Chapter 1
“I cannot wait until you are finished with remodeling your house! Then I might be able to finally have my living room back” Sheriff Stilinski said with a sigh when he entered the sitting room and found a horde of teenagers, and one young man, sprawled across every sitting possibility in the room, the TV showing a movie and a multitude of pizza cartons surrounding the scene.
“I promise we will be out of your hair as soon as possible, Sir” Derek replied, a look on his face that could only be described as a mix between grateful and amused. So much had changed in the last few weeks, and Derek was glad to be able to say that it had changed for the better.
“Admit it, Dad, you like having all of us hanging out here. We could have kept hanging out in an abandoned train station, but instead we chose this humble abode here. Much more comfortable, although I have to admit that it is quite funny to see a bunch of werewolves sitting around watching stupid rom-coms!” Stiles added, chuckling at the glares most of the males in the room directed at him. It certainly hadn’t been their decision to watch Crazy Stupid Love, but the combined forces of Lydia and Erica had made them cave and let them watch whatever the girls wanted. Not that Stiles minded. He liked that movie!
Indeed a lot had happened after the incident with Gerard Argent and the Kanima. For one, Chris Argent had carted his daughter off to somewhere in the middle of nowhere in France to get her back on a slightly less crazy track, much to Scott’s dismay. It didn’t pass a day where the young wolf didn’t stare off into the abyss and sigh, obviously longing for his first love. Stiles however found it to be good therapy for his best friend. He had to get a grip. What Allison had done to them, to their pack, had been inexcusable. The best thing for Scott to do would be forgetting the girl!
Not that that would be happening. Stiles knew Scott and Allison were destined to be together. But a bit of a break would do his best friend some good, get him back on track.
A much happier incident was retrieving Erica and Boyd from where they had been held captive by rogue hunters - again. It had involved Stiles’ father being pulled into the group of people in the know, but it would have been much harder to explain why the misfit group of teenagers was capable of finding their friends without a task force without mentioning the whole wolfy thing. Sheriff Stilinski had been shocked, to say the least, but surprisingly it had only taken Stiles explaining everything three times before he had wrapped his head around the new reveal of things. It had also cleared up a lot of things for the Sheriff, with what happened with Matt in the police station and all the other ‘mysterious deaths’ that had been occurring in their normally quiet town. Stiles suspected his father wasn’t all fine with it yet, but having Melissa McCall by his side to figure everything out together helped him greatly. In comparison, the woman had a worse fate, her own son turned into a furry monster every full moon, Stiles was just an innocent bystander.
Although, calling Stiles Stilinski innocent was probably an oxymoron.
By far the happiest about seeing Erica and Boyd coming back to them had been Isaac. The young wolf had been inconsolable for the whole time he had known his friends, his siblings rather, had been locked up by hunters, and as soon as he had seen the battered and bruised forms of the two teenagers emerge from the abandoned building they had been kept in, the boy had lit up like a Christmas tree. Stiles had to admit it was adorable to see what an effect the three had on each other, but especially Erica and Boyd on Isaac. After the power rush he had been on after the bite had toned down, Isaac had calmed his demeanor considerably. Because of the boy’s rocky past and the incident with Allison in the abandoned warehouse, where she had stabbed him, Isaac now suffered from bouts anxiety, and his wolf had adapted to it by appearing younger than the others and therefore was a lot more fragile and in need of care. Even though Isaac hated it, he truly was the youngest wolf of their pack. He tried to put on a tough act whenever people called him out on it, but actually, he reveled in the attention this position brought him. Too long had he gone without any positive attention, and the pack would be damned if they wouldn’t make up on the lost time!
Derek had been disappointed in Erica and Boyd because of their leaving, but he had tried to patch up the differences between his betas and him. He craved a well functioning pack, and the first step to achieve that was to let bygones be bygones. The same happened with Scott. They both admitted, albeit grudgingly, that they had been wrong on multiple accounts, and that they needed to work together to function properly on the same territory. Scott had seen how Derek was trying with the rest of the betas, and after discussing it lengthily with Stiles, had accepted Derek as his alpha.
So with a new Hale pack formed, bruises and cuts healed, Stiles’ surprisingly with the help of Derek Hale’s magic hands channeling the pain out of his body, the next thing to figure out was to bring the Hale home up to standard again. Derek had hired a troupe of workers to rebuild the house, and he had paid the men good money to have the house done as soon as possible. It had been six weeks now, and the house was ready to be moved into again. There were only minor details to be worked on anymore, and Derek reckoned moving day would be in a week or two. For the time being he had moved into a hotel in the city centre, and Isaac had been placed into the loving care of Melissa McCall. Once the house was done, he would move in permanently, with Derek being named his legal guardian. How that had been accomplished Stiles didn’t know, seeing as Derek had been accused of murder once- twice. Okay that might have been his fault, Stiles thought, but the charges had been dropped eventually after all. No harm done, even though Derek liked to hold it against Stiles from time to time.
“While I enjoy the company and cooked dinner, I would really like to have my recliner back soon, son” Sheriff Stilinski said with a laugh, shaking his head at the scene again. Them having pizza really was an exception from what they usually had to eat.
Derek looked around himself, seeing his pack strewn across the floor and couches, and spotted Jackson lounging in the well worn recliner that the Sheriff obviously meant.
“Jackson, up” he said, and the boy in question turned in his seat to look at his alpha.
“Huh?” Eloquent, as always, Stiles thought.
“Get out of the chair” Derek ordered again and Jackson huffed, turning back to the screen. It only took one growl from his alpha to make him practically fly out of the chair and over to where Lydia sat next to Erica. He picked her up as if she was as light as a ragdoll, sat down in the seat previously occupied by her, and then settled her in his lap.
It made Stiles want to vomit, they were so cute together. And that was something he never thought he would say. But after being practically reborn as a wolf, Jackson had changed. He had calmed down his asshole demeanor, which didn’t mean he wasn’t still an asshole, because oh lord, he was, but he had pushed it down a notch. Jackson’s wolf had recognized Lydia as his mate and after Lydia had accepted the mate bond, they were practically inseparable. It would be annoying, if it wasn’t so cute. Stiles had resigned on not ever having a chance with the redhead. It had been a nice thought in his head, but he had to admit, Lydia and he would probably kill each other sooner or later if they were to go out. No, this was fine. Stiles enjoyed the friendship he had with her now. He finally had someone who could hold up with his intellect!
From his seat on the other couch Stiles could see that everything was good. Everyone was happy, except for Scott, maybe, but he was getting there, and Stiles was grateful for this. They deserved this break. They all had gone through a shit ton of stuff and a bit of peace was well appreciated. On his left, Scott let out a sigh. Stiles turned to see a frown on his best friend’s face.
“Dude, what’s up?” he asked quietly and Scott turned to look at him, a look on his face that would make a puppy jealous.
“This is one of Allison’s favorite movies” he said with a sigh and a groan went through the ranks.
“Not again, Scott! You say that about every movie! You seriously need to get a grip or else I will-“ Jackson started, but again, a growl from Derek made the beta shut up. The alpha reached across the backrest from where he sat on Stiles’ right, and put his hand on the back of Scott’s neck. It was Derek’s way of showing affection and comfort. He was trying, really, to be a better alpha, to care for his pack, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t still have a long way to go before he would deserve a ‘#1 alpha’ mug. But still, this simple gesture showed that he cared, cared for his pack and what they were going through and right now, Scott needed this assurance to know he wasn’t alone. Stiles heard a low whine and looked over to where Isaac was moving towards their couch from where he had sat on the floor next to Boyd and between Erica’s legs. With another whine he settled in front of Scott and leaned his head against his leg. Stiles was close to cooing at the scene.
“Isaac I swear you are way too cute for a 16 year old! The puppy wants everyone to be happy” he exclaimed, ruffling the curly haired boy’s hair, only to receive a small snarl and a stink eye.
“I’m not a puppy!” he whined, but leaned further into Scott’s leg to comfort his wolf brother.
“Yes, you are, Isaac, there is no way to deny it!” Erica piped up from the other couch, and the rest of the pack chuckled at the face Isaac pulled.
The wolf pack was getting ready to leave the Stilinski residence for the night. They had been spending almost every evening for the last few weeks in the same exact spot, and even though he had appeared to be completely fine with it, Stiles couldn’t wait for a change of scenery. He loved his home, and he loved his pack, but man, it could get boring sometimes! He followed the others into the front hall, where a mass of shoes was scattered around and the teenagers were rummaging through the piles to find their pairs.
“We’re going to go shop for furniture for the house tomorrow. I would like all of you to come. This is going to be our house, not just mine, and everyone should get a chance to pitch in with ideas” Derek announced and most of the pack groaned.
“But Derek! We had plans already! We rented a pitch and wanted to play a bit of baseball! You know, finally be able to not hold back all the time!” Scott whined and Derek heaved a sigh.
“Yeah, and Erica and I have appointments to get our nails done at noon, but afterwards we could join you” Lydia said and Derek’s sigh turned into a slight growl. He rubbed a hand across his face in defeat. Sometimes he regretted building a pack with a bunch of teenagers.
“Okay. At least you are doing something together. But I want all of you to come and look for furniture at least once in the next week, got it?” he said to the boys, then turned to Erica and Lydia. “You can meet me after your appointment. I’m sure you agree when I say I worry about the outcome of the house when I let the boys have free reign over what they buy.” Erica and Lydia nodded with a grin, promising to go to the furniture shop right after their manicure. With that the pack was out of the front door and piled into various cars, one after the other driving off. Seeing his betas off, Derek made to put on his leather jacket.
“So, when are we going to meet? Or are you picking me up tomorrow? I mean, it would be stupid to drive with two cars, right? What with the global warming, and, as much as I love my car, the Jeep really isn’t as eco-friendly as I would like it to be. So really, you should pick me up and then we go to the furniture shop together. But I am not stepping foot into an Ikea, okay?” Stiles looked at Derek’s confused face. Okay, maybe he had talked a bit fast, but the Alpha ought to keep up with him, he had sonic hearing or something after all!
“What?” Just like Jackson, Derek was ever so eloquent. Was that an integral part of the wolf gene?
“Dude? You just said we are going to meet up to buy furniture! And I’m telling you we should take one car to go there!” Stiles repeated himself and understanding dawned on the taller man’s face.
“But don’t you want to go play baseball with the others? Or meet wi-“ he inquired, but Stiles stopped him in his tracks.
“Dude, I am not going to play baseball with your wolves, at least not if I value my body as a whole, and trust me, I do. They would mangle me! And while I appreciate clean and groomed nails, I am not going to a manicure with Lydia and Catwoman! Not in a thousand years!” he argued and Derek nodded. He could see reason in what Stiles was saying.
“Good, okay, I’ll come over at 11” he replied and bent down to tie his laces.
“What?! 11 in the morning? Come on Derek, I have summer break! Why do we have to get up that early?”
“Stiles! 11am or you can drive yourself!” Derek growled and glared at the younger boy. There it was, the Derek Stiles knew so well.
“Okay, okay, big bad wolf, no reason to growl at me! 11am it is. God, you really have to start working on your social skills! This is not normal!” Stiles’ rant was met with a light chuckle from the living room, where the Sheriff observed the situation. Stiles turned to his father and glared. He didn’t like people ganging up on him.
“Whatever Stiles” Derek said in passing and was out of the door. Once Stiles had closed the door behind the alpha wolf, he heard another chuckle coming from the living room. Stiles turned and stalked back towards his father plopping down on his previous seat.
“Don’t laugh at me, Dad” he growled, and man, he almost sounded like Derek!
“I’m not laughing at you, Stiles, I’m laughing at how everything has changed. I mean, you once accused Derek of murder and now he is a constant guest on our living room. You have to admit that a lot has changed!”
Stiles’ dad was right. Indeed a lot had changed between Derek and Stiles. Gone were the times where he was slammed into walls, or steering wheels, because of the brooding man. In fact, Derek was much less brooding than he used to be. He was really trying to be a better alpha, and that meant dropping the lonesome wolf act. He had started to get the pack together and now they could really say that he was the head of their family of misfits.
Stiles had also found out that Derek had a sense of humor. It didn’t come out all too often, but when it did, Derek had the whole pack in stitches. It was… good. Yes, really good.
And Stiles was probably the only person in the pack that didn’t get growled at for talking back. Maybe it was because he wasn’t a beta, he didn’t know. All he knew was that Stiles still had his lose mouth and he hadn’t once been shut up by the alpha.
If he had to admit it, Stiles liked this slightly special position in the pack. And if he had to admit another thing, Stiles had to say that he kind of liked the banter between the two of them. It kept him on his toes.
They weren’t friends, not really, but they were in a good place.
Really, it would just be weird to call Derek his friend.
Even though it wouldn’t be bad to have such a good looking guy as a friend – yes, Stiles liked looking at Derek, sue him. Who wouldn’t like looking at Derek Hale?
And maybe he had had a dream or two before, starring one dark haired alpha wolf in the lead role. It had stumped him for a few moments after waking up the first time, but by now he had sort of gotten used to Derek staring as the lead in his dreams. There really wasn’t anything he could do about what his subconscious wanted to show him, right? And it’s not as if Stiles didn’t enjoy those dreams… Anyways!
Yes, a lot had changed, and Stiles would never change it back.
