Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It took two weeks of healing before the Sheriff was willing to let Stiles out of the house. Two weeks of sleep and boredom once he was no longer dropping in on dreamland constantly. Two weeks of his father giving him sad looks and tiredly asking him once again how he really got hurt. Stiles didn’t have the heart to explain that he was more upset over his soul mate being an ass than the beating he had taken. His dad had been too distracted to remember his timer was set to go off and Stiles wasn’t looking forward to the ‘I am more than an acquaintance with Derek Hale’ talk they would have to have.

Of course, it had taken him much less time than that to realize that Derek Hale was a lying liar who lies, and only a few days after that to get proof. Erica had been making regular trips to check on him; she was evil enough that there had been no hesitation before asking his medicated self what had happened with his soul mate. Apparently after an hour of intense comfort cuddling to calm him down, Erica had stormed off to go chew out Derek. Stiles still hadn’t gotten the whole story from her, but he had managed to find out that Derek had smelt sad and guilty with a heart beating so erratically that there was no way that he was being honest about any of his comments.

Now that he wasn’t hurt and medicated Stiles could remember the red flags he would have otherwise caught, signs that Derek was bullshitting him. Stiles had saved Derek’s ass several times, and while he was no help on the physical front he had managed to be a great help when it came to planning or research. Derek had even admitted as much on occasion.

There was no more Alpha pack, he now knew who he needed to build a new ten year ‘make them fall in love with me’ plan around, and Erica had reported that Harris was out with the flu, so Stiles’ first day back at school would pass with no detentions. Life wasn’t great, but it rarely was and he was still around so overall Stiles was satisfied with it.

Of course, nothing had prepared him to walk into Beacon High and promptly have all eyes turn to him as conversations stopped.
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Uneasy, but unwilling to show it, Stiles moved through the hectic lunch room before sitting at an empty table. He smiled and nodded as he met people’s eyes, once again wondering why he hadn’t been able to find Scott yet. Stiles had seen his best friend’s bike locked up out front, he had to be around somewhere.

The intensity of the stares were almost enough to send him running out of the room, but the school nurse had a tendency of calling parents when one of their kids had a panic attack and Stiles didn’t need to give his dad another reason to worry.

People’s stares had never bothered him by themselves; it was always what was attached to them that caused problems for him. He still felt the familiar weight of an entire town’s pity on occasion, one of the unfortunate memories associated with his mother’s death. Stile had gotten hurt, but that was not uncommon and it certainly wasn’t anything to earn himself this kind of reaction. Besides, Scott had promised to spread an awesome tale of him fighting ninjas in the preserve. Determined not to give into the urge to run and hide, Stiles moved his eyes to his food concentrating on eating while making himself seem as small as possible. If they couldn’t see him then they couldn’t talk about him.

It was only the clatter of a tray and another body settling beside him that had Stiles jerk his head up. Erica was making herself at home, shoulder pressed against his, a comforting presence against the waves of anxiety rolling through him. Isaac and Boyd were right behind her, sliding into place across from them only a moment later.

“What’s going on?” Stiles couldn’t keep himself from asking, he had all three of Derek’s leather puppies surrounding him, something was seriously wrong.

Erica flinched, lowering her eyes briefly before nodding to herself and meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry. I was just so disappointed in Derek, I didn’t even think to check if the other where around and if what happened needed to be a secret. Isaac and Boyd heard.”

There she hesitated, eyes attempting to wander across the table from them, before steeling herself, “Isaac casually mentioned it to Scott yesterday.”

The fork in his hand suddenly weighed a ton; slowly Stiles lowered it to his tray, fighting down the instant urge he had to panic. Sure, he had avoided telling Scott that Derek was his soul mate, but that was more because he had just wanted to hang out and have fun every time his best friend had made it over… Right?

“He didn’t take it well.” This time she couldn’t keep her eyes up as her voice practically fell to a whisper. “They were by Scott’s locker and everyone was heading for lunch so a bunch of people heard. The whole school has been talking about it since.”

The floor dropped out from under him, breath turning sharp as the room lost focus around him. There was a harsh sound echoing in his ears, as his head felt lighter and lighter. Grey bled into the edges of his sight, chest heaving as he struggled to simply breathe. Someone was going to tell his dad and his dad was going to shoot Derek then come home and make even more sad eyes at Stiles. Plus, now his best friend knew what he had been keeping a secret from him and if Scott had started yelling about it at school then it was no surprise he hadn’t seen the other teen. It was all he could think about, his dad finding out and Scott being angry; that and the fact that he really needed to start breathing again soon.

A sharp pain in his hand gave Stiles enough awareness to listen to the soft voice murmuring into his ear, and feel the chest raising and falling against him. Stiles had to follow the chest, breath in when it breathed and exhale when it did. It only took about ten minutes for him to become aware enough to notice that besides Erica curled and pressed around his left side, Isaac had reached out under the table with his legs to hold one of Stiles’ own as Boyd sat at attention, his glare forcing the room to ignoring their table.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Stiles.” The Isaac across from him looked more like the kid constantly getting the shit kicked out of him than the cocky beta wolf Stiles had become familiar with. “I thought he knew, you two talk about everything, and I just – I am so sorry.”

The blonde continued his apologies, working himself to the point of near tears before Stiles had himself together enough to reassure him. “Hey, it’s alright.” Stiles let his eyes fall trying to draw more energy back into himself before continuing. “We do share everything, you couldn’t have known. Besides, it’s not too bad now that I know what their deal is.” The words failed to come anywhere near as reassuring as Stiles had intended but the truth in them must have registered since Isaac stopped looking quite as sad. It kept Stiles from saying ‘I’ll just have to make sure I get to my dad first’ out loud.

Still it repeated in his head throughout the rest of their lunch period; taking most of his concentration despite all of Erica and Isaac’s attempts to distract him. In a way, Stiles was grateful the bell that signaled they were done, sad only that it meant leaving the only oasis of support he’d had all day. As if sensing his mood, all three of the betas made sure to touch him before separating to head to their own classes. Sighing, Stiles took a deep breath before turning down the corridor to his locker, one quick stop and he could go back to trying to distract himself with school work.

The problem with going to his locker meant that once again Stiles was on display for the gossiping masses of his school. Of course, now that he knew exactly why everyone was side-eying him well Stiles could always try the owning it method. After all the attention was because his soulmate was Derek Hale, a man who had once been accused of being a murderer, but was also pretty smoking hot. He could do this, could hold his head up high and strut because look at what he bagged… would bag.

Pasting a cocky smirk on his face, Stiles swung his backpack onto his shoulder and turned to JUMP THREE FEET IN THE AIR because damn it Lydia, how are you stealthy in three foot heels?

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you all day.” Only Lydia Martin could manage an unimpressed look intense enough to make you feel bad for not doing something you didn’t even know you were supposed to be doing. Luckily, she had chosen to ignore the small, completely unnoticeable, shout and said nothing as he put himself back together.

“Lydia, what can I do for you?” Closing his locker Stiles tried to use the moment to put his game face back on, cocky and proud - ‘I nabbed a greek god bitches’.

Lydia’s eyes narrowed momentarily, clearly not impressed with his act, before turning and seamlessly linking her arm with one of his before starting down the hall. Clearly somebody was determined that all of Stiles’ coping mechanisms would be turned into confused flails today.

“So, I was thinking Saturday morning. If we leave early enough we’ll beat the biggest shopping crowds and leave plenty of time for any evening plans,” Lydia was matter of fact, confidently striding down the hall with her head held high, never once slowing in consideration for his surprise because she knew no one would ever do anything to make Lydia stumble. “Besides, Jackson has Danny so I should have you.”

“Jackson has…? Lydia, what?” Stiles was honestly completely confused, it was like they were midway into a conversation he had never been at the start of.

“Stiles, I picked you to be my new best friend because unlike most of this high school’s population you can be intelligent at times. This is clearly not one of those times, please get over it quickly.” It was phrased as a request, but the tone of her voice told him exactly what he needed to be doing. “You have a werewolf boyfriend; I have a werewolf boyfriend. I’m a genius; you are the only threat towards my valedictorian status. I have an incredible fashion sense; you should burn all of your clothes. It’s meant to be.”

It’s meant to be? Stiles let out a confused squeak as she turned him down another hallway, students parting to make way for the both of them.

“Maybe we can double? Jackson is joining the pack now; it would be a good way to get to know the two of you better. ” The glint in her eye suggested she had more than a little to do with Jackson’s decision, but there was something in the way she carefully had her armed wrapped around his own recently healed one that suggested there might be more than calculated werewolf power play behind her actions. Lydia Martin cared about what happened to Stiles. He had been there for her when Jackson had gone through his whole douche ‘Something weird is going on with me so I’m going to separate myself from you’ stage, the post-Peter’s bite crazy days, and helped get her to Jackson before he bit the dust Kanima style- so maybe Stiles had actually found a way into the cold heart Lydia claimed to possess. He’d be crowing if he didn’t know that friendship was all he would ever want from this girl now that he knew about Derek.

“Maybe?” His answer earned him a glare and Stiles fumbled to fix it. “Derek and I are still…” Avoiding each other, need to visit therapy… “Working it out.”

Lydia came to stop, eyes quickly flickering over Stiles, coming to a conclusion before arching a brow and continuing on, “It will probably be a while before we can fit the two of you into our date calendar, but I think bowling would be a great idea.”

God bless Lydia Martin, she was made of sunshine and rainbows. Stiles was only able to nod his head and get out a quick “Sure” before she was talking again.

“Text me later.” And with a twirl Lydia disappeared into her classroom, leaving him still mildly confused and more than a little unsure of where he was and if he could get to his next class on time. Great, this was just what he needed on top of…

They weren’t talking about him anymore. Every eye that he had clearly felt was now focused elsewhere, voices rising to their normal levels as people found something more interesting to talk about. Stiles’ body twitched as he tried not to give into the urge to celebrate in the middle of the hallway. Fucking perfect Lydia Martin and her queen bee ways, Stiles wasn’t sure if her acceptance of him had told people there wasn’t anything more to be found out or if they were all too terrified to fuck with someone under her wing. They were definitely going shopping Saturday.

Chapter Text

The rest of his day went smooth enough, as smooth as any day went that was filled with random bombardments from Derek’s pack. All three of them seemed determined to hunt him down anytime they had a free moment, even if it was just to brush past him between classes. It would have been annoying if it hadn’t made him smile every single time. Jackson even paused long enough to give Stiles a strange head nod once before disappearing back to holding court at his locker.

Scott’s rise from benchwarmer to lacrosse star had done wonders for expanding Stiles’ social circle, but this was the first time that he felt like he truly had other friends within the walls of Beacon Hills High. It was a new and exciting thought, one that should have had him soaring from the front doors as soon as the bell rang. Instead his feet felt full of lead as he trudged his way out of the building and to his dad’s waiting cruiser.

The Sheriff had refused to let Stiles drive himself to school his first day back, something Stiles had begrudgingly agreed to only because he still needed small doses of pain meds to get through the day. Now it spelled his doom, there was no way Stiles could hold off on telling the Sheriff. The frail trust between them would be completely shattered if someone else delivered the news about Stiles’ soul mate.

He had to keep reminding himself not to fidget too much throughout the ride home; distractedly answering the few questions lobbed his way. He had learned early on in life that freezing in place wouldn’t keep his dad from seeing something was wrong, but if he was too twitchy then the same thing happened.

By the time they walked in the house Stiles could have sworn he was going to vibrate out of his skin. Throwing his backpack down, Stiles grabbed a sleeve, tugging the Sheriff over to their couch.

“Sit, sit and let me go get you a beer.” Stiles mumbled, ignoring the time in favor of anything that might help his dad be more relaxed for this talk.

“Woah, woah.” A soft amused frown was focused on Stiles as the Sheriff resisted his attempts to shove him on the couch. “Kid, of the two of us you’re the one that should be sitting. Did you remember to take your pain pill?”

“Argh, really?” Stiles threw his hands up, surrendering as he tossed a glare at his dad. “Of course I remembered my pain pill, since it’s the only thing keeping me not in pain. Now will you please sit down, I need to talk to you about something.” At some point his hands might have gravitated to his hips, a mimicry of the stance his dad tended to take when Stiles was being lectured. It earned him one of his dad’s patented looks, but there was amusement there even as he sighed and sat right where his son had been trying to shove him. It would have counted as a victory if Stiles wasn’t about to ruin everything.

“Okay, so…” Panic started to build up in his gut; Stiles had been lying to his father for so long. There had been too much death and violence, lies and suspicion between them. Despite a rough patch after the death of his mother, the Stilinski men had managed to find their balance eventually. It wasn’t perfect, but Stiles wouldn’t have traded his relationship with his Dad for anything in the world. Except he had, the first moment he lied to his father about the werewolf situation. This knowledge, the idea that Stiles’ soul mate was someone that the Sheriff believed capable of murder, could be enough to end what remained of the last of their relationship. “So, so you see… I mean…” He wouldn’t vomit on his dad. He wouldn’t vomit on his dad. He wouldn’t vomit on his dad.

A wary look had started to creep onto his father’s face, but amusement was still crinkling in the corners of his eyes. This was his father, the man who had always been there for him in his own way. It might be bad, but Stiles had talked himself out of plenty of questionable situations before. Maybe he could do that this time.

“My timer went off.”

The reaction was instantaneous, a huge grin spread across his father’s face. “I completely forgot! Congratulations, kid. Tell me all about the meeting, all about her.”

He couldn’t do this, couldn’t face this excitement knowing that he was about to shatter. However he was Stiles Stilinski and even terrified he had to be a smartass. “No one said anything about my soul mate being a girl.” His dad moved to say something, but Stiles continued, “And he’s Derek Hale.”

“What?!” All the joy had flown from his father’s face as incredulous eyes stared at Stiles.

It was a reaction that he had been prepared for, but it still hurt to see it happening. “I did try to come out to you that one time; it’s not my fault if you’re surprised!”

The flash of anger seemed to have passed into a tired wariness as the Sheriff scrubbed a hand over his face. “Kid, this has nothing to do with the gay thing. If anything, you have been a life-lesson on assumptions. I don’t care that he’s a guy, but Derek Hale…” His dad was struggling to figure out what to say and Stiles knew that he had to make a move before something went wrong.

“I know he has a horrible reputation! He’s all anti-social and growly, but Derek’s honestly a good guy.” Stiles found himself babbling, eyes darting around the room instead of staying focused on his dad to see the rejection that he must be wearing, “You know Isaac? Derek took him in after everything and Isaac’s thriving. Grades pulling up, new friendships- all that kind of awesome shit. And I’m pretty sure that Derek is secretly the kind of guy who’d rescue kittens from alleyways and help grandmas across the street. I-”

“Stiles, take a breath.” His dad was wearing his ‘my son is amusing the shit out of me’ face and patiently waited until Stiles followed his directions before continuing, “I’m going to be honest - I don’t have the best impression of Derek but,” He lifted a finger to stall Stiles’ attempt at protest. “But I believe in this process. It introduced me to your mom and gave us you.” John’s voice grew rough and soft, a tone that he commonly used when talking about Stiles’ mother. For a moment the older Stilinski seemed to struggle for words, a light mist to his eyes betraying where his thoughts had wandered off too, before focusing back on his son. “I’ll give him a chance.”

Joy exploded in Stiles’ chest, the desire to shed tears coming with it as the teenager took a deep breath and stared at his father. This was real, this was happening, everything was not ruined. Derek was emotionally constipated, but that could be worked on. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” He flung himself over to his dad, their usual no-hugging standard thrown out the window as Stiles wrapped his long limbs around his father as tight as he could.

They didn’t hug like this often and each time Stiles was surprised by the complete feeling of love and safety that overcame him. It was warmth and safety and evenings spent running around the backyard while both his parents looked on. Of course it ended sooner than he would have preferred both of them separating and ignoring the moisture gathered in each other’s eyes.

As normal, they both went on as though nothing had happened; his dad turning on the TV while Stiles scuttled over to his abandoned backpack.

“Someday I would like it if you explained how you know him so well.” It was spoken absentmindedly, as though it was just another casual comment offered up from the couch.
Before Scott received the bite Stiles probably would have frozen up but by now lying had become so natural that there was barely any pause in his deflection; it was a bittersweet realization in such a happy moment. “If it makes you feel any better he has been very clear that there would be no sex as long as I’m underage.” That should distract the Sheriff and possibly get Derek a couple more tickets while he pulled his head out of his ass.
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He had succeeded in distracting his dad, a plan helped by the delicious turkey burgers he convinced the Sheriff he was healthy enough to make. There had been homework and some very ridiculous group texts with Erica and Isaac. By ten he was dozing, sprawled across his bed as a random show played on his laptop.

The depression that had settled over him throughout his recuperation seemed so distant now. Life was complicated, but there was promise that things would get better. Tomorrow he’d start planning his assault on Derek’s stupidity.

He would have floated into a deep sleep on that thought if he hadn’t heard the quiet scraping that signaled that someone was on the roof. Instantly perking up in bed, Stiles got as far as muttering a hopeful “Derek?” before his window opened and Scott came sliding through.

Stiles had spent most of his life getting a PhD in Scott McCall-enomics, and every bit of the other teenager’s posture screamed hurt and outraged. Normally, Stiles would have been the first person by his side to fix whatever hurt plagued him (or at least distract him from it), but his best friend had been a complete ghost ever since revealing Stiles’ secret to the whole school; an impressive feat considering the fact that they shared three classes and Scott’s mom had threatened to ground him until graduation if he didn’t pull up his grades.

Rolling over and tugging his blanket closer around himself, Stiles sent a glare at his friend, “Maybe next time you should text before coming over, I’m trying to sleep.” Purposely pressing his face into his pillow, Stiles clenched his eyes shut, trying to ignore the elephant that had climbed into the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” There was steel in Scott’s voice; steel that Stiles had only heard on the few occasions when Mr. McCall tried to re-establish contact. “I had to hear it from Isaac- Isaac who you barely even like.”

“Because of this right here!” Stiles shouted, sitting up in bed before sending a frown at his bedroom door and lowering his voice, “I knew that you would react like this, and I wanted to heal from the last werewolf drama before dealing with my soul mate drama.”

Scott seemed to deflate, kicking at the floor as he plopped on the end of Stiles’ bed, “You should have just told me.”

Stiles sighed, scooting close enough to press his foot against Scott’s side. “I’m sorry you found out like that. Erica didn’t even learn it from me; Derek spilled the beans on that one.”

Scott shrugged before begrudgingly admitting, “It’s okay. I can understand wanting to process it yourself before letting anyone know.” Shaking his head to himself, Scott turned to give Stiles a tentative smile. “At least you finally know and can move on. Plus, it’s not as taboo to partner with a non-soul mate than as it used to be.”

Stiles automatically started to smile back before his mind started catching up with what Scott was saying, “What do you mean by move on?”

Confusion replaced the smile on Scott’s face as he explained, “Find someone else to be with? I did some research and there are actually dating sites to match Timer-less people.”

All the relief that had filled Sties throughout their talk vanished as he stared at his best friend before responding, “Scott, Derek’s my soul mate. We’ve got some shit to work out, but, dude, he’s the one for me.”

It had been a long time since Stiles had been worried about Scott losing control and attacking him, but the flash of rage he saw cross the other teen’s face had his heart speeding up. With a growl, Scott threw himself from the bed. His eyes flashed more than once by the time he seemed to regain the ability to speak, “What, are you crazy? You can’t be with Derek!”

For a moment he wanted to just close his eyes and pretend that this wasn’t actually happening, that after a successful coming out to his father his best friend wasn’t completely rejecting his soul mate. “Look, I know he’s not your favorite guy, but he’s not that bad. Why are you acting like this?”

“Of course I’m going to react like this. Your soul mate is Derek… I was really hoping that with the Alpha Pack gone we wouldn’t ever have to deal with him anymore.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Scott glared at Stiles.

Stiles had been mad at Scott before, it was inevitable considering how long they had been friends, but it was nothing compared to the rage he suddenly felt. “What the hell Scott! If it hadn’t been for Derek I would have been killed by the Alpha pack.” Tossing his covers away, Stiles threw himself off the bed. This wasn’t a conversation he could have from his bed anymore.

“Why are you defending him? He ruined our lives.”Claws sprouted from Scott’s fingertips as his eyes flashed again.

“How? How did he ruin our lives, Scott?” Stiles stepped into his friend’s face, completely forgetting any fear he had of his friend’s anger. “Peter is the one that bit you. Derek went about it the wrong way, but he was only trying to help.”

“He killed Allison’s mom!” And there was the full shift, Scott’s forehead shifting as he shock with the effort to keep himself in place.

“No, he bit her mom to save your life.” Stiles growled, slamming a finger into Scott’s chest as he ranted at his best friend. “Mrs. Argent killed herself because she was so full of hate that she’d rather have died then become a werewolf. And instead of accepting that your psycho girlfriend went on a rampage! She shot Erica and Boyd full of arrows Scott! People don’t turn their classmates into pin cushions and then get forgiven because they flashed sad eyes and said sorry!”

“She was brainwashed by her grandfather! And grieving. Allison would never have done that if her mother hadn’t have died,” Scott seemed to realize exactly how angry he had gotten, taking a step away from Stiles and attempting to control himself. “Besides Erica and Boyd are…“

“What, Scott? What are they? Monsters?” The more control Scott seemed to gain of himself, the more Stiles started to lose it; letting everything he had been feeling flow free. “Because I was the one in the basement while they were being tortured by Gerard and I was the one in the Alpha’s house while they were being submitted to even worse, and Scott they are nothing more than scared teenagers like you and me. She crossed the line!”

“Like Derek crossed the line when he decided that Lydia was the kanama and that she needed to be killed!” It almost seemed like Scott was taking joy in pointing out that little fact.

“He made a mistake, but he was trying to keep more people from dying.”

“Yeah, a mistake that almost ended up with people dead and honestly that whole string of murders could have been prevented if he hadn’t have bitten Jackson!”

“And you almost killed me when you choose not to believe that you had turned into a werewolf! People make mistakes, Scott, and while I like to think I made some pretty rational choices through this whole-“ Stiles swung his hand in a giant circle to emphasize his point, “thing, we’ve all made mistakes. Every single one of us and you are just going to have to come to terms with Derek’s mistakes. Or, or-“ For a moment he found himself unable to commit to an action.

Scott interrupted, “Or what Stiles?” And then it was decided for him.

Stiles straightened his back and clenched his jaw, “He’s my soul mate Scott…”For a moment he thought about just breaking down and pleading for his friend to understand, but he knew the stubborn look reflected back wasn’t willing to break. “Derek is an ass and has threatened to kill me on more than one occasion, but there is something that fate has decided makes him my soul mate and I can’t ignore it. I absolutely refuse to.”

He stepped away from his childhood friend then, turning his back and ignoring the disgusted snort that preceded the slamming of his bedroom window.