ face, and suddenly all his worries slowly subsided.

When they told him that he was allowed to live with Stiles and Derek, and that both of them would be his foster parents, he burst into tears again. This time, however, it was out of relief and happiness.

 

***

 

Stiles and Derek’s apartment was awesome. They had a big living room with a giant couch and TV, a bathroom with a bathtub, and a room just for Eli. They had painted one wall a pretty shade of light green and the bed sheets had bunnies on them. The room was bright and warm and nothing like his old room, plus there weren’t any weird spots on the ceiling. Every single drawer and shelf in his room was filled with so many books and toys that it would take days for him to explore them all.

“Do you like it?” Stiles asked with a smile on his face and Eli really thought he had gone mad, because how could anyone not like it? He loved it. He loved his new toys, his new clothes, his new furniture, he loved that Zeus was there, and that it smelled like Derek and Stiles. He couldn’t believe that it was all for him alone.

While Derek was taking a walk with Zeus, Eli stood in the kitchen watching Stiles cook dinner. The omega had assured him that he didn’t need his help and that he was allowed to play with his toys in the meantime, but watching Stiles was far more entertaining. It was the first time he would try something Stiles had cooked and he couldn’t wait to eat something other than hospital food.

Together, they set the table in the living room and Eli got the chance to look at all the picture frames on the walls. There were a lot of them in different sizes and colors, with many different people on them. Derek had already told him that his side of the family consisted of a lot of relatives. He had two sisters, two brothers and a lot of nieces and nephews, some of them around Eli’s age.

There were pictures of their wedding day, pictures of children and older people – maybe Stiles and Derek’ parents. There were a lot of different baby pictures – probably their nieces and nephews – and a large black and white picture of Derek and Stiles holding a newborn in their arms, which Eli inspected for a long time, until Derek and Zeus returned from their walk.

Later, when they sat at the kitchen table together, enjoying their dinner, it actually felt like they were a real family just like Eli had always dreamed about. Stile’s home cooked meal was the best thing he had ever eaten in his life, and when the omega wasn’t looking, Zeus was allowed to try some of Derek’s share too. Eli giggled when the alpha put a finger to his lips, telling him to keep quiet so Stiles wouldn’t find out.

While Derek was doing the dishes, Stiles helped Eli take a bath. Before his stay at the hospital, he had never taken a proper bath before. At his old apartment, they only had a shower, and when he had been a baby, he remembered that his parents had used a bucket they would fill with water to create a makeshift bathtub. At the hospital, Stiles had bathed him in a proper bathtub a couple of times, but it still had been a way different experience than in Stiles and Derek’s cozy bathroom.

The hospital bathrooms had been cold and uncomfortable, but Stiles and Derek’s bathroom was warm and nicely decorated. It smelled like shampoo, and it was so much cleaner and more inviting than at his old apartment. Growing up, he had really thought that bathrooms were meant to be messy and yucky, but this bathroom proved him wrong.

It was also the first time in his life that he was playing with bath toys. They had bought him rubber ducks and a stuffed animal hippo that you were actually able to take into the water with you. Eli had never seen that before.

He almost fell asleep when Stiles was shampooing his head, kneading his finger into Eli’s scalp and rinsing his hair with warm water afterwards. He was careful not to let the water get into Eli’s eyes.

“Next thing we have to do is give you a nice haircut, hm?” Stiles said after brushing Eli’s hair out of his face. It was getting quite long, probably longer than it had ever been. When it got too long, his father had always shaved his head until almost nothing had been left, and Eli had hated how it looked.

“But not too short,” he said quietly, and Stiles immediately shook his head.

“However short you like it,” he assured him.

After the bath, Stiles wrapped him in the fluffiest towel ever and blow-dried his hair. For that, he sat on the toilet while Eli stood in front of him, waiting patiently until he was finished. Unfortunately, he was so tired that he couldn’t stand up straight anymore, so he slowly started to lean towards Stiles more and more until he was basically sitting on his lap. He couldn’t really remember what happened afterwards, but he somehow ended up in his own cozy bed with all his stuffed bunnies and his new bunny sheets.

He smiled when Stiles called him sweetheart again, and he was relived when the older man left a tiny nightlight on before quietly slipping through the door, leaving it ajar.

 

***

 

For the next two weeks, Eli felt like he was in Heaven. Stiles and Derek took some days off from work and spent their entire free time making sure Eli was comfortable. They went on long walks with Zeus, visited parks and playgrounds, or stayed home to play board games or watch movies together. Eli had never been this happy in his entire life and he couldn’t believe that some children simply got to have this from the day they were born.

Everything seemed to be perfect, but sometimes there was still this sinking feeling in Eli’s chest that haunted him when he was alone. Sometimes when he thought about his father, his heart painfully ached inside his chest and he couldn’t really explain why. He never talked about it with Stiles or Derek, because he was worried they would think he wasn’t happy with his new life. He was scared to bring up his father in fear they would think he missed him and that he would rather go back to him than to live with them.

They had taken him to a doctor a few days ago who had checked on his old injuries and asked him about the accident. Afterwards, Stiles had told him that they would come to see the doctor more regularly during the upcoming weeks or maybe even months, so that Eli could talk with her about his father. Eli didn’t really want to see her again since he wasn’t sure what he should tell her. He remembered the ache in his chest he felt every time he thought about his father so he would rather not want to talk about him.

Another little secret he hadn’t told Stiles and Derek about was the reoccurring nightmares he had experienced over the last two weeks. He had had maybe two or three of them during his stay at the hospital, but since staying with Stiles and Derek they happened more frequently. He didn’t know why – he loved his new place and he loved Stiles and Derek even more, so he didn’t understand why all these scary thoughts decided to come back during a time he was the happiest he had ever been.

It was the middle of the night when he woke up from another nightmare. He had dreamed that he had to go back to his old apartment – that his father was waiting there for him – and that he would never see Stiles and Derek again. His heart was beating violently inside his chest, and he had the horrible realization that he might have dirtied his freshly washed pajama pants.

Quickly, he got out of bed and inspected the damage. His pants clung to his legs uncomfortably and even in the dark, with only the nightlight on, he was able to see a wet spot on the bedsheets. Without thinking, he stripped naked and put on a new pair of pants that he got from his closet. His legs were still sticky, but he had to take care of the sheets first.

He tried to strip the sheets off the bed, but it was harder than he thought. His hands were shaking when he opened the buttons but somehow he managed to get everything off the bed. The next step was to find new sheets, but fortunately he remembered where Stiles kept them.

He tiptoed into the hallway and opened the huge closet that kept all the cleaning supplies, towels and bed sheets. When he reached for correct shelf, he suddenly heard loud barking right behind him. He flinched violently and turned around quickly just to see Zeus right in front of him, barking right in his face. Eli suppressed a surprised scream and quickly ran into his room as fast as he could.

The whole scenario was just too familiar. His whole body started shaking when he realized that the loud barking had probably woken up his father. His breathing started to pick up and his heart began to beat even faster, so fast he was scared it would jump out of his chest.

There was nowhere to hide and the whole room was a mess. The soiled sheets lay on the ground and his dirty pants were right next to them. His stuffed animals were scattered on the floor too because he didn’t pay them any attention when he had stripped the bed.

“Eli?” he panicked when he heard the deep voice from the living room. Tears welled up in his eyes and he nervously scanned the room for a place to hide. He couldn’t let his father find out that he had wet the bed again.

“Eli?” the voice was getting closer. Eli sank to his knees and crawled into one of the corners right next to the door. Maybe he could get out that way once his father had entered the room.

“Are you awake?” he heard the deep voice again and the door opened at the same time. Eli tried to take a deep breath, but he was trembling too hard to breathe properly. In the dark, he could make out the silhouette of his father standing in the doorway, slowly entering his room.

“Are you alright?” he asked. Eli was confused why he sounded so calm but maybe he was just trying to lur Eli out of his hiding spot. His father hadn’t spotted him yet. He walked towards Eli’s bed and turned on the beside lamp, so Eli took his chance and bolted for the door.

He ran towards the front door but when he tried to open it, he discovered that it was locked. He heard his father call his name again but before the man could reach him, he ran towards the living room to find a new hiding spot or maybe a way out. The dog was barking again which made Eli even more nervous.

“What happened?” he heard another voice in the hallway but ignored it – that’s when he laid eyes on the balcony door.

“Why are you just standing there?” the other voice became louder, but again, Eli tried not to pay it any attention. He fiddled with the door handle until he managed to open the door. Cool air hit his face, and he was just about to step outside when a hand grabbed his wrist.

“Oh, Hell no,” someone said behind him, and that’s when he was yanked back so hard that it knocked the air right out of his lungs. Eli realized that it wasn’t his father’s voice. He tried to wiggle out of the person’s fierce hold, but he couldn’t, so he panicked again.

“It’s alright,” the person shushed him and used his free hand to close the balcony door. Eli started to scream and squirm, so the shushing became louder.

“Stiles, be careful,” Eli recognized the deep voice from earlier. He lashed out and tried to hit the person holding him as hard as he could.

“Stiles-“

“No!” Eli flinched when he heard him yell, “You stay there!” he sounded angry and Eli still struggled against his hold.

“Eli, look at me,” his voice was softer now and he used both hands to hold on to Eli’s upper arms. He shook him gently until Eli lifted his gaze to look into his eyes.

“You’re okay, you’re safe, it’s just me,” someone had turned the light on. Kind brown eyes were looking at him, worry written all over his face. Eli stopped moving and felt like he was frozen – like someone had poured ice water over him, making him unable to move or breathe.

“It’s just me, sweetheart,” Stiles said. Once he heard the nickname, it was like all the tension was leaving Eli’s body. He moved into Stiles’ body, wrapping his arms around the omega’s neck, sobbing uncontrollably. He shushed him again, while moving a gentle hand over his back, soothing him.

Stiles moved to his feet and lifted Eli into his arms, so he was carrying the boy, slowly rocking him from side to side.

“You scared the shit out of me,” Eli almost giggled because he had never heard Stiles curse before. It sounded so silly coming from his lips, but he was too tired to react. He felt weightless in Stiles’ arms – he always did when the omega was carrying him. Not even the softest bed felt as comfortable as this.

He saw Derek standing in the doorway, watching both of them from a distance; and Zeus was there, too, sitting next to him, yawning as if nothing had happened. He tried to be mad at the dog since he almost scared Eli to death, but he just couldn’t.

“What happened?” Stiles quietly asked after some time. Eli didn’t feel like talking about it, so he just shrugged. His heart was still beating so fast, he was sure Stiles was able to hear it, or maybe even feel it against his chest.

“Did you have a nightmare?” he continued asking, and this time, Eli nodded.

“And Zeus and Derek scared you, hm?” he guessed. Eli was glad he didn’t have to explain himself. He buried his head in Stiles’ neck and hoped the omega would carry him all night long and never put him down.

Later, when Derek and Stiles saw the stripped sheets and dirty pants in his room, they told him he could aways wake him up if something like this happened again. They didn’t scold or remind him that he was way too old to wet the bed. Derek just wordlessly changed the sheets while Stiles carried him into the bathroom where he cleaned Eli with a washcloth even though Eli had told him that he had changed into new pants already.

“But your legs are still dirty. Isn’t that uncomfortable?” Stiles asked him with a kind smile on his face. Eli had never really thought about that. For as long as he could remember, that had been the way his parents had changed him. He didn’t remember getting cleaned with a washcloth after an accident. He would just grab new pants from his drawer and put them on.

However, Stiles went all out and cleaned him up properly, dressing him in brand new underwear and pajama pants afterwards. He had to admit that it felt a lot better that way.

When Stiles walked him back to his room, he found his bed freshly made. Derek was there, lining up his stuffed animals and fluffing his pillow. He smiled at Eli, however, Eli could tell that it was a sad smile. It didn’t really reach his eyes, which made Eli kind of nervous because he was sure it was because of something he had done.

Even though the bed looked extra comfortable now, he dreaded sleeping in it. If it were up to him, he would stay up the whole night, no matter how tired he would be in the morning.

Derek walked past him, touched his cheek gently and wished him a good night, so Eli suspected that he couldn’t be too mad at Eli, but you never knew with adults. They were kind of confusing.

“Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?” Stiles asked him once Eli had climbed into bed. The older man pulled the soft blanket over him and tucked him in tightly. Eli wiggled comfortably and took a sniff of the freshly washed sheets. He thought about Stiles’ question but then decided against telling him since it was pretty embarrassing. He shook his head and Stiles didn’t push any further.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” he asked instead which surprised Eli. For a moment, he was speechless and didn’t know how to react. He suspected it to be a joke, but Stiles wasn’t laughing.

“Or I can stay with you until you fall asleep,” Stiles suggested when Eli didn’t answer.

“Stay,” Eli said quietly and put a hand on the omega’s arm. He decided to test his limits by carefully pulling the older man closer so that he would sit on the bed with him. Stiles seemed to understand and climbed over him, so he was leaning against the wall, slipping his legs underneath Eli’s blanket.

“But don’t snore in my ear,” Stiles said playfully and Eli giggled.

“I don’t snore,” he argued and grabbed Thumper from the side to hug him tightly.

“We’ll see,” Stiles said dramatically, “Derek snores really loudly, so I’m used to it anyway,” he let Eli know. The boy giggled again. He had always wondered how Stiles was able to sleep next to the alpha because sometimes, when Eli woke up in the middle of the night, he could hear the man snoring even though their room was all the way across the hallway.

“I don’t sore as loud as him,” Eli insisted, because there was probably no one out there who could compete with the alpha.

“Yeah, no, that’s impossible, you’re right,” Stiles smiled down at him and Eli tried to hide his smile behind Thumper’s big ears. Stiles placed a gently hand on Eli’s back, petting him gently until the boy’s eyes grew heavy. He fought sleep as hard as he could, but after a while he fell asleep quicker than expected – this time he didn’t dream about his father but about Stiles and Derek who made him try all kinds of new ice cream flavors that he had never heard of before. Though the pizza ice cream had been absolutely disgusting, it made Stiles laugh out loud when Eli told him about it in the morning, so it had been totally worth it.

 

***

 

Eli loved Derek’s family. He met them all on Derek’s sister’s birthday, after he had stayed only a few weeks with Derek and Stiles. They all lived close by and from what he had overheard, it seemed like they saw each other regularly. Eli had never had a big family before – it had only been his father and him, also his mother before she passed away – so he wasn’t used to having so many people around.

Derek’s sister’s name was Cora and she looked exactly like Derek but with longer hair, which Eli found absolutely hilarious. She was a bit younger than him, though, but she had three children already – one of them older than Eli was. He also met her husband and Derek’s two younger brothers – Connor and Bash. He was surprised to find out that Derek also had a twin sister called Laura, who had two children of her own. All of them barely fit into Coras small house on her birthday, but they made it work somehow, even when it started pouring outside and they all had squeeze around the small coffee table in the middle of the living room.

One month later, on Eli’s seventh birthday, they came over to celebrate in their even smaller apartment. It was loud and messy, but Eli absolutely loved it. They showered him with presents and hugs and made him feel like he had always been part of the family.

He almost cried when he unwrapped Derek’s and Stiles’ present and found out it was the Paw Patrol police car he had always wished for. He even got a big Chase plushy from Connor that proudly carried around for the rest of the day.

On top of that, he got even more toys, clothes, and a lot of school supplies since he would start school again after the summer holidays. He would attend the same school he had gone to while living with his father, but he would start first grade again because he had missed most of it. Although he shouldn’t be nervous about it because he knew the building, the teachers and most of the other students, he couldn’t help but feel a bit nauseous whenever he thought about it.

However, all his worries disappeared when everybody gathered around the dinner table to sing Happy Birthday just for him. They all clapped and cheered when Eli blew out the candles on his very own birthday cake. Stiles told him to make a wish but, for the first time in his life, Eli had nothing to wish for, because he already had everything he could think of.

 

***

 

School wasn’t as much fun as he had hoped but at least it was easier than the previous year because he finally had someone who helped him with his homework. He had never been good at keeping his things organized but now he lived with Stiles, who insisted that Eli tidied up his school back every day before bedtime. That way, he had never once forgotten to do his homework before.

The worst part about school was being away from Stiles for multiple hours at a time. Before school had started, Stiles had stayed with him the entire day, but now he started working again, which meant that he sometimes had to work night shifts, so Eli didn’t get to see him for over 24 hours. Those days were the worst even though Derek tried his best to distract Eli.

Sometimes he felt bad for Derek. He knew that the alpha really tried to be the best replacement for Stiles, and he knew it had to bother him that Eli was more attached to the omega, but he couldn’t help it. Eli adored Derek and he loved spending time with him, but after a busy day in school he really wanted to cuddle with Stiles, who was a bit more gentle and understanding than the alpha. Eli knew it was silly, but it was the truth.

So, when Stiles told him he would not be joining them on their already planned weekend trip to the beach, Eli burst into tears. They had wanted to spend time with Derek’s family again and had booked and Airbnb a few hours away to stay there over the weekend. However, someone at Stiles’ work had called in sick so he had to jump in and couldn’t join them.

Stiles and Derek both tried to console him and talked about all the fun things Eli would do at the beach, but none of it worked. He cried even harder when he noticed Derek’s disappointed face. Eli knew he was hurting him by crying but he couldn’t control himself.

It hadn’t been a great week for him. He had had nightmares every single night for the last couple of days, some of them leading to accidents that he didn’t want to think of. He had spent the last two nights in Derek’s and Stiles’ bed, but even then, he hadn’t slept well. To think I would have to spend the weekend in a strange bed without Stiles there to hold him was a nightmare in and of itself.

On top of that, he had been in a bad mood all week. He had fought with a classmate at school, had forgotten his homework even though Stiles had reminded him multiple times to do it, and his skin and been itching nonstop. That and the dull pain in his gums led to him snapping and Stiles and Derek during dinner the previous night which was really unlike him. When he had told them about it, they had reacted way too calmly to Eli’s liking. They had only exchanged knowing glances and assured him that the pain would probably pass soon.

Stiles cried so hard while saying goodbye that Eli almost thought he would never come back home after that weekend. That, on the other hand, made Eli cry even harder. He wriggled in his car seat while Stiles was trying to buckle him in. Meanwhile, Derek was trying to get Zeus to sit in the trunk of the car.

“You will have so much fun with your cousins, you won’t even notice I’m not there,” Stiles tried to convince him, but it was hard to believe him while looking into his bloodshot eyes. Eli shook his head violently and held onto the man tightly. Stiles cupped Eli’s face with both of his hands and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“See you on Sunday,” he whispered and kissed his tearstained cheek, afterwards he stepped back and closed the car door carefully. In the side-view mirror, he could see Derek and Stiles hugging each other. He couldn’t see Stiles’ face, but he could tell he was crying by the way his body was shaking. Derek kissed his head multiple times before they let go of each other. A few seconds later, the alpha climbed into the driver’s seat next to Eli and gave him a big smile.

“Are you ready to see the beach?” he asked cheerfully, and Eli couldn’t be any less ready.

 

***

 

The house and the beach were beautiful. He had never been to the beach before. So, for a moment, he forgot about Stiles and took in the scene in front of him. For now, it was only him, Derek, Laura, her husband and their three children, so they decided to check out the beach before the others arrived. While the others chased each other around, including Zeus – who seemed to have the best time of his life – Eli held on tightly to Derek’s hand. They were staying close to the ocean, letting the waves touch their feet gently.

It was September, so it was still really warm in California, and the water was a nice way to cool off. He had taken off his pants so they wouldn’t get wet, and Derek was holding them in his other hand.

“You like it?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear. Eli only nodded, even though the scene would have been even more beautiful if Stiles had been there. He didn’t say so, though, because he knew it would make Derek sad.

“Do you want to build a sandcastle with us?” Eli turned around and saw Laura’s son Finley and his little sister Eloise standing in front of them. They were carrying a bucket and shovels while looking at him and Derek expectantly. The question seemed to have been addressed to the both of them, so Eli looked to Derek first. He couldn’t say he was in the mood to build sandcastles but maybe he could just watch.

“You want to?” Derek asked him. He smiled so brightly that Eli was scared to decline, so he just nodded.

In the end, he just sat in Derek’s lap the entire time without touching the sand.

“Is he okay?” Finley asked Derek, ignoring Eli completely even though he could hear the other boy loud and clear. Finley was two years older than him and tended to treat Eli like he was not two but ten years older than him.

“He’s just tired, I think,” Derek answered, petting Eli’s back gently. Eli didn’t look up but buried his face in Derek’s shirt.

“Is it because of the moon?” asked the boy curiously. That’s when Eli lifted his head in confusion, looking at the sky. It was still bright as day and there was no moon to be seen in the sky. He turned to look at Derek’s face but apparently, he didn’t think it was a silly thing to say.

“Maybe,” was all Derek said.

“What about the moon?” Eli asked confused.

“It’s red today,” Finley said, as if it was obvious. He still didn’t know what they were talking about, but he decided to not ask any further questions. He thought that since Finley was two years older than him, he should know better that the moon is never red.

 

***

 

Eli was crying so hard he couldn’t breathe properly. His entire body was itching, his head was throbbing, and his eyes were burning, and he didn’t know why. Maybe he was sick, but he didn’t feel hot, nor did he have a sore throat or a runny nose. He was mad at Derek because when he had told him about his symptoms, he didn’t seem worried at all. Stiles definitely would have taken his concerns more seriously.

When all the others had arrived a few hours earlier and they had all eaten dinner together, Eli had felt relatively fine. However, when they had been sitting together on the big porch outside and the sun had begun to set, the itching in his body had started to spread.

Now it felt like his whole boy was on fire.

While the others were still sitting outside, talking and laughing loudly, Eli hid in his room – scared that he was going to die. Derek was with him, though, sitting on the bed and just watching Eli, who was sitting on the floor a few feet away from him, crying his eyes out. He was holding Thumper tightly in his arms but even his favorite bunny couldn’t ease the pain. Derek had already tried to hug him, but the last thing Eli wanted now was for somebody to touch him.

After what felt like hours, the door opened slowly, and Eli stopped crying for a second to wait and see who it was. Derek’s mother Talia slipped into the room gracefully and gave Eli a pitiful look from across the room.

“It’s time,” she whispered to Derek, who nodded like he was deep in thought.

“I know,” he said quietly, “I can feel it,” Eli noticed how he was wringing his hands nervously in his lap, moving his leg up and down quickly. Everything they said left Eli even more confused and scared. He watched Talia carefully as she sat down on the bed next to Derek.

“Come here, sweet boy,” she reached out a hand towards him, beckoning him closer. Eli didn’t want to go, but something pulled him towards her. He slowly moved closer to her, even though he tried to fight the urge.

“It’s going to be fine, don’t worry,” she assured him, gently putting a hand on his shoulder once he got close enough. Unsure of what to do or say, Eli moved towards Derek, who immediately wrapped his arms around the boy.

“Just let it be,” she said, “Don’t fight it,” Eli didn’t know what she meant, but there was some part of him that actually felt calmer now that she was here. He couldn’t stop looking at her – it was like he was hypnotized by her big hazel eyes that looked to much like Derek’s. She was an alpha too – a powerful one. The first time he had seen her, he had immediately sensed it.

Eli blinked and once he opened his eyes again, he was looking into two red ones that hadn’t been there before. He flinched back, though he didn’t feel scared. Some part of his body told him to run away, to scream or maybe cry, but there was another part of him – a bigger part – that told him to stay and obey. His eyes were still burning, but it had turned into a welcoming feeling. Eli blinked again and again until his vision turned blurry. However, it didn’t take long for it to turn back to normal.

When he turned to Derek, he was looking into two amber eyes instead of hazel ones. They shone as brightly as Talia’s, watching Eli nervously as if Derek was scared of Eli’s reaction.

“Look at you, little wolf,” Talia cooed, petting his cheek before pinching it lightly. She had never called him that before, so Eli couldn’t hide his confusion.

“Was your mommy a wolf?” Talia asked him quietly. Eli was taken aback – it had been a while that someone asked him about his mother. He wasn’t sure if wolf was some kind of code word for something he didn’t know. Hesitantly, he shook his head and looked at Derek again.

“I told you he doesn’t know,” he said, pulling him closer into his lap. Eli just let it happen, holding Thumper tightly to his chest while Derek placed him on his legs. That way, he was facing Talia again. Eli could feel his heart stop for a second when he looked at her face that didn’t look like how he remembered it.

Her eyebrows were nearly gone. Instead, her browbone stuck out and seemed way more prominent than before. Her eyes were still glowing in a dark red color and there appeared to be more hair on her head. Inbetween the strands of her hair he noticed that her ears were big and pointy. She didn’t look human anymore, and when she smiled and revealed a row of pointy, sharp teeth, she reminded Eli of a wild animal. It looked like really good Halloween make up, but he was sure that him looking away for a second hadn’t been enough time for her to put it on.

His heart was pounding violently in his chest – he was sure, Derek and Talia were able to hear it. Derek pulled him closer and placed a big hand over his upper body, holding him tightly in his arms. Though Eli was terrified, he tried to stay calm since Derek didn’t show any signs of concern.

“Show me your wolf, Eli,” Talia told him with a gentle but stern voice. He had no idea what she expected of him, so he just kept quiet. Already, he could feel the tears burning in his eyes again, but he tried to hold them back.

“Maybe he’s too young,” Derek tried to tell her, but Talia shook her head.

“I know it’s there,” she said and moved an inch closer towards Eli, who tried to flinch back but was only met with Derek’s hard chest.

“Mom,” Derek tried to move Eli away from her. That’s when Eli began to panic. He pulled Thumper closer to his chest and squeezed his eyes shut to avoid looking at Talia’s scary face.

“He’s scared,” Derek tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t let it go.

“Trust me,” she said, but at that moment, Eli didn’t really trust her anymore. He could feel tears running over his cheeks as he tried to hide himself in Derek’s chest. Just when he thought, she might move away from him now and let it go, he was surprised by a loud roar that sounded like a wild animal and not human at all.

His whole body flinched and he turned around to look at Talia. Apparently, the roar really came from her – though Eli refused to believe it had come from a human being. His skin started itching more and more until it became unbearable. He struggled in Derek’s hold, who tried to pull him closer, but every touch made his skin feel like it was burning.

Finally, he stood up from Derek’s lap and tried to move away from both adults. His gums started throbbing again and his entire head was hurting so badly that all he could do was to sink to his knees and cry in pain. He has never felt pain like that before – it made him want to throw up.

“Mom,” Eli cried harder when he noticed the panic in Derek’s voice. The alpha had seemed so calm just a few minutes before. Maybe Eli was actually about to die now.

“He just needs to find an anchor,” Talia said in a voice that was way too calm for Eli’s liking. He didn’t know what she meant and he actually doubted that anyone could help him right now. He should have stayed home with Stiles – the omega would have never let this happen. Eli began to think this had all been a sick and twisted way of punishing him for refusing to with Derek. He hadn’t been a good boy all week so maybe that was a way to punish him for that, too.

“What have you done?” Derek sounded angry. It reminded Eli of that one time he had yelled at Eli’s father, telling him to stand back while he had entered Eli’s bedroom. Maybe he should have just left him there because then he would never have experienced the pain he was feeling now.

“That’s what the first time is like,” Talia was slowly raising her voice as well, “It’s normal,” she assured them.

“Eli,” Derek close to him now, kneeling on the ground next to him. Eli turned away, trying to avoid his touch when he reached out his hand towards him.

“He just needs to find an anchor”

“How is he supposed to do that?” Eli flinched when he heard Derek’s angry voice. Everything was ten times louder now than it had been before. He could hear the rest of the family laughing downstair, he could hear Cora’s son, Jonah, crying, even though he hadn’t noticed him crying before. He was even able to hear Derek’s breathing. It was loud and clear, almost like he was inside his head.

Eli clawed at his ears desperately but moved his hands away quickly when he noticed that they were pointy like Talia’s. Was he turning into the same kind of monster she had turned into?

“Eli,” Derek tried again, his voice gently and soft. Eli was still squeezing his eyes closed but he could feel Derek’s hand on his face, trying to turn his head in his direction.

“Let me see,” Talia said. Eli could hear her feet walking on the carpeted floor.

“No,” Derek snapped, “You stay there!” he yelled at her. Before Eli could react, Derek placed his hands around his upper body and lifted him into his arms.

“Just let me see how far he-“

“No!” Derek snapped again, this time it sounded inhuman, straight out of a scary movie. There was an echo to his voice that Eli felt right in his bones.

“Derek,” Talia warned him, but Derek only pulled Eli closer, taking a step back. He had placed a hand on the back of Eli’s head and gently pushed it into his shoulder as if he didn’t want him to look at Talia.

“Stay away from my son!” he growled. It was an actual growl – like that of a wolf or a bear. Eli clawed at Derek’s shoulder with one hand; the other one was still holding Thumper.

No matter how scary the situation was, there was still a warm feeling spreading through Eli’s body when he heard Derek calling him his son. From the moment he had met Derek in his father’s apartment back in March, he had wanted nothing more than for the alpha to be his father instead. When Stiles and Derek had taken him home to live with them, that wish had become even greater. He pretended he was theirs every day – he even secretly called them his parents in front of his classmates at school. So, hearing these words coming out of Derek’s mouth almost made him forget about the pain he was feeling.

The way Derek was holding him reminded him of the night the alpha had carried him from his apartment into the ambulance. He had been terrified back then but Derek had made him feel safe and protected. He knew the alpha would keep him safe now, too. Somehow, that eased the pain.

Curiously, he moved his head to the sight to get a glimpse of Derek’s face. He was still looking at his mother, but Eli was able to see that his face had changed as well. He looked exactly like Talia did – pronounced brow bones, sharp teeth and pointy ears. Somehow, it didn’t scare Eli anymore. He was listening to Derek’s heart that was beating slightly faster than normal and inhaled his scent that reminded him of home and Stiles.

Absentmindedly, he reached for one of Derek’s pointed ears. He didn’t know why he did it – maybe to test if it was actually real. Derek’s stern expression softened instantly once Eli touched him. He turned to look at the boy and forced a smile on his face that Eli returned. He decided that Derek’s ears felt real enough to him and slowly moved his hand to lie on Derek’s shoulder.

Suddenly, he realized that the pain had subsided.

He went lax in Derek’s arms and let out an exhausted sigh he had been holding in for what felt like hours. There was still a slight tingling in his body, but it was nothing compared to the pain he had been feeling only seconds ago.

“Let me-,” Talia tried again, but Derek took a step back immediately.

“No,” he snapped, holding Eli tightly against his chest. Eli moved his head slightly, so he was able to see better. Talia was standing across the room, watching them carefully. When Eli turned to look at Derek, he noticed strange black lines moving up his arms and disappearing into the sleeves of his t-shirt. He inspected his own arms briefly to see if they looked the same, but they looked completely normal.

Without saying another word, Derek started moving. He exited the room, leaving Talia behind without telling her where he was going. He carried Eli downstairs, all the way through the hallway, passing the living room with the open terrace door where all the others were still sitting. He left the house through the front door and walked down the small path that led to the beach.

The air was cooler now, but Eli didn’t mind. It was still warm enough to only wear a t-shirt and shorts, and Derek’s body warmed him up anyway, so he couldn’t complain.

At some point, Derek stopped and sat down in the sand carefully. Eli was now sitting in his lap, listening to the waves of the ocean. It was a noise he had not heard before today, and he had started to really enjoy it.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked suddenly, pushing Eli away a bit to look at him properly. Derek’s face was back to normal, no more pointed ears or sharp teeth and his eyebrows had returned as well. Unsure of what to say, Eli only nodded and moved a hand to his ears. They were still pointy, so he probably still looked the same.

“Does it still hurt?” Derek asked further, but Eli shook his head again. The pain was entirely gone.

“Good,” Derek took his face into his hands and placed a kiss on his cheek. Eli couldn’t help but smile. He turned to look at the ocean. Even though it was pitch black outside and there were no lanterns at the beach, he was able to see fairly well. When he looked up at the sky, he noticed the moon. It was full moon but somehow bigger than normal, and it was red.

Now he realized what Finley had meant.

“It’s called blood moon” Derek let him know as if he was reading his mind.

“It happens after a total lunar eclipse, when the Earth is standing between the moon and the sun, blocking all the light. Some light still goes around the Earth and shines on the moon, that’s why it looks red,” Eli had no idea what he was talking about, but he nodded anyway. He had never seen the moon shine so brightly and he couldn’t stop looking at it. He was wondering if the moon looked the same wherever Stiles was right at that moment, and if he was seeing it too.

There was a long silence after that. Eli was trying to find the right words.

“Is Talia an animal?” he asked finally. He wasn’t sure how to phrase it. Technically, he knew that she wasn’t. But what he had seen was not easy to put into words.

“Something like that,” Derek let him know. Then there was nothing. Eli expected him to explain but he stayed quiet – his gaze fixed on the waves of the ocean while Eli was looking up at him.

“Are you an animal?” he pressed further.

“I am what she is”

“Am I like that too?”

Derrek looked down at him, hesitating for a second.

“Yes,” he finally said, “I guess you are”

“What kind of animal is it?” Eli asked curiously.

“It’s called a werewolf” Eli had heard that term before.

“Talia asked me if my mama was a wolf too,” he reminded Derek, “Was she?”

“I don’t know”, Derek admitted, “But I know that your father wasn’t, but one of your parents must be one. So, it has to be your mother,” he explained. Somehow, that answer didn’t satisfy Eli, but that wasn’t Derek’s fault.

“The moon’s why you have not been feeling well the last couple of days,” Derek nodded towards the moon, and Eli frowned. “On blood moon, it’s hard to control your wolf, even if you have a strong anchor”

He waited for a few seconds before he continued speaking.

“An anchor is someone who keeps you connected to your human side”

“Who’s your anchor?” Eli asked curiously. He remembered Talia words and how she kept telling him to find one.

Derek smiled absentmindedly before answering, “Stiles”

For a moment, Eli was wondering if Stiles was also his anchor, but he hadn’t really thought about him when the pain had subsided.

“Are the others wolves too?” Eli asked carefully.

“Yes, most of them. All of my siblings are”

“So, Finley is one too?”

“Yes, he is”

That made Eli feel better somehow. He thought about the way his face had changed but now that he knew that Finley probably looked the same right now, it wasn’t as scary anymore.

“Is Stiles one?” he continued asking.

“No, he’s not”

There were a thousand questions swirling around in his head, but he was way too tired to put them into words. Maybe all of this was just a silly dream. Completely exhausted, he leaned his head on Derek’s shoulder and pulled Thumper closer, who he was still holding in his hand. He closed his eyes for only a brief moment and thought about Talia’s and Derek’s face again. He couldn’t wait to tell Stiles about it.

 

***

 

“Looks like he found his anchor,” Eli startled awake when he heard someone speak. He was still in Derek’s arms, but he must have fallen asleep a while ago. Derek was still sitting in the same position, the moon was still shining brightly, and it was still dark outside, so he couldn’t have slept long.

“Yes,” Derek murmured, “But not thanks to you”

Talia appeared next to them. He could see her out of the corner of his eye. She sat down in the sand next to them and followed Derek’s gaze that was locked on the ocean. Eli decided to close his eyes again.

“Doesn’t it please you?” he could hear the smile on Talia’s lips, “That you’re his anchor”

“You shouldn’t have scared him like that,” Eli had never heard Derek talk so coldly before. He was glad he had never spoken to him in that tone.

“He’s one of us. He deserves to know who he is”

“He’s a child,” Derek argued.

“He’s pack”

Eli liked the sound of that.

 

***

 

He didn’t expect his life to become more complicated after that night, but somehow it did. Even though he was able to change his face back to normal, the sensitivity towards sounds and smells never fully subsided. At the end of a school day, he could smell Stiles’ familiar scent all the way to his classroom when the omega was sitting in his car parked in front of the school building to pick him up. He also learned to differentiate the sound of his car from all the other ones.

Suddenly, he heard sounds that he didn’t know existed, like the sound of his classmates’ heartbeats or the rustling of little bugs in the gras on the school’s playground.

It also came with the new ability to heal instantly whenever he hurt himself – much to Stiles’ relief. One time, when he had fallen off a climbing frame in the park, they had just watched his wounds close up in record time, not even leaving as much as a scar behind.

However, it hadn’t taken long for him to realize that it wasn’t always a blessing. Sometimes, strong smells gave him headaches and, occasionally, the loud noises scared him so badly that all he wanted to do was hide in his bed all day. Anytime it became too much, he could feel his face shift slowly – could feel his teeth elongate and his eyes burn. Luckily, it had never happened at school before. Also, it didn’t hurt anymore like it did on that one night at the beach house. It was still uncomfortable, but nothing compared to that moment.

Whenever he became overwhelmed and tried to hide, Stiles appeared right at his side as if he had special abilities too. Right now, he was sitting on the couch with Eli, gently covering Eli’s pointy ears with his hands, trying to shield him from any unnecessary sounds. It wasn’t really working but Eli appreciated the gesture.

School had been rough that day, so he hadn’t been in a good mood when Stiles picked him up. Traffic had been hell too, so it hadn’t taken much to send him over the edge once they got back home. In fact, nothing really bad had happened – it had only been the cacophony of pots and pans in the kitchen as Stiles emptied the dishwasher, mixed with the honking of cars outside and Zeus’s loud barking, that sent him into a meltdown.

He couldn’t remember how long they had been sitting on the couch already, but the sun had already begun to set, and Stiles had closed the curtains that only led through a tiny bit of light. Otherwise, the room was dark, just the way Eli liked it when he was feeling overwhelmed.

Stiles was gently swaying him from side to side while Eli was leaning against his chest. He was wrapped in a soft blanket with only his underwear on because he couldn’t stand the feeling of his clothes scratching against his skin.

“When is Derek coming home?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“He’ll be here any minute now, sweetheart,” Stiles answered, followed by a quiet sigh. Eli knew that Stiles was trying his best, and even though Stiles was his absolute favorite person to cuddle and play with, he felt like he was going crazy without Derek by his side whenever his new abilities overwhelmed him. He was the only one who made it tolerable, no matter how hard Stiles tried.

Stiles’ heartbeat was different – it was way faster. So fast, it sometimes sounded like two hearts beating. Derek’s, on the other hand, was steadier and calmer, grounding Eli when he felt restless.

He heard the alpha even before he got out of his car.

“Is he there?” Stiles whispered curiously when he noticed Eli going tense in his arms. Eli nodded eagerly. Stiles started grinning and got up with Eli still in his arms. He carried him all the way through the hallway, still wrapped in his blanket, until he reached the front door, which he opened so they could greet Derek properly.

It didn’t take long for the alpha to appear on the stairs, smiling brightly when he noticed them both. He kissed Stiles briefly before shifting his attention to Eli, who had already reached out his arms towards the older man, waiting to be picked up.

“What happened to you, little wolf?” he chuckled lightly and discarded his bag on the floor in order to lift Eli into his arms. He was probably referring to Eli’s wolfed-out state. Luckily, there were no neighbors outside to see.

“He’s been asking you for all day,” Stiles said and picked up Derek’s bag from of the ground.

“Really?” Derek smiled brightly and Eli nodded. For a brief moment, Derek looked directly at the boy and let his eyes flash brightly golden. Eli felt his eyes burn for a second, then he noticed Derek’s smile widening.

“Well, I’m here now,” he told them both, and Eli was more than glad that he was.

 

***

 

On Christmas morning, Eli tried hard to keep himself from sneaking into the living room to see if there were any presents under the Christmas tree. It was still dark outside when he woke up even though he loved sleeping in, but he just couldn’t sleep anymore. There was a clock on his bedside table, but he couldn’t read it, so he wasn’t sure if it was a reasonable time to wake Stiles and Derek. Both of them had never scolded Eli for waking them up too early, but maybe they wanted to sleep in on Christmas day.

He lay in his bed for a little while longer, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to sleep, but it just wouldn’t work. Lastly, he decided to finally get up and sneak into the hallway. He debated whether he should take a quick look into the living room, but he decided against it and walked straight to Stiles and Derek’s door. It was never fully closed, so Eli was able to simply push it open slightly so he could look inside.

There was not much to see since the curtains were closed shut so it was basically pitch-black inside. However, since gaining his new wolf-abilities, the dark didn’t bother him anymore. He was able to see perfectly well, so he had no problems getting across the room without bumping into something.

He could hear Derek and Stiles breathing – Derek way louder than the omega – and made his way to the foot of the bed. He climbed on it, crawling towards both men, who didn’t seem like they would wake up anytime soon. Derek lay on his back, his mouth slightly open, one arm wrapped around Stiles who was resting his head on Derek’s chest. He was taking over most of the bed, laying almost horizontally in it.

He decided to lie next to him since there wasn’t much space next to Derek. Carefully, he pressed his body close to Stiles’, lifting the blanket slowly to steal some warmth. His feet were freezing, but once he had slipped underneath the covers, they warmed up quickly.

He held his breath when he noticed Stiles stirring awake – maybe he hadn’t been quiet enough. In the dark, Stiles probably didn’t see him properly, but he wrapped an arm around the boy nevertheless, pulling him closer. Only then did Eli notice that he had forgotten Thumper in his bedroom, but he couldn’t risk getting up now. Usually, he wasn’t able to sleep without the bunny, but the warmth of Stiles’ body made him sleepy. It didn’t take long for him to fall into another deep sleep.

***

Christmas was awesome. He spent Christmas morning alone with Stiles and Derek who had gotten what felt like a hundred presents for him. In school, he had made sure to draw and craft them presents as well, and he hadn’t expected the men to like them as much as they did.

They spent the rest of the day with Stiles’ father – an older, slightly grumpy man, who had been a sheriff before. Eli had met him on Stiles’ birthday before, but they didn’t visit him often since he lived pretty far away. He stayed in hotel near their place for the holidays so they were able to see him now. Eli liked him but, at the same time, he was kind of scared of him. He always tried to engage with Eli by asking him a lot of questions, but Eli felt shy whenever he was around, sticking close to Stiles or Derek who sometimes answered the questions for him.

The next days they spent with Derek’s family as well. They drove all the way to Talia and Samuel’s place, taking Stiles’ father along, where they met the entire family. Eli was basically showered in presents and wasn’t sure how they would all fit into his room. He had never felt so loved before.

 

***

 

Somewhere between Christmas and New Year’s Day, things started to slow down a bit. Stiles’s father was still there but otherwise their days only consisted of sleeping in, going to the park, playing board games and watching television together. Eli absolutely loved their new routine and already dreaded having to go to school again. Stiles and Derek didn’t have to go to work until the next year, so Eli had them all to himself.

Everything was perfect, except when he noticed that Stiles was acting differently. First, he just thought the omega was tired because of the holidays – he had seen him prepare a lot of food and presents for everyone – but now, it didn’t seem to go away.

He didn’t seem as cheery and careless as before and Eli hadn’t seen him laugh in a long time. On top of that, he slept a lot more during the day, which wasn’t necessarily strange, however, Eli wasn’t allowed to cuddle next to him because he always wanted to be alone.

Sometimes, Derek took Eli outside during the day, taking him to the grocery store or the park so Stiles could be alone with his father. He asked Derek if there was something wrong with the omega, but Derek always assured him that he was just fine and only a little bit sad at the moment.

It wasn’t like Eli didn’t understand. Sometimes, he got sad too, but he didn’t understand why Stiles didn’t let anyone help. Usually, Eli felt better when Stiles hugged him tightly, so why didn’t the omega feel the same way? He started to think that maybe he was the problem.

One night, when Eli was supposed to be sleeping, he snuck out of his room because he had heard something. When he walked across the hallway, he noticed dim light burning in the living room, so he decided to investigate.

When he reached the door of the living room, he opened it quietly and noticed Stiles lying on his side on the couch, scrolling on his phone. It wasn’t an unusual picture so Eli considered going to bed again, but just as he was about to turn around, he heard the man snuffle. There was a faint smell of salt in the air and something else that Eli had identified as sadness a few days ago – at least Stiles had started to smell like it the day Eli had noticed his change in character.

He just couldn’t turn around and forget about what he had seen, so he quietly entered the room and walked towards the man. The lamp next to the TV was turned on and painted the room in a yellowish tint. When Eli got closer to the couch, he was able to see tears on Stiles’ cheeks.

He didn’t know what to say, so he just stood by Stiles’ feet and said nothing, waiting for the omega to notice him. When he did, Stiles’ whole body flinched violently, and Eli could hear his heart skip for a second.

“Jesus Christ,” Stiles gasped, “You're starting to become more and more like Derek. Maybe, I have to put a bell on you both”

Eli didn’t know what that meant. He tilted his head to the side and moved closer to Stiles, who put his phone aside before quickly brushing the tears from his cheeks.

“Are you okay?” he asked Eli, who thought that was a really strange question since he wasn’t the one crying. Eli only nodded and sat on the couch next to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked the man.

“I was just on my phone for a bit,” Stiles answered, “I couldn’t sleep”

There were dark circles under his eyes that probably would still have been visible even if Eli hadn’t had werewolf-vision.

“Why were you crying?” he boldly asked.

There was a long pause afterwards. Stiles shifted on the couch and sat up straight. For a second, Eli really believed Stiles would tell him the real reason, but, in the end, he stuck to what Derek always said.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” he assured Eli.

“Are you sad?” the answer was pretty obvious, but Eli didn’t know what else to say.

“Yes, a bit,” Stiles admitted and brushed a tear out of the corner of his eye.

“Why?” he already tried to think of all the ways he could make Stiles feel better. The man usually made him hot chocolate when Eli was sad, sometimes they watched a movie or went on a walk. It was a bit late for a walk now, though.

Stiles looked at him weirdly without saying anything. His eyes weren’t focused on Eli though – he seemed far away and deep in thought, like he was unsure whether or not he should talk with Eli about it.

“Wait here,” he said finally and stoop up from the couch. He didn’t go far, though, and walked over to one of the dressers in the living room. On top of it, there was a little box that he picked up and carried over to Eli, just to sit next to him again, the box placed between them. Eli had noticed the box before, but he had never dared to look inside. His father had always hated it when Eli had snooped around in his stuff, so he didn’t like to touch any of Stiles’ and Derek’s.

“So,” Stiles seemed nervous and kept moving his fingers over the edges of the box. It was a simple white box with a picture of an angel on top of it.

“Two years ago,” he cleared his throat, “I was pregnant with a little boy”

Eli thought about his words for a little while. I really didn’t expect that to be Stiles’ answer. Unsure what to say, he just nodded silently and waited for Stiles to explain further.

“He was born on November 11^th two years ago, but-,” he stopped and wiped a stray tear off his cheek, “He passed away a little over a month later on December 27^th”

Eli was too shocked to react. He had never heard of babies dying before. At least, he had never thought about it. Of course, he knew that people of all ages could die, but he always thought that was something that happened to others and not to the people he was close to. Sometimes he forgot his mother was dead, too, because death was so unreal and bizarre to him.

“That’s why I’m sad right now,” Stiles concluded. Again, Eli nodded. He watched as the man opened the box and took out some photographs that he handed over to Eli. There were also other things inside: something that looked like a pacifier clip, a little book and some clothes that were really tiny.

Eli looked at the photographs. He could see a small baby on them that looked like it had been just born. Until he saw a picture of Stiles holding the baby on a hospital bed, he had almost believed the story wasn’t real. He just couldn’t imagine that Derek and Stiles had been parents before Eli had entered their lives.  

“His name was Elias,” Stiles added, “Kinda like your name,” he smiled. Eli tried to return it.

“Why did he die?” Eli asked innocently. While looking at the pictures, he realized that it was the same baby he had seen in the picture frames hanging by the dinner table. Now he understood why it was black and white.

“He was born with a heart disease,” Stiles teared up again and it sounded like he had trouble speaking. His hands were shaking when he touched the items inside the box.

“We knew about that beforehand, but there was nothing we could have done. He was born a bit to early too, so-,” he stopped talking and breathed in deeply.

“I*m sorry I’ve been so absent the last couple of days, Eli,” Stiles stroked his cheek gently. Eli, however, was still focused on the pictures in his hands. He tried to see if Elias looked like Derek and Stiles, but, to him, all babies pretty much looked the same. He was smaller than any baby he had seen before, though. The picture in which Derek was holding the baby looked almost unreal because Elias was practically smaller than the alpha’s hands.

“I promise, it won’t be like that forever,” finally, Eli looked up at the man. Stiles didn’t even try to dry his tears anymore. They were just rolling over his cheeks, dropping down in his pajama pants. Eli wanted to tell him that he didn’t mind. Naturally, he preferred the happy version of Stiles, but Eli had his sad days too, so everyone else was allowed to have them as well.

He returned the pictures to Stiles, who looked at them one last time before putting them back into the box. He closed the lid carefully and placed the book on the coffee table. Eli looked at the omega for a long time before he found the courage to say what he thought.

“My mama really liked babies,” he said. Stiles turned to him and forced a faint smile on his lips, “She always took care of me so maybe she will take care of Elias now,” he thought out loud, “in Heaven”, he added.

Stiles’ lips parted and his eyes widened for a second. Eli was scared he had said something wrong, when he watched the man burst into tears. He was sobbing like a child right in front of him, and Eli was taken aback since he had never seen an adult cry like that before.

Eli decided to crawl closer to him, which seemed to have been a good decision, since Stiles pulled him closer immediately. He kissed Eli’s head and petted his back while his whole body shook from holding back sobs.

“That’s a really nice thought,” he commented, and Eli was relieved that he didn’t think it was weird of him to say something like that.

“It’s almost the same name too,” Eli observed, “So maybe it will remind her of me,”

“Yes,” Stiles tightened his hold, “You’re probably right”

Eli could feel tears burning in his own eyes as well. They always did when he thought about his mama. He really liked the thought of his mama having another baby to care for in Heaven. Maybe it would be less boring up there that way. So maybe Eli had just switched places with Elias. Of course, he felt sad for Stiles and Derek; and he almost didn’t want to think about it in that way, but for the first time in his life, he was kind of glad his mother died, because otherwise he wouldn’t have ended up with the best parents in the world. And of course, he wished for Stiles’ sake that baby Elias could still be alive, but he was also glad that he could fill the empty spot he had left behind. Maybe Stiles and Derek wouldn’t have taken him in if they had already had a child at home waiting for them.

However, he was sure that both – his mama in Heaven and his mama here on earth – were thankful that their babies were taken care of.

 

***

 

They moved into a house with a big garden in Spring. Eli was kind of sad they had to leave the cozy apartment behind, but his room was bigger now and there was lots of space for him to run around. Zeus seemed to like the garden best since he spent almost the entire day outside when he wasn’t at work with Derek. Eli thought it was kind of funny that their dog had an actual job. They also didn’t have to walk a thousand stairs to the 3^rd floor anymore and they could be as loud as they wanted to, even at night. They took all the furniture from their old apartment with them, so it still felt like home. They also stuck to the old bunny theme in Eli’s new room, so nothing had changed that much.  

Even Elias’ little memory box had gotten its own spot on one mantle of their new fireplace. His picture hung above the dinner table – like it did in the old apartment.

Once it had gotten warmer, they had started to spend a lot of time in the garden. However, Eli wasn’t allowed in the garden shed right next to their house for reasons he didn’t understand. Derek told him there were lots of dangerous garden tools in there, but Eli argued that he just wanted to take a quick look inside. He wouldn’t touch anything – it was just weird to live in a place where he hadn’t seen every single room yet.

Usually, Derek and Stiles always explained rules to him in a way that made sense, but he couldn’t quite get behind his one. Honestly, it made him a bit sad to know that they didn’t trust him enough to keep his hands by himself and to be careful.

Derek spent a lot of time in the shed. Eli always heard him hammering and drilling which confused him even more. Every time he asked Stiles about it, he came up with random lie. Eli knew it was a lie because Stiles’ heart skipped every time he came up with one – Derek had told him about that trick.

A bit over a month after moving into the new house, Eli came home from school on a random Thursday just to be greeted by Stiles and Derek, which was rare since Derek usually worked late. This time, however, they seemed particularly happy, grinning from ear to ear, so Eli immediately knew something was off.

They briefly asked him about school but didn’t let him finish, before they gently guided him through the living room, all the way into the garden. Eli wanted to argue that he still had his shoes on and made the floor all dirty, but they didn’t seem to care. In fact, they were wearing shoes as well, so it was probably fine.

In the garden, they walked him over to the shed. It was only then that Eli noticed the new fence that surrounded it – it hadn’t been there yesterday when he had played in the garden. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that they were actually allowing him to open the door of the blue painted shed.

He turned around to them nervously before turning the doorknob and carefully opening the door. Even while still standing outside, he noticed a strange smell that reminded him of farm animals – maybe they stored some of Zeus’ food in there.

When he opened the door, he realized that the smell was hay. The entire wooden floor was covered in it. The first thing that came to Eli’s mind was that there were no gardening tools inside, so everything Derek had said must have been a lie. Instead, Eli saw what looked like little houses, beds and bowls that he assumed belonged to Zeus, but it didn’t make sense why they were in the shed and not inside the house.

Then he heard something rustle inside the hay that caught his attention. He lowered his gaze to one of the tiny houses that had a hole right in the middle. That’s when he saw the little face of a bunny sticking out of it. He took a step back, colliding with Derek who gently pushed him forwards.

“Who’s that?” Stiles asked and laughed. Eli didn’t know what to say, he just stared at the bunny in awe and watched it without moving. It was completely brown with floppy ears and a little nose that moved while it was sniffing his surroundings. That’s when he noticed another bunny in the corner of the shed. It was black and white with the same floppy ears as the other one.

“We wanted to rent out the shed and found these three candidates. What do you think? Should we let them stay?” Stiles said jokingly, but Eli was so shocked that he wasn’t even able to laugh. Also, he realized that Stiles talked about three bunnies, so he started looking around for the third one. He quickly realized it was hidden inside the little house behind the brown one. It was a black bunny with pointed ears that he saw once he had crouched down to the floor.

He was unsure if this was a joke. Eli was happy nevertheless, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up too soon. He wasn’t sure if this was only temporary or if they would actually stay with them forever. The inside of the shed looked like Derek and Stiles were serious about it, though. It looked like a mini playground with ladders, hammocks and tunnels. Everything was nailed to the walls, so now he knew what Derek had been doing outside for the last couple weeks.

It looked really cozy in there: the walls were painted light blue, and they had a little window, too, that let in a lot of light. Eli suspected they had built the fence outside to let them outside too.

It was way bigger than the cage his old friend’s bunny had lived in. Sometimes, when Eli had visited his place when he was younger, they let the bunny outside to jump around and play. Inside the cage there had only been a bit of hay and a bowl of water. This, however, seemed like it was ten times as big as the cage.

“Do you like it?” Stiles kneeled to the ground and put a hand on Eli’s back. The boy nodded quickly. He probably didn’t seem like he was happy but in reality, he actually tried not to explode right on the spot.

“You can name them, if you want. They don’t have names yet,” Derek said. He gently moved a hand through Eli’s hair. Eli’s head was totally empty right now.

“Are they-“ Eli started but didn’t know how to continue, “Do they stay here?”

“Yes, they live here now,” Stiles confirmed, smiling brightly. He pulled Eli closer and petted his upper arm. Eli felt tears burning in his eyes even though he wasn’t even sad. He was so happy that it numbed his entire body, making him unable to move.

“Are you happy about it?” Stiles seemed unsure about his lack of reaction. He still smiled at Eli but seemed nervous. He quickly looked at Derek, then back at Eli. The boy nodded eagerly and wiped his eyes before Stiles could see his tears.

“No, I think he’s happy about it,” Derek whispered towards Stiles. It sounded like he was holding back laughter. He crouched down next to Eli as well, pulled him close and kissed his head.

“He smells happy,” Derek added.

“I am happy,” Eli said finally, still trying to wipe his tears away.

“Oh,” Stiles cooed once he saw the tears, “My sweet boy”

He kissed Eli’s cheek multiple times, and Eli truly felt like he had never been happier.

“Thank you,” he turned to hug Stiles tightly.

“You don’t need to thank us,” the omega answered while squeezing him even tighter. Eli thought that was a really silly thing to say since he wanted to thank both men every single day for giving him the life he had always dreamed of. He carefully wiggled out of Stiles’ grip to turn towards Derek so he could hug him as well. Derek lifted him up with ease, holding him tightly as if he weighed nothing.

While Eli buried his face into Derek’s neck, he could feel Stiles’ hand on his back. The omega placed a kiss on his head, and no one dared to say a word. There was only the quiet rustling of hay coming from the bunnies and the subtle noise of Stiles’ sniffling. Eli was used to it by now – Stiles cried quite easily, especially when he was happy.

While being held by his two favorite people in the whole wide world, Eli realized that maybe life was actually as fun as people made it out to be. It had just taken a while for him to understand it.

 

what I had left here

I just held it tight

so someone with your eyes

might come in time

to hold me like water

or christ, hold me like a knife

- Who We Are (Hozier)

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading! (●'◡'●)

I'm planning on making this a series. If you have any wishes or suggestions for what you want to read about this precious family, please feel free to comment or send me message on Tumblr @mymomdoesallthegroceryshopping

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of who we are series