Chapter Text
Chapter One
To be completely fair to Stiles, neither of them had been at their best in the past couple months, but Derek wasn’t feeling very fair these days. He was too wrapped up with work to tolerate shenanigans, and if there was one thing that had not changed in Stiles, it was his love of shenanigans.
Well that and his inability to sleep in a normal position.
So when the call came in that Stiles’ car had been found out by the preserve, abandoned, Derek wasn’t concerned. Stiles was a predator in his own right after all. He had gotten the jaguar under control and was shifting between forms like one born to it. If anyone was going to be safe wandering the woods, it was Stiles.
When the call came in that someone had spotted a mountain lion in the preserve, Derek’s interest was piqued just a bit. After all, Stiles was far too careful to be spotted.
And then the call came in that Fish and Game, while doing a routine check of the area’s deer population, had tranquilized a very large exotic cat—well, Derek became more than interested and drove at breakneck speed out to the preserve, praying under his breath that Stiles had not just gotten himself tangled up with Fish and Game. He was hoping some idiot had kept a pet tiger. He was hoping he didn’t have to find a way to extricate his boyfriend from the cage in the back of Fish and Game’s van.
Unfortunately, luck was not on Derek Hale’s side.
He arrived at the preserve and made a beeline for the tan and black van with the Federal logo painted on the side. He flashed his badge and a smile at the officers, dressed sharply in his sheriff’s deputy uniform.
“I understand you found an exotic cat in the preserve? My boss sent me down to make sure we don’t have some weirdo with a zoo full of critters in the forest somewhere.”
The female officer smiled back at him. She was a freckled, dark haired woman with broad shoulders and an easy posture that screamed confidence. She wore a khaki uniform and a black jacket with the logo from the van on the shoulders. “Deputy, we haven’t seen any evidence of that. Either way though, this fella does not belong in California.” She pointed at the back of the van.
“What is it exactly?” Derek asked.
“A jaguar,” the other officer said. An older man, old enough to be Stiles’ father, with a receding hairline and a strong jaw. “Which has no damn business being in California.”
“Maybe it came from a zoo?”
“I don’t think so,” the woman said. “He’s well fed, but more muscular than most zoo cats. I’d say he’s been hunting out here for months at least given the deer graveyard he’s built up for himself.”
Derek nodded and peered into the back of the van at the sleeping jungle cat. He looked carefully at the hind legs and spotted the smiley face shaped marking that denoted Stiles’ tattoo in human form. God dammit.
“Geeze. Lucky no one got hurt,” Derek said. “I better call in.” He walked away and pulled out his phone. He had no intention of calling the sheriff, but he did need back up.
“What’s up?”
“Scott, Stiles is in the back of a Fish and Wildlife van in jaguar mode and I need some help.”
“I’ll be right there.”
It said something about Stiles that Scott didn’t question any part of that.
Derek walked back to the Fish and Wildlife van. “The Sherriff wants to do a sweep of the area, just in case. You guys know animals better than I do, could you walk with me?”
“Spots here isn’t going anywhere,” the man said. “Come on Hughes.”
Derek led them away from the van, determined to get them turned around enough in the woods to give Scott time to get Stiles out of there. Later, once Stiles was completely aware and safe, Derek was going to kill him.
***
Stiles woke up in the back of the van a bit confused, a bit annoyed and then a bit worried. He stretched a bit and took a deep breath, catching Scott’s scent as his friend came around to the back of the van.
“Stiles, jeeze man. I was hoping Derek was joking.” He opened up the cage door. “Come on, shift back and let’s go.” He held up a t-shirt and sweatpants.
Stiles bared his teeth in a moment of mock ferocity and concentrated on returning to his human skin. He shook out of his jaguar without any fuss. Scott was always a bit jealous of how fluid Stiles’ changes managed to be. Stiles wasn’t going to disillusion him, it still hurt like all of his bones were being broken, but his throat tended to close first and kept him from screaming.
He preferred the cool factor remain though.
He grabbed the clothes and threw them on, jumping out of the van and following behind Scott. He’d brought his mother’s car. Stiles slipped
into the passenger’s seat and they were off before Derek and the Wildlife officers got back. Scott took Stiles home.
“What happened, man?” Scott asked.
“I was just—hunting. I didn’t know Fish and Wildlife was out there. I mean, I’m not an idiot.”
Scott looked at his friend in disbelief. “Really?”
“Please let that slide.”
“For now. Derek’ll be here later I’m sure. So you have plenty of time to come up with something better.”
“Oh god…” Stiles groaned. “He’s going to kill me.”
“Probably. But if he doesn’t, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, buddy.” Stiles grinned tightly and watched his friend drive away before heading inside the house. He made a beeline for the fridge. He was hungry. It was better to eat now, before Derek showed up to yell at him. His dad had to stock a lot more food than the typical parent of a teenager and that was saying something. Teenagers did have bottomless stomachs, but teenage shape shifters were in a class of their own.
Stiles went through a bucket of fried chicken leftover from last night, the last of the deli meat and bread and a half-gallon of milk. Snack done, he headed up to his room to get a bit of homework done—or at least pretend to get some homework done before Derek’s inevitable arrival.
Stiles was about a year behind the rest of his friends for graduation. Lydia, on the other hand, had ditched the attempt at high school and been accepted at four colleges on the provision of her GED, which she already had along with her perfect SAT scores. It was Lydia after all.
Stiles wasn’t stupid by any stretch, but Lydia made him feel stupid. Not on purpose. Well, not all the time.
He was halfway through a Chemistry lab when he heard the telltale squeak the front porch boards. A moment after that he caught Derek’s scent. His heart beat sped up and in the moment he considered jumping out the window, it was too late.
“Stiles.” Derek loomed in the doorway of his bedroom, which his father had kept preserved like an eerie time capsule until Stiles returned. It looked pretty much the same as it had before except with different clothes strewn on the floor.
“Derek. Hey. What’s up?”
“That’s how you want to play this?”
“Play what?”
“You got caught by Fish and Game, Stiles! They’re going to make a report. People will come looking. A jaguar in California? I thought you knew how to be careful. Clearly, I was mistaken.”
“Wow, come on. I didn’t go looking for them. I didn’t even know they were there.”
“Wonderful. That makes me feel better.”
“Look, I’m sorry.” Stiles stalked forward. “I promise I’ll be more careful.” He put a hand on Derek’s chest and tried for a coy smile. “Let me make it up to you.”
Derek raised his eyebrows. “Are you trying to seduce me into letting this go?”
“No?”
“Uh huh.” Derek was glad he hadn’t changed before coming over. It meant he still had his handcuffs. Derek casually put a hand on Stile’s shoulder and kissed him—and then cuffed Stiles to his bedpost.
“Hey!”
“I’m going to talk to your father, and then I’m gong to talk to Deaton. We’ll see if we can’t fix this whole mess and then you and I are going to have a long conversation.”
Stiles growled.
Derek raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. “Behave yourself while I fix this. Okay?”
“You can’t just leave me handcuffed to my bed, Derek.” Stiles jerked on the cuff. “Come on.”
Derek held up the key, walked across the room and deliberately placed the key on the top most shelf of Stiles’ computer desk. “There you go. Good luck. I’ll talk to you later.”
Derek left the room with Stiles sputtering at him incoherently. Stiles sighed and looked at the key so far out of reach and then back at the handcuffs. “I hate you.”
“No you don’t,” Derek called back.
Stiles couldn’t argue with that.