Chapter Text
Teen Wolf || Stetopher || Teen Wolf || A Seat at the Hale Table || Teen Wolf || Stetopher || Teen Wolf
Title: A Seat at the Hale Table – How Stiles Joined the Hale Pack
TW Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Jeff Davis and MTV. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/m/m, polyamory, No Hale Fire, Werewolves Are Known, True Mates, Spark Stiles, hurt/comfort, fluff, Daddy Kink, spanking, BDSM, explicit sexual content, anal, oral, m/f, f/f
Main Pairing: Chris/Peter/Stiles
Side Pairings: Derek/Paige, Scott/Allison, Malia/Kira, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia
Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Chris Argent, Peter Hale, Kira Yukimura, Scott McCall, Allison Argent, Malia Hale, Cora Hale, Jackson Hale, Lydia Martin, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Isaac Lahey, Danny Mahealani, Paige Krasikevna, Derek Hale, Laura Hale, Talia Hale
Original Characters: Dalia Hale, Damon Hale, Aaron Hale, Fiona Hale, Sloan Hale, Jason Hale
Summary: Stiles wasn't cool. No, ‘cool’ was reserved to the Hale Pack. Until Allison moves to Beacon Hills, befriends Lydia Martin (and consequently the Hales) and falls for Scott. Suddenly, Stiles is at the popular table, with the Hales. Holy shit. Being close to the Hales, and Allison, Stiles also gets closer to Beacon Hills’ hottest DILFs, just to realize the two were dating.
A Seat at the Hale Table
How Stiles Joined the Hale Pack
Chapter 1: A Seat at the Lunch Table
Stiles Stilinski wasn’t cool. He was probably the opposite of cool. And that was fine. Because ‘cool’ was reserved for the pack. The Hales, the founding family of Beacon Hills and the werewolf family around whom the local pack was built. The closest to royalty that their small town could come.
The Hales were such a widely respected family among the supernatural that they alone put Beacon Hills on the map. The Hales were ridiculously influential – politically, socially and supernaturally. They were also filthy rich. Everyone in town was salivating at the chance of joining the Hale Pack, better yet the Hale family. Every mother’s dream was to see her kid marry a Hale. Hell, most of Stiles’ classmates had had fantasies of marrying one of the Hales. The Hales didn’t make that hard, because they all looked like they had stepped out of some fashion magazine. That wasn’t even mentioning how much the Hales did for the town and how involved they were in it.
The late Alpha Logan Hale had been a Supreme Court Judge, his wife Dalia spearheaded multiple community programs and broader charities. She was also a badass Druid, on top of that.
Their firstborn Talia was the mayor of Beacon Hills. Her human husband Damon was also her True Mate, which gave so many that fantasy of ‘you too could be a werewolf’s True Mate’ – the stuff of fairy tales, the fabled soulmate a wolf could sniff out through their scent. The couple had three children of their own; Cora, who went to school with Stiles, Laura, who was a deputy at the sheriff station, and Derek, who was a fire fighter and married to his True Mate and high school sweetheart Paige; the two had a foster son, Isaac Lahey. It was all heartwarming and tragic, because Isaac’s older brother used to be best friends with Derek and Paige but then died overseas and then the Hales realized that Isaac was getting abused by his father and Derek and Paige had taken him in.
Talia’s younger brother Aaron was born human, but turned out to be the True Mate to Fiona, a wolf from the neighboring Ito Pack. The couple had two kids; a young son named Jason and a daughter named Sloan, who was student body president and one of the three best students at their school.
And then there was Talia and Aaron’s brother Peter. He was single, but he had two kids from a previous, disastrous, scandalous (according to the older ladies in Stiles’ neighborhood) relationship; the twins Jackson, captain of the lacrosse team, and Malia, both also classmates of Stiles’.
The Hales were the core of the pack, but there were more wolves in the Hale Pack; the Boyd family and the Reyes family. From Stiles’ totally not stalkerish research into the Hale Pack, he knew that Verne and Anita Boyd as well as Berto and Susie Reyes used to go to school with Peter, they were his inner circle and after graduation, they were offered the bite and joined the pack. Their kids, Vernon Boyd Junior (who preferred to go by Boyd) and Erica Reyes, were both born wolves due to that and they were also in Stiles’ grade. They were also a total power couple.
Those were the cool kids. The Hale Pack, with the addition of Jackson’s best friend Danny Mahealani and Jackson’s girlfriend and True Mate Lydia Martin. Jackson, Isaac, Boyd and Danny were all on the lacrosse team and had led the team to many victories, adding to their popularity. Everyone wanted to be a part of their inner circle, wanted a seat at their lunch table.
Stiles? Not so much. He had always been an outsider. The weird and annoying kid, with his ADHD and anxiety, rambling on end and flailing because he didn’t feel like words were really bringing his point across properly. His best friend since kindergarten was Scott McCall, who was as not cool as Stiles; the asthmatic, shy kid. They were also both from humble single parent families that more often than not struggled with money. The world of the Hales – werewolves, money, popularity, athletic success – was as far from reality as possible for the two human boys. And that was fine.
“This year is going to be different. I can feel it.”
Stiles shot Scott an amused smile. “It’s the middle of the school year. It was only winter break.”
“But it’s a new year! Calendar year. This year is going to be great,” Scott argued.
Stiles wrapped an arm around Scott’s shoulders and patted him, while lifting his other arm. As if on cue did Kira fall into step with them, ducking under Stiles’ arm and smiling at them both. Kira was the new girl, a rambly, shy nerd who loved research. Her family had moved to Beacon Hills at the end of summer break before Freshman year, her father starting as a teacher at their high school. Kira had spent the first week or so eating lunch with her dad in his classroom, until she’d overheard Stiles and Scott talking about a research project and tried to start a conversation by doing research on it herself, which just instantly enamored her to Stiles. Ever since, the three had been inseparable.
“Did you have a fun winter break?” Kira asked curiously.
“Most definitely not as fun as you,” Stiles pointed out dryly. “Because we were stuck in Beacon Hills, where famously never anything interesting happens, while you were in Korea.”
Kira grinned sheepishly and ducked her head. She’d been visiting her dad’s extended family over the winter break. Stiles and Scott got spammed with so many pictures and videos. It looked so beautiful and Stiles was salivating at all the delicious looking food. Alas, their town was too small to have a good Korean restaurant. Or any Korean restaurant at all. He had to rely on being invited to dinner by Kira and using the Bambi-eyes on Ken to make the man cook something delicious.
“Is it possible that they somehow got even more gorgeous over the break?” Stiles wondered.
The three of them looked at Jackson’s douche car (what sixteen year old owned a Porsche, Stiles wished Peter didn’t spoil the asshole so rotten, urgh). Jackson and Malia got out front, arguing loudly about something, while Lydia and Danny got out from the back. Isaac pulled up right behind Jackson in his adopted dad’s Camaro, with Boyd, Erica and Sloan. Last was Cora, who had gotten a bike for Christmas. The pack walked as a united front, Jackson having one arm around Lydia while continuing his argument with Malia, Erica linking pinkies with Cora and going a mile a minute about her winter break trip to Puerto Rico to her dad’s family. Boyd had an arm around her waist, resting his hand on her hip in a soft but also clearly possessive grip. Every single member of that group was just ridiculously beautiful. And that wasn’t even a Hale or werewolf thing – Danny and Lydia were human. Maybe it was a requirement for joining the pack? The way you had to be ‘this’ tall to ride a roller-coaster; you had to be ‘this’ gorgeous to join the Hale Pack.
“Oh wow,” Scott whispered in total awe, startling Stiles out of his musings.
A handsome silver fox exited a black SUV. Salt and pepper hair, a well-groomed beard streaked with gray on either side of his chin, his eyes crinkling with a smile. His sleeves were rolled up, showing off the man’s forearms. Stiles swallowed hard as he watched the flex of the man’s arms when he hugged the girl that had gotten out of the passenger side.
“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, mouth hanging open as he stared at the hot man. “Oh wow.”
Kira heaved a sigh. “You’re both horrible. Come on, we’re late for class.”
/break\
So there was a new girl in town and, consequently, in school. Allison Argent. Dark hair, dimpled smile, radiating sunshine. Also clearly had the hottest DILF of a father. Well. Stiles wrinkled his nose and tilted his head. One of the hottest DILFs. Peter Hale was still reigning king of DILFs in Beacon Hills and if the new Daddy wanted the throne, he’d have to challenge Peter to a duel for it. Stiles blinked in awe at the mental picture of that. There could be oil of sorts involved in that. Yeah, he’d get a front-row seat to that.
“She is just the most beautiful girl I have ever seen,” Scott whispered softly.
Allison had somehow managed to come to school without a pen. That was Stiles’ brand of scatterbrained, honestly. And Scott had come in with a pen and then she had smiled at him and thanked him. Stiles had been there. Stiles had also heard about it a dozen times since.
“You are down bad, dude,” Stiles commented amused, patting Scott’s back, just to freeze. “I… guess you gotta get over that, because she just became ten times more out of your league.”
The two boys paused in the hallway and watched Lydia Martin talk to Allison, all sharp smile and sparkling eyes. “I hear you moved here from France? That is so exciting. You need to sit with us during lunch and tell me all about Paris.”
Allison laughed a little unsure but let herself be steered down the hall by Lydia, right past Scott and Stiles. “We only lived there for a little while, but my dad is from Paris, yes. Uhm, who is ‘us’…?”
As if on cue – and considering werewolf hearing, Stiles was fairly sure it was on cue – did Erica and Cora fall in line with them on either side. Stiles patted Scott on the back sympathetically. Yep, they had just lost the new girl to the cool crowd. Which, Stiles couldn’t really blame them. Nothing new or interesting ever happened in this town. The only reason Scott and Stiles had gotten Kira was because she’d been so shy she had hid in her dad’s classroom and the library during every break, successfully dodging Lydia and instead ending up with Stiles and Scott. Clearly, Allison Argent’s fate was a different one. Which did suck considering Scott’s instant crush.
/break\
Allison was a little overwhelmed by Beacon Hills. Lydia had plucked her away from her locker and thrown her into the deep end of this school’s social hierarchy. Allison tried to remember the names of everyone Lydia introduced her to, but those were too many people and too many family relations – because, apparently, at the heart of the local pack sat the Hale family, of whom four or five members were in her grade (she wasn’t really sure she had understood Isaac’s relations here).
It was nice, to be welcomed so warmly and feel like there was a place where she could belong, even if was overwhelming in its intensity. All of them seemed very intense in personality, and thrown together they were even more intense. Besides, Allison had never really been close to werewolves herself before and having two people fight over a brownie and suddenly there were yellow-glowing eyes and fangs, well, that was going to take some getting used to.
“Come, we have to cheer on the lacrosse team,” Lydia smiled, taking her hand.
“Wait, is there a game?” Allison asked surprised. “Today?”
“No,” Malia sighed as she fell into line on Allison’s other side. “It’s try-outs. And for some reason, we have to cheer on the boys for it. Like they won’t obviously get first line. They’re the only wolves in school. And Jackson – my annoying brother – is literally team captain.”
“Jackson – my gorgeous boyfriend,” Lydia corrected, shooting Malia a dirty side-eye. “Is the captain of the team, which is why we have to support them. How will it look when the team captain’s girlfriend and family aren’t in the stands?”
“It’s going to look like his girlfriend and family don’t want to freeze off their butts on the lacrosse bleachers in January,” Malia replied, still looking nonplussed.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Erica chided from Malia’s other side. “I’m just looking forward to seeing Boyd have fun and throw Jackson across the field. I know you like that part too.”
Malia hummed in consideration at that, nodded slowly. “That’s an argument.”
“Besides, your dad is going to invite all of us out to the fancy steak house,” Erica added. “And you know he’s gonna spring for the rack of veal for his beloved darling daughter.”
At the promise of veal, Malia perked visibly up. Allison blinked a little. That was what pack was, huh? They were so interwoven, even though Lydia and Erica weren’t part of the family, they were treated like family. That sounded so good to Allison. Six years ago, his dad had had a big outfall with his family, including a divorce. That was the last time Allison had seen her grandfather, her mother and her aunt. It had only been his dad and him since then, living in Paris. Her grandfather had passed and they had to return to the states so Chris could take care of the affairs and inheritance. Since he knew his sister was going to fight him every step on the way, he knew this was going to drag on for many months, so they decided to move back for the time being.
“I can’t believe I have to be here,” a different redhead groaned in frustration.
She sat down on Lydia’s other side, looking very annoyed. She was followed by a brunette girl that Allison was fairly sure she had seen during lunch but, again, there had been too many people.
“I am not taking a second rendition of this,” Lydia cut her off immediately. “Malia already gave me an earful. You already missed out on lunch, it is literally the first day back from break. Chill.”
“Sloan hasn’t met the concept of ‘chill’ yet,” Malia snorted softly, then looked at Allison. “My cousin. Not Cora’s sister. Third family tree cousin.”
“I think I need you to draw that for me,” Allison requested a little wide-eyed.
Malia laughed at that, while Allison leaned over Lydia to offer her hand to Sloan. Sloan’s hair was less intensely red than Lydia’s, her face soft and very pretty. She smiled and shook Allison’s hand.
“Allison Argent, I’m the new girl,” Allison offered. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Sloan Hale, future valedictorian, current and future student body president, top of nearly all of my classes,” Sloan’s smile tightened. “The ‘nearly’ being why I missed lunch.”
“You can’t be top of every class,” Lydia heaved a sigh. “You share classes with me.”
“Oh, you’re not the problem,” Sloan’s eyes narrowed as she turned toward the lacrosse field. “Stilinski is. He took AP psychology from me before winter break. I will take it back.”
Allison raised her eyebrows and followed Sloan’s line of sight to a brunette boy on the bench. She immediately perked up when she saw that right next to him was the cute boy who had offered her a pencil during first period. He’d been a little awkward and a little shy, which she had found charming. She was so used to pretty boys walking up to her and acting like they were all that.
“Who is he?” Allison asked curiously.
“Stilinski is Sloan’s nemesis,” Cora provided in a dry voice. “They have never actually talked to each other. But beside Sloan and Lydia, Stilinski is the other top student this school has. No, not just this grade. This whole school. So there is like this competition going on between them, an endless push and pull for who gets to be top of the class. Mercifully, it is a tie in most subjects but every now and again, one of them will outsmart the others and we all have to suffer.”
Allison blinked at that, a little baffled by this entire school. “No, I mean the boy next to him.”
“Oh,” Cora scrunched up his face. “I don’t know him.”
“I do,” Sloan chimed. “Scott McCall. His mom is the charge nurse at the ER at the hospital. My dad’s head of surgery, so I sometimes visit him at work or bring him lunch. I’ve seen him at the nurse’s station a lot. He also often brings lunch to the hospital. I may have talked to him before.”
Allison perked up at that. So he wasn’t just cute, he was also helpful – bringing his mom lunch to work. When Scott looked up into their direction, Allison smiled and waved at him. He stared at her in surprise and tripped, stumbling. She made a slight squeaking noise as she watched him go down.
“...Wow,” Erica whispered amazed. “You have been here for half a day and already, the boys are literally tripping over themselves for you. Congrats.”
“I would have gone with ‘fall for you’, but nice one,” Cora commented.
Allison all the while blushed furiously and ducked her head a little.
/break\
“Christopher,” Peter smiled professionally. “You look… good.”
An absolute understatement. The man had aged like fine wine since they’d last seen each other six years ago. The gray suited him. Peter had heard from his sister that Chris Argent was back in town. She had delivered the news like a parent trying to break to their kid that the pet puppy had been run over. Peter was to equal parts annoyed by that and charmed, because he knew his sister cared, she knew how much Chris’ departure to France had hurt him.
“You haven’t aged a day,” Chris noted with a smile that made his eyes sparkle. “Still gorgeous.”
Peter tried not to preen, but it was hard. Chris was the one that got away. He’d loved before, but he had never fallen in love again since Chris had left. Only meaningless hookups, usually just picking up pretty twinks for a rough, hard fuck. Nobody he could get attached to, lose his heart to, and nobody who could even remotely remind him of Chris.
“What can I do for you?” Peter asked, tapping his pen against the files on his desk. “You came to see me at work, not at home, so I assume there is something you want from me.”
Chris winced at that. “I’m sorry I left.”
“No, you’re not,” Peter smiled slightly, but it was a sad expression. “You left to get away from your family, and to put as much distance between them and your daughter as possible to protect her from them. Being sorry you left would mean you regret that, and I don’t believe that.”
“I’m sorry I left you,” Chris amended after a moment. “I never meant to hurt you, Peter.”
“You saved my family, I think that makes up for a little heartache,” Peter was glad Chris wasn’t a wolf and couldn’t hear the lie. “You came back. Why. And what do you need from me?”
Chris heaved a sigh and rubbed his beard before sitting down opposite Peter. What Peter had said was true, even if it was a lie. Chris had given up everything – his family, which also included his family’s money and support – to save Peter’s family. How could Peter hold it against Chris that he left, to keep himself and his kid safe? Peter knew he’d have done the same, to protect Jackson and Malia, if the roles were reversed. Chris’ cousin in Paris had offered him support and a place to live, so Chris had taken Allison and left to start anew.
“Gerard is dead,” Chris announced gravely.
“Congratulations,” Peter smiled cheerfully. “And you came to celebrate?”
Chris shot him a look. Despite the many years of abuse and bigotry – because Gerard didn’t just hate werewolves, he also hated gays and let his gay son feel that, partially by forcing him into a marriage with a huntress – Gerard had still been his father and for reasons beyond Peter’s comprehension, that still meant something to Chris.
“I came to get what I am owed,” Chris declared, eyes hard. “I will not have Kate take over Argent Arms and take all the family money. Most of that was our mother’s – Gerard only ever married into the Argent family. And my mother always wanted me to receive my fair share. You’re the best lawyer I know. Will you… Will you help me fight this battle?”
Peter stared at Chris in stunned silence for a long time. They had barely been eighteen when Chris had involuntarily broken his heart, when Gerard had moved his family far away from California and forced Chris into his marriage with Victoria. But Chris’ sister Kate had learned of Chris’ love for Peter, that this relationship had been why they had moved away from Beacon Hills years ago. She had decided to punish the Hales for it. Her plan had been to kill the Hales, set them on fire. But Chris had followed his sister on a hunch, suspicious of her behavior. He’d saved Peter’s family, but it led to the final outfall between Chris and his family, to his divorce and departure.
For a brief time, Peter had been stupidly hopeful that Chris had come in as the knight in shining armor and that he would sweep Peter off his feet and they would slip back into their relationship like nothing ever happened. Real life was more complicated than fairy tales though; both of them had their kids to think of and Chris had the outfall with his family to deal with.
“Give me everything you got,” Peter sighed, straightening up.
“You’ll help me?” Chris asked, in genuine surprise.
“Why did you come here if you expected me to say no?” Peter asked curiously.
A flush crawled down Chris’ neck and the hunter rubbed his neck self-consciously, avoiding Peter’s eyes. “Maybe I… just wanted an excuse to see you. Even if you’d send me away and curse me out.”
“Christopher,” Peter heaved a deep sigh and met Chris’ gaze. “I meant it. I do not hold you leaving against you. Things… Things were messy, life was messy. I hope we can move past this.”
The smallest smile tugged on Chris’ lips, his eyes so very pretty with that smile. “I hope so too.”
/break\
Scott didn’t know what to do when Allison approached him on Friday, smiling and playing with her hair. She was really pretty. Like, really, really pretty. He wondered if her hair was as soft as it looked, the way she was twirling it around her fingers.
“Lydia decided to throw a welcome party for me tonight,” Allison said softly. “I was… I was wondering if you wanted to come too?”
“To Lydia’s party?” Scott asked wide-eyed.
“Well, technically it’s my party,” Allison straightened up a little and grinned. “So?”
On reflex, Scott’s eyes darted over to where Stiles and Kira were poorly hiding by peeking out of Ken’s classroom door. Both of them gave him double-thumbs-up. Scott’s wide-eyed look drew Allison’s attention to them though. She blinked and tilted her head while Kira and Stiles yelped and scurried into the classroom, like that would somehow make it so Allison hadn’t seen them.
“Oh, are those your friends? They could come too, if you don’t wanna come alone.”
Scott still felt a little tongue-tied, because a pretty girl was inviting him to a party. He’d never been invited to a party by a pretty girl before. Especially not Lydia’s party, because those were usually like big social events that only the upper half of the social hierarchy joined them.
“Oh my god, say yes!” Stiles yelled as he stumbled out of the classroom again, then met Allison’s eyes. “Hi, my socially awkward friend would love to go to the party with you. Also, he thinks you look absolutely lovely in that top.”
“Stiles,” Scott groaned embarrassed and flushed brightly.
But Allison just giggled, so she didn’t seem offended by it. “Great. I’ll see you tonight then. Do you have Lydia’s address…? The party starts at eight.”
“No,” Scott said very quickly, before Stiles could say something stalkerish.
Allison blinked at how quick that answer had come but then she scribbled down the address on the edge of her notebook, before tearing it out and handing it to Scott. Scott’s eyes widened as he looked at their hands where they touched. Cora Hale called for Allison from down the hall and with a last waste, Allison ran off to her. As soon as she was gone, Stiles and Kira ran up to him and hugged him from either side, cheering him on for scoring a date. Holy shit, he’d scored a date.
/break\
There was a time in Stiles’ life when getting invited to Lydia Martin’s house was all he’d dreamed of. That felt like it was a lifetime ago, knowing the significance of a werewolf mate-bond, all his hopes for Lydia had died when her and Jackson got serious. Still, it was pretty exciting to be a part of a Lydia Martin party. He turned to grin at Kira and hip-check her. Scott kept pulling on the collar of his shirt, looking like he was about to face the inquisition.
“Dude. Relax a little,” Stiles hissed at him.
“Allison’s date. And his chaperons. How nice of you to join us.”
All three of them turned to face their hostess. Lydia looked, as always, absolutely impeccable. Clothes, make-up and hair on-point. Stiles smiled cheerfully and handed her the flower bouquet. She blinked at it and then at him, completely startled.
“Flowers for the lady of the house. Thanks for having us,” Stiles grinned.
“I…” Lydia looked a little lost. “Come in.”
Cora, Isaac, Jackson and Danny were on the couch, talking with each other, while Boyd and Erica were among many other couples dancing to decidedly too loud music. Allison stood in the kitchen, together with Malia and Sloan. Oh. Huh. Somehow, Stiles hadn’t expected to see Sloan Hale at a party. He was fairly sure the girl lived in the school library. She was always in there whenever Stiles entered it. She also always had top grades in everything.
Scott, of course, immediately led them to the kitchen as soon as he spotted Allison. While Lydia immediately ditched them to perch herself on her boyfriend’s lap and join the argument on Danny’s side (judging by the smug look on Danny’s face and the glare on Jackson’s).
“Hey. Hello, uhm, hi,” Scott waved at Allison.
Stiles groaned and covered his eyes. This was physically painful, actually. But Allison must either be a really good actress or an actual angel, because she just smiled at Scott and asked if he wanted to dance just as the song changed. With that, Stiles and Kira were left behind.
“You want something to drink?” Malia asked, looking at Kira.
“Oh. Uhm, yeah,” Kira smiled shyly.
Stiles refrained from rolling his eyes. Kira had had a crush on Malia for the past couple weeks now. However, she was as useless as Scott. Somehow, Malia ended up stealing Kira, leaving Stiles alone with Sloan, who glared at him fiercely. What had he done to offend her.
“Mieczysław,” Sloan said, with so much distaste and judgment.
And oh wow, okay, what… huh. Not only did Sloan know who he was, somehow she actually knew his name – and weirder still, she also knew how to pronounce it. Stiles stared at her baffled.
“Stiles,” Stiles offered, more on instinct than anything.
“Why,” Sloan’s face scrunched up. “That’s weird and it doesn’t even make sense, that’s not even how you pronounce that part of your last name.”
Why was he being chastised by the scary Hale about his name…? (And yes, Sloan was totally the scary Hale. Jackson was all bark and no bite, Isaac was a huge puppy, Malia was a bit rough around the edges but not a bad person, and Cora feared the consequences from her mother the mayor far too much to seriously get into fights or trouble.)
“I don’t know how to explain the finer details of xenophobia in this country to you, but there is an inherent blanching at everything that isn’t English and if it requires more than one read to comprehend how to pronounce it, it’s deemed too ‘complicated’ and brushed off, a long-honed tradition that is passed down from generation to generation,” Stiles replied after a beat. “You only try to make your classmates say Mieczysław that often before you give up on it. Stiles is short and English-sounding so it’s a good solution.”
Sloan furrowed her brows and tilted her head at him. “That… makes a sad kind of sense.”
“Yeah, Polish isn’t seen as a respected, fancy language like French or Italian that people will make an effort for. I’ve gotten used to people not making the effort,” Stiles shrugged.
Well, wasn’t that painfully true in general. He was very used to people not making the effort with him, in most areas. The same way they didn’t take the time to learn his name and didn’t care to even ask how to pronounce it, they usually didn’t take the time to be patient with the ADHD kid and didn’t care to ask how he had gotten to a conclusion. He was used to it.
“You overcompensate for being ignored by trying to proof your worth with your work.”
Why in the world was Stiles being read for filth by Sloan Hale at Lydia’s party. He stared at her, even as her posture relaxed and something like understanding settled in her eyes. She nodded.
“I understand that,” Sloan declared finally. “My older cousins have their roles assigned to them, Laura, the future Alpha, Derek, the future Right Hand, Cora, the future Left Hand. And then there’s still Isaac, Jackson, Malia and Jason. I am proving myself through my academics too.”
Stiles nodded slowly, very unsure why she was telling him that. This whole thing was bizarre. It got more bizarre when she stepped up to him and rested a hand on his arm, handing him a drink with her other hand. Stiles knew touch was a deliberate thing with wolves. This was freaking him out.
“I think I’ve misread you, Mieczysław,” Sloan declared with a frown. “Maybe our rivalry was not something I need to overcome, maybe it has driven me to work harder and be better. I’ve decided we’re going to be friends now. A friendly rivalry.”
Was she having a stroke? Was he having a stroke? Rivalry? What rivalry? What was going on here? Was this whole thing some kind of prank set-up? He looked around, expecting the rest of the Hale Pack to jump out and laugh at him, but Jackson and Lydia were busy practically making out on the dance floor – and oh, okay, Malia and Kira were also dancing now – while Isaac was talking with Allison and Scott. No, nobody was paying attention to him and Sloan.
“...Okay?” Stiles agreed after a moment, not knowing what else to say to this.
/break\
Sloan hated being wrong, yet she had to admit that she had severely misjudged Mieczysław Stilinski. She hated loud, obnoxious people, was overly sensitive to it even more so for her werewolf hearing, and he was very loud. Now, she suspected he was loud because he was used to not being heard, a feeling that Sloan could deeply relate to. She had thought him a rude know-it-all, a show off, with how he would interrupt and even correct their teachers – you weren’t supposed to do that. But she now suspected that he just had the same drive for knowledge as her but couldn’t let false information stand. She did hate that too, but she thought it was expected to let people figure out they were wrong on their own, or at least, figures of authority such as teachers.
When Stiles had told her about his name, she had been very confused by that. Mieczysław was really not a hard name to pronounce if one had heard it once or twice. She understood that seeing it on paper could leave native English speakers with no Slavic experience at a loss; both, the combination of the -czy- as well as the ł, which was a letter that didn’t exist like that in the English language. But -czy- was a very simple -chi- sound, as it occurred in English words such as handkerchief, and once one knew that the ł was just a soft w sound, as opposed to the harder, sharper w at the end of the name, it truly wasn’t hard to say at all. The fact that other people had made him feel like he couldn’t even use his actual name because they couldn’t be bothered to learn it taught her a lot about him, and how he had been treated and perceived by others in the past.
He knew what it felt like to not be heard or seen and she understood that feeling. Others wouldn’t believe that, would scoff at her for it, since she was ‘a Hale’. But that precisely was the problem. All she was was ‘a Hale’. Or she was ‘the mayor’s niece’, at the hospital she was ‘Doctor Hale’s daughter’, at the fire station, she was ‘Derek’s cousin’, at the sheriff station she was ‘Laura’s cousin’. She never got to just be Sloan, the only thing she ever stood out for was being a Hale and how she related to other, more notable Hales. Her academic achievements had been the first time she stood out all on her own, when everyone came to her to be proud of her.
Therefore, Sloan had decided that Stiles was going to be her friend now. Which was exciting, she didn’t really have friends. Lydia had only come into her life because she was dating Sloan’s cousin. Stiles was going to be the first friend she would make all on her own.
“Stiles,” Sloan smiled as she fell into step with him after AP Psychology. “You do prefer that, I got that right, right? Because I can also call you Mieczysław, since that’s your name.”
Stiles shot her a weird look and then seemed to consider. “Everyone calls me Stiles. I got really used to it. Like, you don’t call Danny Daniel either. Or Boyd Vernon.”
“That is true,” Sloan nodded slowly. “Stiles, then. You’ll sit with us for lunch today.”
“I… what?” Stiles asked confused when they entered the cafeteria.
“It only makes sense,” Sloan pointed out. “Since Scott is now dating Allison, and Malia is in the process of figuring out how to ask Kira on a date, your friends will sit with us anyway. You will, of course, also sit with us then.”
Sloan still wasn’t sure about why Lydia had so quickly latched onto the new girl and decided she should join them, but the decision had been made and accepted by the majority of the pack, so Allison now belonged with them and Allison seemed to want Scott. Malia and Kira made more sense to her. Malia had been staring curiously at Kira from a distance for months now, the party on Friday being the first opportunity to talk to Kira in person. If everyone got to adopt a human into the group, then Sloan was going to adopt Stiles into the group.
“Okay,” Stiles nodded slowly and obediently took a seat so Sloan could sit next to him.
Erica on Stiles’ other side immediately turned to him and started asking question – because new people were always interesting. Sloan was glad for it, she wasn’t exactly good at navigating social interactions, while Erica was a social butterfly, it was one of the things Sloan liked about her. And someone else form the pack making Stiles feel welcome here would make it more likely that he’d stay. Sloan smiled, very pleased with herself. She had succeeded.
/break\
Chris gasped lowly when he got pushed against his apartment door by Peter. Working together for the past weeks had soon turned into mending bridges. They grew closer again, rediscovered each other again, got to know the person the other had become in the past years. It was like falling in love with Peter all over again, somehow so much more intense than the first time around.
“Is this a good idea?” Chris asked, even as he started unbuttoning Peter’s shirt.
“Give me one reason why it shouldn’t be,” Peter prompted, licking a stripe up Chris’ neck. “You are no longer a married man, your father is in the grave, our children are teenagers and what we do in the bedroom doesn’t concern them. We’re both grown men who can make their own decisions now. So tell me, are you choosing me this time, or-”
Oh, he did not let his wolf finish that sentence. He pulled Peter into a deep, slow kiss. He could feel the curve of Peter’s smug smile against his lips. Chris glared a little and bit Peter’s lip, making him gasp. Opening Peter’s pants, he pushed them down. The two of them stumbled toward Chris’ bedroom and by the time they reached the bed, both of them were naked.
“God, you are so gorgeous,” Chris whispered in awe, admiring his wolf.
Peter preened a little and sprawled out more deliberately on the bed. Showing off. Growling darkly, Chris crawled on top of his wolf, before flipping him over. Peter gasped a little and eagerly raised his hips. Sitting up on his knees, Chris ran his hands over Peter’s body, along his ribs, running his fingers over smooth skin until he could cup that masterpiece of an ass. How much he had missed kissing and touching Peter. How much he had missed Peter. Life had torn them apart but he was grateful that life had also brought them together again. And maybe Peter was right, maybe now the time was right. Maybe this time around, they could actually be together.
“You want me, wolf?” Chris gave a low growl as his fingers slipped between Peter’s ass-cheeks.
“Fuck,” Peter gasped and set his knees apart further. “Yes, hunter. Fuck me.”
Smiling, Chris pressed kisses along Peter’s shoulders while reaching for the lube in his nightstand. Slipping his fingers into Peter’s hole felt so familiar. The soft tightness was just like he remembered and he eagerly opened his wolf up for himself. The sounds of Peter’s little moans and gasps was music to his ear and he rewarded every single one with a kiss to whatever skin he could reach.
“So good for me, wolf,” Chris murmured, his teeth scratching over Peter’s neck.
He pulled out and grabbed Peter’s hips so he could ease himself into the tight heat. Peter growled, more wolf than human, his fingers clawing into the sheets. Literally clawing. So Chris was going to need new bedsheets after this. It would bother him more if he didn’t feel so damn proud that his cock could still make that wolf lose his impeccable control.
“You feel so good,” Chris praised, hips jerking as he thrust deep into Peter.
“Christopher,” Peter gasped out, bucking his hips.
Smirking, Chris reached around Peter’s waist to grasp his cock and jerk him off. Peter gave a relieved noise at that, the muscles in his arms working beautifully as he held himself upright. Chris kissed and bit at Peter’s shoulder, knowing he wouldn’t be able to leave a mark on his wolf but enjoying the process all the same. When he actually bit down on Peter’s neck, Peter came with a howl. So easy, that wolf. Chris smirked pleased, rutting into Peter’s contorting hole and bringing himself to climax in the aftermath of Peter’s orgasm. He laid down on top of Peter, breathing hard, before both rolled over sideways so Chris was pressed against Peter’s back. His fingers sprawled on Peter’s stomach, tracing the wolf’s abs and burying his face in Peter’s neck.
“I won’t leave you again,” Chris whispered lowly. “Not unless you want me to leave. I’m in control of my life now. And I want you in my life. I don’t want my life without you anymore, my wolf.”
“Good,” Peter hummed and notably relaxed in his arms. “I’m not planning on letting you go again.”
/break\
Stiles wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, but somehow he had ended up at the Hale table? And as some kind of… pet project?… of Sloan Hale? If this wasn’t Sloan, he would think he was getting pranked. But Sloan wasn’t a prankster, she was more like the exact opposite of a prankster. She had no understanding for why scaring someone or being intentionally mean to someone would be funny. Stiles had once seen her lecture Isaac and Erica for a solid twenty minutes about it.
“Hey, Stiles. You free this weekend to work on our history project?” Danny asked.
Because Stiles had somehow ended up on a history project with Danny and Cora. Not even because they got assigned by the teacher, but because Cora had chosen him. Because, again, somehow Stiles had ended up in the middle of all of this and he still wasn’t entirely sure how.
“Uhm… Yeah, sure,” Stiles nodded. “I have no plans.”
He usually had no plans on the weekends, on account of his dad usually working on the weekends and him only having Kira and Scott in his life. Now that they both got girlfriends – Malia had asked Kira out three weeks ago, and Scott and Allison were officially going steady too – there was less Stiles-time. Weirdly enough, in the past month since Lydia’s party, Stiles hadn’t even had time to notice yet. He’d met Sloan at the library the weekend after the party, the following weekend, he had gone shopping with Lydia, Cora, Erica and Kira, then last weekend, Jackson, Isaac, Boyd and Danny had given Stiles and Scott some tips and special training (though Stiles suspected that Jackson had been threatened by Sloan, Malia and Sloan about it).
“Great,” Danny offered a dimpled smile. “We’re meeting at Cora’s. The Hales have their own library, that always comes in handy for school projects.”
Stiles’ eyes widened at that. He was going to go to the Hale House. Sure, he’d been sitting at their lunch table for a month and spent time outside of school with them on the weekends, but he hadn’t actually been to the Hale House before. That felt so forbidden. Only pack or pack-adjacent people were allowed into the wolves’ den. Stiles swallowed hard, feeling oddly nervous about that.
/break\
Stiles stared wide-eyed and with his mouth open when he entered the Hale House. It was as pompous and fancy on the inside as it was from the outside. It really was a mansion. Rich people lived in a whole different world. But at least this mansion actually housed fifteen people, so the size was justified, he guessed. He still felt incredibly out of place and like he should be wiping the marble floor behind himself because he was dragging dirt in.
“Close your mouth before you catch flies, Stilinski,” Cora ordered with an eye-roll.
Stiles narrowed his eyes at her but he did close his mouth. Cora beelined into one direction and Stiles and Danny followed her. Stiles’ eyes dragged over everything he saw. Paintings, framed photos, vases and plants, everything. The furniture looked really expensive.
“Cora,” a voice called out. “What happened to saying ‘hello’ when coming home?”
Cora winced and changed course, with Danny and Stiles still right behind her. They reached a kitchen that had Stiles squeak at how beautiful it was. Modern, spacious, with a kitchen isle. Behind the stove stood a handsome, dark-haired man with sparkling green eyes.
“Hello, dad,” Cora sighed and went to scent-mark her dad.
“Hello, sweetie,” Damon smiled amused and looked at them. “Hello, Danny. Hello…”
“Stiles,” Stiles offered, holding out his hand. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”
“Oh, you’re Stiles,” Damon raised his eyebrows. “I have heard… so much about you.”
“Huh?” Stiles blinked and turned to look at Cora who just shook his head.
“Doesn’t matter. Come. Let’s get this project started,” Cora urged. “We’ll be in the library.”
“Dinner in two hours,” Damon called after them. “Don’t make me come and get you.”
Cora herded Danny and Stiles into a giant library. The room was at least trice the side of Stiles’ bedroom and it seemed to be spanning two stories, stairs leading up on either side but the ceiling/floor that should be between them was gone, allowing the shelves to go all the way up, with wheeled ladders. Stiles made an unholy noise that had the werewolf next to him flinch and growl.
“Sorry,” Stiles’ voice pitched. “I think I died and went to heaven. You have an actual library in your house. Like. A real library. I thought you just had a room with a couple shelves with books, not this size. This is… I am moving in here. You will have to pry me out of this room.”
“Told you this would happen,” Danny chuckled amused. “C’mon, Stiles. Let’s go.”
They settled down and got started and the two hours until dinner just flew by. Someone knocked on the door, disturbing their work. A boy stuck his head in, staring at them.
“Uncle Damon is nearly done with dinner. Mom sent me to fetch you,” Jason said before zeroing in on Stiles. “Oh. You’re the Stiles, right?”
Suddenly, Stiles had a ten year old all up in his face. “I don’t know about the. But I am Stiles.”
“You know, the Stiles, who took on my sister as a charity case.”
“Wha—at are you talking about,” Stiles blinked at the kid.
Jason rolled his eyes and waved a hand. “My sister’s never made a friend before. She just gets adopted by our cousins’ friends. So I have to assume that she is some kind of charity case for you.”
Furrowing his brows, Stiles put the kid in a headlock and ruffled his hair. “Don’t talk about your sister like that, Sloan is awesome, you brat.”
Jason squealed and then he growled and flashed his eyes golden. “Hey! Stop that! Unhand me!”
“Don’t be mean to your sister then,” Stiles huffed as he released the boy.
Jason bared his fangs before he practically fled the library. Cora was shooting Stiles a look with her eyebrows raised. Stiles just shrugged at her. The three teens headed out together. When they entered an actual dining room, Stiles gaped. It made sense, of course. There were fifteen Hales living in this house. They didn’t just fit around the kitchen table. But still, this felt so… fancy.
“You’re Stiles,” suddenly, Stiles had an older lady right in front of him, with mischievous blue eyes. “Hello. I’m Dalia. It’s nice to finally meet you, my granddaughter curses your name a lot.”
“...Huh?” Stiles blinked at her and then turned toward Cora.
“Not me,” Cora shrugged while helping her cousins set the table.
“Also not me,” Malia added where she was putting own cutlery.
Sloan, carrying in a basket of bread, flushed. “I might have complained about you on occasion when our rivalry wasn’t friendly yet.”
“She called you her ‘arch nemesis’,” Laura added cheekily as she entered, still in uniform. “Hey, Stiles! Thanks for the brownies you brought to the station this week.”
“Thanks for keeping my dad on his diet,” Stiles grinned at Laura.
“What does that mean?” Danny asked, looking between them.
“My dad’s the sheriff. He is also on a strict heart-healthy diet. He used to try and sneak unhealthy food in his lunch breaks and since he’s the sheriff, everyone let him get away with it,” Stiles explained, moving around a little while he spoke. “So, I’ve started bribing the deputies with baked goods into keeping my dad on track with his diet.”
“Bribing the sheriff station at sixteen years old,” Dalia laughed delighted.
“It’s working,” Stiles shrugged, unapologetic.
“It is,” Laura confirmed solemnly. “I’ll get changed and showered quickly.”
With that, she was out of the room, but other Hales were quick to filter in. Jackson and Isaac were carrying stakes of plates. Stiles decided to go to the kitchen and see what he could bring so he didn’t feel so useless. When he entered the kitchen, he saw that Damon had apparently gotten help in the cooking department because his son and daughter-in-law were with him. Paige stood at the isle, with casserole in hands, her husband without needing to be told setting everything up – bringing her the big serving spoon, getting her the garnish to sprinkle on top. When she was all done, Paige smiled, got on her toe-tips and kissed Derek’s scruffy cheek. Derek flushed, even though the two had been dating for like half a decade and were married. That was disgustingly cute.
“Uhm, hi. I wanted to know what I can help with?” Stiles spoke up after a moment.
“You’re Stiles,” Paige smiled brightly.
Stiles blinked repeatedly. “Seriously why does everybody know me.”
“Because you’re my cousin’s ‘arch nemesis’,” Derek said with a deadpan.
“Your sister said the same thing earlier!” Stiles yelped. “And then she distracted me with compliments about my baking! What does that mean?”
Someone heaved a deep sigh behind him and Stiles startled. When he turned around, Sloan and Jason’s parents entered the room. Aaron looked a lot like Derek, the family resemblance was impossible to deny there. Fiona had the same red hair as Sloan, and the same freckles as both their kids. Judging by the eye-roll, she was the one who had sighed.
“It all started in pre-k,” Fiona said in a dry storyteller voice. “When you first got crowned ‘nap king’ over her, after she had always been nap queen. That was the first time you stole her crown, and her accomplishment. She stomped into the house, face as red as her hair, and declared you her arch nemesis. I still don’t know where she even learned that word.”
“Peter,” Derek, Aaron and Damon said at the same time.
Fiona nodded slowly. “Okay, that makes sense. Yes.”
Stiles sputtered at that, unsure what to do with this. Paige laughed and handed Stiles a salad-bowl.
“Bring that to the dining room?” Paige requested and then patted his shoulder. “I know it’s a little overwhelming the first time. But don’t worry, you’ll get used to them.”
There was a weird warm feeling in his belly at the casual way in which she seemed so sure that Stiles would be sticking around to get used to it. That Stiles would be wanted around long enough to get used to it. He accepted the salad and brought it to the dining room. In the doorway to the dining room, he froze, his eyes widening. To the left of the head of the table sat Peter Hale.
He was lounging casually, one leg spread out beneath the table, the other pulled up and falling open to draw Stiles’ attention to the man’s crotch. He was in the process of loosening his tie, which then drew Stiles’ attention up to that thick neck. Stiles swallowed hard when Peter popped a few buttons – too many buttons. Stiles felt both dizzy and hot when he saw Peter’s collarbone.
The salad-bowl slipped from his hands as he stumbled a little. His eyes widened, absolutely terrified to be making a fool of himself in front of the man he’d had a crush on since he was like nine years old and first saw the lawyer argue about something with Stiles’ dad at the station. A hand caught the salad-bowl and another grabbed his upper arm to steady him and stop him from falling.
“Easy there, sugar,” a dark, pleasant voice murmured next to him.
With even wider eyes did Stiles turn toward the source of the voice to find Allison’s hot silver fox dad standing right beside him, still holding the salad-bowl with one hand and Stiles’ arm with the other. Over the past month that Allison had lived here, Stiles had caught plenty of glances of that absolute DILF whenever the man dropped Allison off at school. Stiles enjoyed the view and appreciated the early morning eye-candy. He had, however, not gotten this close to Chris yet. Then again, he never expected to get that close to the man, because he was practically pressed against Chris’ very firm and delicious chest after the man had steadied him.
“...You okay?” Chris asked with furrowed brows.
Stiles shook his head on instinct, before jumping a little. “I mean yes. Sorry. I just. I tripped. I do that. A lot. Comes with the flailing that comes free with the ADHD. Sorry, again. Thank you.”
Chris smiled amused, his eyes crinkling and sparkling prettily at it, just as the man let go of Stiles and went to put the salad-bowl down on the table. Stiles immediately missed the warmth of Chris’ touch, but he had to admit that the view from behind was mesmerizing too. Those tight jeans clung to the man’s ass and thighs just perfectly. Stiles swallowed hard when multiple wolves – Malia, Cora and Isaac – shot him disturbed looks. Stiles flushed and closed his eyes.
“Behave yourselves, pups,” Peter chided them in a drawl. “It’s impolite to react to chemo-signals you weren’t meant to read. Besides, all three of you have eyes, you know how good Chris looks.”
Peter shot Stiles a smirk and a playful wink before grabbing Chris by the belt-loop and pulling him close enough to kiss and… oh. Okay, that explained why Chris Argent was at the Hale family dinner, he guessed. Swallowing hard, Stiles tried to not feel inspired by seeing the two hottest DILFs in California kiss like that. He closed his eyes, just to make sure.
“Peter,” Talia sighed exasperated as she entered the dining room. “No making out at the dinner table. You know the rules. Otherwise we would never get dinner done in this household.”
“We’re not having dinner yet and technically, Chris is standing and not at the table yet.”
Talia shot her younger brother a stern glare before she turned to smile at Stiles. “Hello, Stiles.”
“Is there anyone in this house to whom I can actually introduce myself?” Stiles wondered.
“Well, there would be me, sugar,” Chris offered as he sat down next to Peter. “You’re neither a Hale I know nor one of the new additions I’ve met in the past month.”
He motioned at Isaac at that last part. Stiles ruffled his hair and looked at the man.
“Hello, Mister Argent. I’m Stiles. I’m friends with your daughter, but you seem to always be at work when I’m over. It’s, uh, nice to officially meet you,” Stiles then turned toward Talia. “You too, of course, Madam Mayor. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Talia looked amused at that. “It’s Talia, please. And it’s alright. It must be weird to meet a lot of people who all know you without you ever having met them. So, it’s good to finally meet you. Sit.”
Stiles remained standing though because he didn’t really know where to sit. This was a huge family and they certainly all had ‘their’ seats, the way Stiles and Noah steered clear of Claudia’s chair still, even after all these years, because it was her chair. Stiles swallowed as the thought of his mom and the memory of all three of them at the kitchen table made his heart clench painfully.
“Okay, but can I comment on that? Because whatever that was sounded weird and smells weird.”
“No, Cora, you can’t,” Talia sighed and shot Stiles an apologetic look. “It’s hard for born wolves to hold back on commenting on things we hear and smell that we’re not meant to. Since all wolves have enhanced senses, it’s no issue among ourselves, but among humans, it’s… We try to teach them that it’s impolite to comment on these things, since you don’t have matching senses.”
Stiles nodded slowly at that and rubbed his neck. “It’s fine, I mean, my ADHD compels me to very often just say whatever comes to my mind. So I guess I get the instinct to ask about weird things you smell or hear, since like you can’t control what you hear or smell?”
“So it is okay to ask then?” Cora asked again, looking at Stiles curiously.
Stiles bit his lips. “I was just thinking about where to sit, since all of you probably have your designated seat, because that’s how we’re at home. And that made me think of how we’re still keeping my mom’s chair empty, even though it’s been eight years since she died.”
Giving another shrug, Stiles ducked his head. A hand patted him on the back and when he turned some, he saw Dalia smile warmly at him in understanding. She rubbed his back briefly and then continued on to sit down at one narrow end of the long table.
“We have kept my husband’s chair empty since his death too,” Dalia offered gently.
She rested a hand on the backrest of the chair, running her fingers gently over the wood. Talia was sitting opposite the empty chair of the former Alpha. Slowly the rest of the family filtered in, carrying the last of the food. Damon sat down next to his wife at the head of the table, Fiona to their right and her husband next to her. Sloan sat down next to her dad and smiled at Stiles.
“Sit opposite me,” Sloan ordered, motioning at the empty seat next to Chris Argent.
Stiles followed the order, with Danny sitting down next to him, followed by Jackson, Isaac, Laura and lastly Jason on their side of the table. Opposite them were Fiona, Aaron, Sloan, Cora, Malia, Derek and Paige, with one empty chair on their side of the table, on the corner to the empty chair of the late Logan Hale. Stiles realized that the table wasn’t just one long one but two tables pushed together. There were another two tables of the same length and model against the wall, which they most likely used when they hosted more guests.
“I hope my family hasn’t been too annoying,” Sloan offered, shooting her brother a look.
“Honestly, I was way too holed up in the library with Cora and Danny to notice anyone else until we set the table,” Stiles admitted. “So far nobody has been annoying. Promise.”
“He said he’s moving into our library,” Cora reported back.
“I’m surprised Cora didn’t pick up the scent of arousal when Stiles entered the library,” Danny teased with a dimpled grin. “He looked ready to do unspeakable things to that library.”
Stiles made a high-pitched noise and threw a cherry-tomato at him, cheeks flushed. “It’s not my fault my love language is knowledge and that room was dirty talking me!”
There were multiple laughs and snorts at that and Stiles ducked his head. They finally started eating, everyone piling food onto their plates from the various dishes and pots on the table.
“Everything smells absolutely delicious, Mister Hale,” Stiles said dutifully.
“Let’s not do that,” Damon chuckled amused. “Between myself, Peter, Aaron and Derek, that gets too confusing too fast. Just call me Damon, Stiles. And thank you for the compliment.”
“You can come back to visit the library even after your project with Cora is over,” Sloan offered.
Stiles shot her a smile at the offer. “That’s nice of you, but I don’t want to intrude.”
“You aren’t intruding when you are invited, sweetie,” Dalia interjected amused.
Stiles flushed and ducked his head, looking at Talia for a moment. He knew werewolves didn’t like strangers in their den. Letting Stiles in because he was working with Cora was one thing, but just inviting him to come over whenever seemed not very instinctive for wolves.
“Do I have to actually set up a play-date for my teenage daughter?” Fiona sighed, looking at Stiles pointedly. “That was Sloan’s attempt at inviting you over to hang out, kid.”
Sloan flushed and looked down at her plate at her mother’s bluntness. Fiona reached out around her husband’s back so she could ruffle her daughter’s hair fondly. Oh. Right. People keep saying that Sloan had never made a friend. And Sloan was definitely not as outgoing and direct as Stiles, who had just latched himself onto Scott and Kira, made copies of both their houses and regularly invited himself in, to the point that there was a phase in fifth grade where Melissa seriously considered whether or not Stiles was living at their place, and he had a Go-game set up with Noshiko that she had never commented on how it kept moving all the time even when Stiles wasn’t ‘officially’ over.
“You know, I was doing some research on phoenixes, maybe you could help me with that?” Stiles suggested. “If you guys have any books on those, we could work on it together?”
Sloan perked up at that, the embarrassment melting away from her. “That sounds interesting! Why are you researching phoenixes? Did you see one?”
“Not yet,” Stiles wiggled his nose. “It’s more like, my brain decides to latch onto a topic and I gotta get to the bottom of it otherwise the ADHD will not let me rest. I was watching One Piece and thinking about how wicked cool Marco’s phoenix design is, because it’s blue flames, while usually phoenixes are depicted red and yellow and it made me want to dive into different interpretations of phoenixes, like, the various breeds throughout the world.”
“I could have a book that would be useful for that,” Chris offered thoughtfully, making Stiles turn to look at the man next to him in surprise. “I have a lot of bestiaries, left over from the family trade. I’m fairly sure there’s one about various mystical birds, including phoenixes.”
Stiles raised his eyebrows eagerly at all. “That would be awesome. Thank you.”
He grinned and settled into dinner more comfortably. There was banter and snark, jokes and laughter. It was all so warm and homey, a strange sense of home and family that Stiles hadn’t really experienced in years. Even when him and his dad had dinner together, the absence of Claudia was heavily felt by them both, regardless of how hard they tried. Stiles felt really at ease and not at all like he was intruding on the Hales family dinner. After the absolutely delicious main course, there was also pie, home-made by Dalia. All in all, Stiles really enjoyed his time at the Hale House and found himself eager and hopeful to visit again.
/break\
The next time Allison said she would have friends over, Chris asked who. When she told him that Stiles, Boyd, Erica, Kira and Malia were coming over to play a TTRPG, Chris decided to work from home that day. He told himself it was just so he could give Stiles the book he’d promised the boy, but he knew he could as well put the book out and tell Allison to give it to him.
No, something about that boy intrigued Chris. That doe-eyed, prey-like look he had given Chris when Chris had caught him after stumbling, pretty, pink lips open in an o. He was exactly Chris’ type. The gorgeous, brunette, snarky, knowledge-hungry twink. He reminded Chris so much of Peter when they had first met in high school, it was giving him whiplash.
The way Peter had described the sweet, tempting scent of Stiles’ arousal, the filth Peter had whispered about Stiles’ attraction to them both that had been all over the boy’s scent, well, that hadn’t helped Chris any either. Apparently, Stiles’ attraction to Peter wasn’t news to Peter. He’d smelt it before, whenever Peter was in the vicinity, either at the school for one of Jackson’s games, or at the sheriff station when he was there for work. It seemed to amuse Peter that Chris had the same effect on the boy. Chris would have probably ignored this entirely if not for Peter’s filthy mouth and very explicit description of Stiles’ scent.
“Hello, Mister A, thanks for having us,” Erica chimed with a smile as the teens arrived.
Chris gave a grunted greeting and watched the teens file into the apartment. His eyes landed on Stiles though. The boy was wearing a red hoodie over a tight black graphic tee with some kind of azure bird symbol on it. The shirt spanned nicely over his chest and shoulders, as Chris was treated to see when the boy shrugged out of his hoodie. In the process, his shirt also riled up some, showing off a hip-bone and some moles going from his belly-button down toward his crotch.
Yes, that boy was exactly Chris’ type. The kind of twink Chris had been picking up since moving to Paris, only that Chris had also gotten enough insight into the boy’s personality to know he wasn’t just physically Chris’ type. Chris didn’t know what to do with that yet – not that he really planned on doing anything, he was merely… intrigued by the boy. That was all.
“Hey, Stiles,” Chris smiled at the boy. “Come with me for a moment?”
Stiles stared at him with those big doe-eyes but he nodded and followed Chris into the man’s office. Stepping behind his desk, Chris reached for the book on his book-shelf. He could have put the book out in advance, but after seeing the sparkly-eyed look on Stiles’ face about the Hale library, he somewhat wanted to show off his own collection of bestiaries. A curious, high noise escaped Stiles and there it was, that sparkly-eyed look. A pleased smile spread over Chris’ lips as he handed over the book, letting their hands touch for just a moment.
“And I can just… take this home with me?” Stiles asked in awe, flipping through the pages. “This is like hand-written from the seventeenth century. I feel like I shouldn’t even be touching it.”
Chris chuckled fondly. No, this boy was very different than Peter. Not just in the way Stiles was clearly more… energetic (which most likely came with the boy’s ADHD), but Peter also had never in his life acted like he shouldn’t have something. Born with the silver spoon in his mouth, reaching for the golden knife. Stiles on the other hand had a very different outlook there.
“Yes, you can take it with you, read it in peace and just bring it back when you’re done.”
Stiles looked up at him and those bright honey-colored eyes seemed near golden with the boy’s excitement, a smile spreading over his lips. “Thanks, Mister Argent. I’ll be careful with it, sir.”
Chris was about to correct the boy – since all the Hales had offered him their first name – but then that ‘sir’ fell from those pink, plush lips and Chris had to adjust his stance a little at the feeling of his cock giving an interested twitch. Now that could prove to become a problem, after all.
/break\
Arousal was one of the first scents a born wolf learned to ignore. Sexual attraction was such a feeble thing, it meant very little. It helped in picking a bed partner, but beyond that, Peter tuned it out a lot. Teenage arousal, in particular. Teenagers got horny over absolutely everything and they didn’t know how to control that reaction just yet. It was generally an unpleasant smell that Peter was more than happy to avoid. The scent refined over years. Peter liked to compare it to wine. The process of making it was unpleasant, but once it was done, had settled and developed? Delicious.
When Stiles had watched Peter and Chris kiss, he had smelt delicious. Peter had never smelt anything like it. Such a deep, sweet scent, like honey pouring over pancakes, it made his mouth water. A sweet little treat that Peter wanted all for himself. It reminded him of when he used to be a kid, whenever he could smell the sweet deliciousness of his mother’s pie and knew he had to be quick and sly because he knew that pie had to be his. He would sneak past his siblings and parents, steal the pie, dig his fingers into the soft heat of it and devour it whole all on his own. Shameless and selfish. Stiles’ arousal evoked the very same desire in Peter. To have, to devour.
Though he found himself inclined to sharing, this time. If only with Chris, since it had been the combination of them that had triggered the mouthwatering scent. And Peter knew that Stiles was Chris’ type, so he knew it would only take a few gentle suggestions to steer his hunter right. They should share the sweet treat. Peter wanted to know what other scents he could get from that boy.
“You absolute bastard,” Chris’ voice was a dark growl.
That was the only warning Peter got before he found himself slammed back against his bedroom wall. Peter had just been in front of his mirror, trying to pick an outfit for their date. It seemed someone had let Christopher in early. Peter smiled, lazy and wolfish, knowing he was getting what he wanted. It warned him another growl from Chris – and oh, Peter loved to rile his hunter up into wolf-like behavior like this – before Chris kissed him hard and deep.
“All I did,” Peter was panting breathlessly when their kiss broke. “Was tell you how he smelt. If that led to you feeling compelled to seek him out again…”
A broad, sharp grin spread over Peter’s lips, showing off his fangs, before he buried his face in Chris’ neck. He inhaled deeply, relishing in his hunter’s delicious scent. The only other scent that had ever made him feel so compelled to have. He remembered vividly how he had first smelt Chris in the locker room – even with the stench of teen boy sweat and hormones and arousal, Chris’ scent had stood out. Fresh like citrus and pines, but with the sharpness of gun-oil. Somehow, smokey and rustic. It had Peter salivate and before that school day had been over, Peter had been on his knees with Chris’ cock down his throat. Because he’d smelt something that he wanted and he took it.
“I think he could be a delicious little treat for us, Christopher,” Peter whispered lowly, running his nose along the span of Chris’ neck. “I think we should share the pretty, little treat.”
“I think the ‘pretty, little treat’ is a friend of both our children. And the son of the sheriff,” Chris countered. “He’s an innocent human. What right do we, the hunter and the Left Hand with so much blood soaking our hands, have to drag him into any of this just for, what? A good fuck?”
Peter froze at Chris’ words. Peter had known for many years now that he didn’t deserve to have nice things. He’d thought he could have Chris, and then Gerard had ripped him away. He’d thought that Corinne was his second chance, but she broke his heart too. When Chris had come back into his life, saving his family from Kate’s bigotry, Peter had felt hope, but then the man had been chased away, again, by the Argents. Yes, Chris was here now and Peter had him, but Peter had no illusions of a happily ever after. Something would take Chris away from him, maybe Chris would realize he could find someone better, something better. Because though his hunter had blood on his hands, he was also working hard to atone for it and he was still human, at his core.
The blood on Peter’s hands however made him undeserving of the kind of gentle love that his siblings had found. The Left Hand killed and died to protect the pack. His predecessor had warned him about that, in a gentle and heavy voice, when Peter’s apprenticeship with her had started. Aunt Laura had never had a mate. Just like Peter. She’d dedicated her life to protecting her family and making sure her siblings could live safe and soft lives, with their mates and children. Just like Peter.
Peter’s gaze dropped to his own hands and for a moment, he could see the metaphorical blood clinging to them. He’d killed to protect this pack and territory. Ruthlessly ripped out throats and hearts alike, whatever it took to make sure the threat would actually stay dead. Were these hands that should touch someone innocent like Stiles…? Christopher was different, he’d always been rough, trained to kill from an even younger age than Peter, blood-soaked himself. The blood on their hands mingled and when they touched each other, Peter couldn’t tell whose it was anymore – and it didn’t matter either. All that mattered was the small reprieve they could offer each other.