Work Text:
0===0
Why Derek needed an angel, he seriously didn’t know. He was happy with his life. Okay, maybe happy was not the word that should be used, exactly, but he was doing okay, if he said so himself.
“No, Derek, you are not okay. I didn’t pray for a mate because I’m pretty sure that would be asking god for too much. Love, a mate, is found, not given in a silver platter. All I asked for is someone to keep you safe and happy, someone to keep you company so stop being so broody.” Laura said as she stared down at Derek. He just couldn’t figure out why his sister had to ruin everything in his life. “And no I am not ruining everything in your life. I am helping you.” Derek still couldn’t figure how Laura did that. He was sure mind reading wasn’t part of being a werewolf. “And how many times do I have to tell you that I am not reading your mind. I’m reading your face.” She widened her eyes at him, emphasizing a point. The only thing left to do was glare. Glare really hard. He was sure Laura would give up. Any minute now—and… she just rolled her eyes as if Derek was a petulant child. He wasn’t petulant. And neither was he a child. He was over childhood years ago. Like, maybe eighteen or something years ago. He was twenty-six and he was an adult. Ha! Take that Laura!
“I can return later if you want.” Derek turned his glare to where the voice came from. There was an angel, an actual angel, in his living room with him and his sister. It was horrible, really. He didn’t need an angel. He was a grown man.
Laura waved her hand dismissively as she said, “It’s okay, Stiles. We were done anyway. And you,” she turned her attention back to Derek, intimidating face full on, “you will deal with it and be nice to Stiles. He’s here to keep you from being a hermit and keep you from doing anything stupid until you find a mate, true mate, or whatever. So if you want to shake off the angel on your back, sorry Stiles, you’ll actually live your life, understood?” Derek just kept on glaring, hoping that would sway Laura. But then she just had to raise the eyebrows of doom on him (Laura’s eyebrows are more expressive than Derek’s so he didn’t understand why people thought he talked with his eyebrows. Sheesh.). He had no choice but to nod, because Laura was scary. She smiled sweetly, and Jesus, that was actually scarier, and said with a wave of her hand, “Bye, Derek. Bye, Stiles.” then promptly walked out of Derek’s apartment. Then poked her head back in to say, “Mom and dad want you home at least this Christmas. Be smart and actually go home.” Then promptly walked back out.
Both he and the angel stared at the closed door for a long moment. Stiles (and, seriously, what kind of name is Stiles?) broke the silence by whistling and said, “That is one scary woman.” Derek glared at him. Hard. Stiles simply snorted. “And you are one adorable puppy.” Then he disappeared with a flutter of wings. Fucking angels. Still, it was all Laura’s fault. Because it all started with Laura. Of course everything starts with Laura.
0===0
It was a quiet Wednesday night and Derek was working on the book he was writing. It was about a teenage boy who fell in love with an older woman who, in the end, massacred his whole family. Yeah, he has issues, so what? Everyone does. He was just finding it harder to let go. Kate was a horrible nightmare that still haunted his nights. And he was sulking, he knew that, but—there was a loud crash in his living room. Then a groan was heard. Derek scented the air; ozone, earth, and . . . was that candy? Derek wondered who would smell as a mixture of the three.
He put his laptop aside and got out of bed. He silently got out of his room and down the stairs, to his living room. He could hear someone muttering and some furniture moving, as if whoever broke into his house was clumsily moving around. Words like ‘flying’, ‘practice’ and ‘baby’ was heard. Derek honestly didn’t know what to think. He shifted silently, letting the wolf out slowly, ready to pounce on the intruder. Ever since the supernatural have been exposed somewhat fifty years ago, the supernatural have gained their own rights and of course, responsibilities. He’ll just scare the intruder away and there won’t be a problem. Although, how someone didn’t realize that a Hale, one of the most stable and strongest packs in the US, was living in the apartment, he didn’t know. The intruder must be pretty stupid.
“I know you’re right there.” The intruder said, making Derek freeze. The intruder stood, dusting himself in the process. He was in a full white, sleeveless—was that a dress?—which reached mid-thigh. It has some sort of belt-like by his hips. Derek wasn’t sure if it was an actual belt or a part of the dress. The man has thick, brown locks that is styled upwards, looking very natural. He has a somewhat pale complexion and moles dotted his face. His arms, as well, were quite dusted with moles. He has wide, full pink lips and a button-nose. His eyes were round and wide, innocent looking, framed with really thick lashes and full thick eyebrows. He was beautiful in a little-boy way. And he was smirking at Derek. “You can hide the fangs and claws, cub.” Derek glared, ready to pounce to whoever broke into his home, because he wasn’t a cub. He wasn’t. “And before anything else,” the man said with a raised hand, “I’m not here to hurt you” Derek just had to snort at that “or anything” the man continued, as if he didn’t hear Derek’s disbelieving snort, “your sister prayed for me.” At Derek’s confused look, the man sighed, and with the sound of something fluttering—paper?—the man disappeared from where he was standing and suddenly appeared in front of Derek, startling him. And then there were two fingers on his forehead.
Derek can see Laura in her room, slowly breathing in and out, as if preparing for a fight, sitting cross-legged at the center of her bed. He can see her shaking her arms out. She was muttering to herself, which was quite too gibberish for Derek to understand. Then, a few more moments later, she sighed with her eyes shut tight and spoke clearly. “I hope this praying to angels and god they show on Supernatural actually works. Okay. Here goes nothing. I pray to thee, god, to send an angel to my idiot of a brother as a companion and keep him happy and safe until he finds a suitable mate. Please. Amen.” Laura opened one eye, as if waiting for something then opened the other eye as well and sighed dejectedly and said, “Please, god? I know my brother says he’s okay but it’s obvious that he’s not. I would ask for a mate but I know it’s something to be found and it’ll be more fulfilling if he actually finds one on his own instead of, you know, a mate falling into his arms?” Laura snorted a short laugh at her own words. Her face turned serious once more, “I don’t really know, but.” Laura sighed softly, sadness evident on her face, “I just want him to be happy.” She whispered.
All of a sudden, he was taken out of the moment. He felt quite disoriented, the feeling one would usually have after sitting for so long after a run then standing up quickly. He staggered back, putting some distance between him and the intruder. “What are you?” He asked with a harsh breath.
The intruder lowered his raised hand to his side and gave Derek a serious look. Derek can feel and hear electricity crackling and looked around instinctively. When his attention was back to the man, he had two large shadows of opened wings behind him. “I’m an angel of the Lord.”
0===0
So, yes, everything was Laura’s fault.
Okay. So maybe she has good intentions when she prayed for an angel for Derek and maybe he did think that it was kind of sweet of her to worry about him at first. But it was still annoying. Mostly because the angel was drop dead gorgeous. Seriously, why was the angel god sent so attractive? With those eyes and lips and jaw and nose and his everything. And the funny thing was, Derek didn’t just find anyone attractive, as in someone he could think of doing the horizontal (and maybe vertical?) tango with on every available surface. He wasn’t picky. At all. Damn it!
So, yes, Stiles was attractive and he was Derek’s angel and Derek should really stop thinking of Stiles as someone who belonged to him. It probably wasn’t healthy.
“Some angel you are.” Derek muttered with a huff and an eye roll.
“I heard that.” Stiles whispered behind his ear, startling Derek. But he was gone with another flutter of wings (and Derek swore he heard the angel’s laughter taunting him) before Derek could rip his throat out. With his teeth. Maybe claws would suffice, but, yeah.
Derek glared at the space where Stiles probably was earlier. He glared really hard, as if he was willing the ground to spit Stiles out so he could get back at him. But the angel still didn’t appear so he decided to write. His novel wouldn’t write itself.
0===0
It was a week later that Derek realized that Stiles has never changed his clothes since he came crashing into Derek’s life—literally.
Since he absolutely did not stare at Stiles’ body, especially his ass, because it was a nice ass, every chance he got (he absolutely did), he bought the angel some clothes that would approximately fit him.
At first, he was going to buy some Henley for Stiles to wear but then decided against it. He didn’t want anyone else noticing how amazing Stiles’ body looked. The angel has received a fair amount of ogling from both men and women as he tagged along with Derek occasionally. He bought four graphic tees, two plaid long sleeved button up, two cargo pants and a pair of sneakers. And, at the last moment, blood colored hoody that would bring out his pale complexion.
He threw the bag of clothes he bought, after his meeting with his publisher, at Stiles. The angel blinked in confusion, looked down at the bags in his arms then back at Derek with a tilt of his head. “Clothes.” Derek grunted. Stiles rolled his eyes of that, as if saying, ‘Duh? Why are they in my arms, idiot.’ Derek glared and said, “You’re always wearing that thing. You’ll probably be here for a while because I’m not that interested in finding a mate. Until then, those are things you could wear.” Stiles’ eyes lit up at that and he started looking inside the bags as he disappeared with a flutter of wings. Derek was about to speak when Stiles suddenly appeared beside him, sans the bag of clothes and breathlessly said, ‘thank you’ and kissed his cheek. Then disappeared once more with a flutter of wings. Derek’s heart didn’t beat faster at that. (It did)
Damn angel!
0===0
“What are you looking for in a mate, anyway?” Stiles asked as he watched Derek typing on his laptop. The angel was wearing one of Derek’s Henley shirts which was too big on him. But Stiles’ scent smelled good when mixed with Derek’s own, so he didn’t really care.
Derek looked away from his laptop to glance at the angel but didn’t answer, making the angel roll his eyes, then looked back on his laptop and continued typing. That’s the one question that Stiles never got tired of asking Derek. He honestly didn’t want a mate, at least consciously. He didn’t want to trust anyone outside of his pack—and yes, that included Scott, his adopted brother who did his best to piss Derek off, the brat. He was a good kid, though, so there’s that. He learned his lesson when he was seventeen and Kate almost burned down his family home.
Stiles sighed and said, “Derek, you’ll never find a mate if we don’t narrow it down.”
“I told you and Laura, I’m not interested in finding a mate.” Derek said without looking away from his work.
It was silent for a while, and just when Derek thought Stiles has dropped the subject for the mean time, his laptop closed on its own, forcing Derek to take his hands away if he wanted to avoid getting his fingers trapped. He looked up and glared at the angel who sat across from him, looking too innocent.
Derek heaved a defeated sigh, looked up, praying for the will to not kill the angel then and there, even though he knew he couldn’t kill Stiles because only an angel sword can kill an angel. Besides, Stiles could literally kill him with a thought. So yes, killing the angel was out.
Derek looked back at Stiles with a deadpan face and said, “Will you stop annoying me if I tell you?” The angel smiled sweetly at him. Derek took that as an agreement. “I want a mate who will tell me when I’m wrong. I want someone who won’t easily submit to me but will know when to back down. I want someone loyal and trustworthy, someone who won’t use me to kill my family,” he was still bitter about that, “I want someone possessive but rational. I don’t want them to react badly when I have to comfort one of my betas just because they’re jealous. And lastly,” Derek looked away from the angel to stare at his laptop and said quietly, “I want someone who’ll love me because I’m me, not because I’m a Hale alpha, not because my family’s rich and especially not because they think I look good. I want them to love me despite all my hang ups and my attitude and my resentment of socializing and my fear of trusting. I need someone who’ll be patient with me, no matter what and will always have my back. Someone I can call home.”
They were both silent for a while. Stiles obviously knew what happened with Kate because the angel did his best to keep Derek away from fire. A few more moments later, Stiles finally spoke, breaking the silence—and tension—that has settled between them, “Well,” he started tentatively, making Derek look up to address him, “I think I know who will be perfect for you.” Derek raised an eyebrow at that, already starting to feel lighter, “The perfect mate for you is,” he said slowly, as if preparing to say a surprise, “Laura.” Derek let out a soft chuckle at that, suddenly realizing that was Stiles’ goal all along. The angel smiled cheekily at him. “She is all of those things.” Stiles waggled his eyebrows at Derek, making the wolf finally laugh.
Derek hasn’t laughed that hard in a while, even though it wasn’t that funny anyway. Derek was certain that the angel was self satisfied. He kept his mouth shut, though, so there’s that.
0===0
As time passed by, it wasn’t that hard to realize that it was so easy to have Stiles in his life.
0===0
“So, how’s Stiles?” Laura asked during one of their biweekly dinner that also marked the first month of Stiles being with Derek.
Derek raised an eyebrow at her as she sat beside him on one of the swings in their backyard. Stiles was goofing off with Scott since they have gotten close real quick. He didn’t how to feel about that. “Why don’t you ask him?” He said with a nod towards the angel who was now making the pups float in the air, making them giggle while the adults watched, amused.
Laura simply shrugged, nonchalant, as she watched the angel with Scott and the kids. Knowing Laura, he knew he should just wait it out. “You seem lighter,” Laura started slowly, hesitant, “happier.” she finished with a murmur. She must have sensed Derek’s confusion because she added, “When Stiles came, that is.” She chanced a glance at him, as if she was trying to gauge his emotion subtly. Laura and subtlety just don’t work.
“I still don’t get it.” He replied, and he wasn’t even lying. Somehow, he knew his sister was implying something, probably how Stiles’ presence somewhat helped lighten his mood. It wasn’t his fault that Stiles was so easy to be with, so energetic and enthusiastic, somewhat enigmatic that Derek can’t stop being intrigued by the angel. There was just something about Stiles that made Derek feel good, better, as if he was sixteen again and was so in love with Paige, as if the love of his life didn’t have to move away because she was spoken for without her knowledge, as if he wasn’t a lonely seventeen year old, looking for someone to love and to love him back. It was as if his chosen distraction when he was younger wasn’t actually someone destructive. Yeah, there was just something about Stiles that Derek still couldn’t figure out.
Laura was staring at him as if she was seeing him for the first time but at the same time, she has that, you-are-so-stupid-sometimes-but-I-still-love-you look. Derek didn’t know why he deserved the latter. She smiled, that mysterious smile she usually gave him when she knew something he didn’t, and said, “You’ll figure it out.” She went back to watching the rest of the pack after that.
Laura was so weird sometimes.
0===0
Four days after his conversation with Laura, Derek was having a horrific day. His editor moved the deadline for his manuscript way earlier than it was and he was running out of time, some kid (obviously) made a mistake and spray-painted his Camaro instead of the professor’s (who every student of Beacon Hills Community College hated) car beside it, Laura was still giving him the odd comments and both Scott and Cora started the play along, because they’ve obviously figured out what Laura was getting at, he woke up late and wasn’t able to do his usual morning run, his coffee supply ran out, and oh, Stiles was being an annoying little shit, asking him so many questions at once.
“Will you just shut it?!” Derek finally snapped as he tried to write. He was feeling a headache coming, because werewolves never equated for lack of headache.
Stiles stared at him with wide surprised eyes. Derek swore he could see hurt right there. He would apologize but he wasn’t feeling all that okay at the moment.
“Are you okay?” Stiles asked quietly after a while. He was studying Derek’s face and must’ve found somewhere there because he sagged down. Derek didn’t even realize that the angel was tense until then.
Derek sighed, closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples with his middle finger and thumb and said, “I’m sorry.” He looked back up to look at the angel apologetically and continued, “I’m tired and I’m trying to meet my deadline. I didn’t have any coffee this morning and my car is kind of ruined at the moment. I’m just,” he paused and sighed. He licked his lips before he continued, “I’ve been having a bad day and you were right there to—” Derek wasn’t able to finish his sentence. With the sound of fluttering wings, he found himself with an armful of angel.
“’S okay. We all have bad days.” Stiles murmured against his neck. Slowly, Derek raised his arms and wrapped them around the angel’s torso.
They stayed that way for a long while. And if Derek’s heart beat was raised the whole time, he paid it no mind.
0===0
Almost two weeks has passed since the ‘hugging incident’, as Derek has started calling it in his head, and since then, the two of them cuddling on the sofa while watching TV, the simple back pats, shoulder squeezes and the hugs whenever they would part have been very common in their lives. Even his family has noticed this shift in his and Stiles’ relationship whenever they would visit Derek or vice versa.
Derek simply ignored all the looks they’ve been getting.
Derek was eating at his favorite diner with Stiles at the chair across from him. The angel never ate, saying that he didn’t really need sustenance. His grace was enough to keep him going. He never experienced hunger or thirst or the need to sleep. Sometimes Derek couldn’t help but be amazed at angels because of that. But in moments like now, he couldn’t help but forget that Stiles was an angel because he sat so normally and looked so normal that it was hard to guess that he was a powerful being, more powerful than every supernatural being on earth. Although the staring was quite uncomfortable.
Derek pushed his curly fries at Stiles, so that the angel would have something to do besides stare at him and fidget on his seat. Stiles blinked once, twice, at the fries in front of him then looked at Derek questioningly and said, in a matter-of-fact tone, “I don’t need sustenance.”
Derek rolled his eyes and said, “Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.” He nodded at the fries in front of the angel, urging him to try it. He wondered why he never tried to offer the angel food before. The angel looked at the food with suspicion and then took a piece. He studied it for a while, making Derek snort in amusement as he watched the angel study his food. Stiles didn’t even seem to notice Derek’s reaction to what he was doing and took a bite of the fries in his hand.
His eyes lit up suddenly as he chewed and put the rest of the piece in his mouth and said, “This is good. What is it?”
Derek smiled, he has been doing that a lot lately, and said, “Curly fries. You can finish the rest.”
“Thank you!”
After they finished their food their waitress came (who has been shamelessly trying and failing to flirt with Derek) to clean up their table. She was obviously new because Derek has never seen her before and she obviously didn’t know that Derek was more like a brother to all the other waiters and waitresses. (He can feel the amusement of those who knew him well) Her shirt was now down to only two buttons, the top three already undone. Her black bra was now very visible and so was her ass if she leaned down. She was obviously shoving her boobs at Derek’s face and Derek was slowly running out of patience because he really wanted to scare the woman away. He didn’t really like one night stands and she looked a little too much like Kate. So no, no matter what.
She wrote her number on the receipt and Derek wondered why his disinterest didn’t get through her thick (and possibly empty) skull. He left the receipt on the table without even reading what was written and left with Stiles. He put his arm around the angel’s waist as he led him outside the diner. It was so good to feel her glare follow them outside. Stiles, on the other hand, obviously didn’t realize why Derek put his arm around him but leaned into Derek’s touch, nonetheless.
“She seemed to like you.” Stiles said as Derek opened the car door for him (Derek made it a rule that Stiles wasn’t allowed to just pop in and out of nowhere because it freaked Derek out). Derek didn’t give him a response until the car started.
“She only likes my body. That’s different.” He got out of the parking lot and started the drive to his apartment.
Stiles looked like he was thinking deeply when Derek chanced to glance at him. “Isn’t sexual attraction the first thing humans experience before they decide to mate?” He asked. Derek could feel the angel’s stare as he drove.
“Yeah. But for werewolves, it’s kind of different. I have instincts I need to listen to and sometimes, even without the werewolf instincts, you can somehow feel if someone is actually worth your time and effort, if someone would actually want a commitment or if someone just wanted to play.” He explained as he took a right and glanced at Stiles. He heard the angel hum softly and saw him nod slowly from the corner of his eye. “She wasn’t looking for a long time relationship. She just wanted me in her bed because she thinks I’m hot. Besides,” he paused as he parked in the driveway, and turned his body towards the angel to look at him better, “with just one look at her, she’s obviously not mate material for me or anybody else.” At Stiles’ questioning look, he continued with a raised brow, “Do you really think she’s smart enough for anyone?” Stiles smiled at that and shook his head.
“You can be so mean sometimes.” The angel said but he was still smiling. It was enough for Derek, though, so he simply shrugged and got out of the car, hiding a satisfied smile from the angel. He heard a flutter of wings, so it was safe to bet that Stiles was already in the apartment.
0===0
It wasn’t that Derek didn’t even try to find a mate to make things easier for Stiles, but no one really caught his or his wolf’s attention. He hated seeing Stiles’ sad look, though, whenever he ignored anyone Stiles suggested as a mate or if he ignored anyone who threw themselves at him so he tried to flirt back with some, see if anyone would catch his interest. (Although there were times that Stiles seemed to look sadder whenever he tried). He tried, he really did, but imagining whoever he was trying to flirt with to be by his side instead of Stiles gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. Even his wolf didn’t like that idea.
0===0
“So, Stiles, how old are you?” Scott asked one day. Almost five months has passed since Stiles came and Derek still hadn’t found a mate. They both gave up on actually looking and decided to wait instead. At least Stiles made Derek happy.
They were in another biweekly dinner but was having a camping-ish trip instead (it wasn’t camping if they were just staying in the backyard with tents). Derek, Stiles, Scott, Laura, Uncle Peter, and Talia were sitting around the bonfire. As usual, Stiles was cuddling with Derek, even though neither of them could actually feel the cold. The kids were playing with Cora and Samuel, their father, and some of the other adults who were still awake.
Stiles smirked as he moved closer to Derek, as if there was still space available, and said, “Are you sure you wanna know?” Scott narrowed his eyes, thinking, then nodded enthusiastically with a big smile. Talia, Peter and Laura got interested as well. “I’m the youngest angel because I was created last. But I was created even before Jesus was born, so,” Stiles hummed, thinking, and said with a smirk, “I’m not really sure but I am a few thousand years old.”
Scott mouthed a soft ‘wow’ as he stared at the angel with wide eyes.
“Did you ever know Lucifer?” Laura asked as she leaned forward.
“No.” Stiles said with a shake of his head, “He was cast down even before I was created.”
“Does Supernatural have actual facts in them?” Peter asked.
Stiles smirked and said, “Everything in that show is real.” They were all staring at the angel with wide eyes, even Talia who always seemed so collected, as if nothing could surprise her. Derek was the only one who didn’t react the same way. Stiles usually told him stories about the apocalypse and the Winchester Gospel that had to be burned. Unfortunately, god liked playing with everyone, that there was another prophet who would see the past, specifically, everything in the Winchester Gospel. “Except for the importance of Dean’s Impala. I don’t think it existed at the time. And their clothes, obviously. Oh! And that Dean was a guy.”
“Seriously?!” Scott exclaimed, at the same time that Laura exclaimed, “Dean’s not a dude?!”, getting Cora and Samuel’s attention. Derek didn’t even realize that most of their family were now asleep.
“Yep. Dean’s really a girl, ‘Leah Dean Winchester’.” Stiles said with a smile as Cora and Samuel joined them. “And she and Castiel actually ended up together.” He added with a smirk, making Laura squeal since she was a Destiel fangirl. The dork.
Samuel gave Talia a questioning look as he sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her in the process. “Stiles said that that show, Supernatural, was actually real.” Samuel raised an eyebrow at that.
“What about their belief that werewolves can be killed with silver? We know that’s not true even though it can hurt like a bitch. And their belief that any werewolf can just give the bite.” Samuel asked the angel. They were all nodding in agreement except for Derek who tried to hide a smile in Stiles’ hair.
“Evolution.” Stiles answered simply. At the questioning looks he got, he continued, “Since the supernatural population has been growing, now, the need for the bite isn’t needed anymore. The Alphas seen in Supernatural were also real, but since they’ve all died, the need for a leader came up. Most supernatural creatures didn’t really have the need for it so not much changed with them.” Stiles started to tell the story he has told Derek many times. His hands were moving to express himself more and Derek can’t help but be mesmerized. “Werewolves, on the other hand, needed alphas to lead.” Stiles continued. “That’s why you now have red eyed wolves and amber colored ones. If you haven’t noticed, there are some bitten wolves who turn into alphas, which you now call as a true alpha, and a lot of born wolves who become betas. Being an alpha is somewhat in the genes. I still can’t explain it but basically, those who would obviously turn into someone strong and smart and wise tend to become alphas. Most of the time, alphas are also closer to their wolf, so there’s that.
“Those who turn into betas, on the other hand, are those who are closer to their human and could make very irrational decisions. That’s something that has to be avoided so they never gain alpha status unless they kill one. And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but those packs led by an alpha who killed their previous alpha tend to die down.
“Now,” Stiles was obviously on a roll, so Derek simply let the angel’s voice sooth him, “regarding silver, again, it’s evolution. You managed to get a slight immunity to silver because of your need to survive after the Alphas died. It still hurts you and heals slightly longer, but basically, it can’t kill you anymore. Unless, obviously, you were shot in the heart, then you’re dead. Wolfsbane is a natural poison to werewolves, you can’t really become immune from it.” Stiles finished his explanation with a shrug as he settled back on Derek’s chest.
“So, how long ago was the apocalypse?” Cora asked, staring intently at the angel. Derek knew his sister loved the show.
“A few hundred years, I think.” Stiles his nose up as he tried to remember, “I can’t really tell because when you’re an angel, time doesn’t really matter.”
“Are there new archangels since all of them died?” Laura asked.
“Not all of them died. A lot, yeah, but some survived, even after the Great Fall.” Stiles replied with a sad smile. When everyone remained silent for his explanation, Stiles continued, “I know you’ve seen this season’s episodes. We did fall. All of us, because of Metatron. I don’t really remember much because god kind of, wiped our memories when we all got back to heaven.” The angel was now staring intently at the fire, as if remembering something. “But it was so painful.” Stiles whispered, as if he was still feeling the how his wings burned on his fall.
After a while, the angel snapped out of it and continued, “So, yeah. God did bring Gabriel back, though, because of his loyalty to humanity. He lost the trickster behavior and became serious with his new duty to care for the angels and mortals.”
“How about Kevin Tran, how is he?” Laura asked. Stiles smiled and started to tell what he could remember from what they called the Great Fall. Derek let his angel’s voice calm him.
0===0
It has been almost seven months since Stiles crashed into Derek’s life—literally—and the angel has been living with him since then. To say that Derek’s finally content was probably an understatement. He was finally happy, complete, when Stiles became a part of his life. He has been smiling more, laughing more, and being the Derek he was before Kate happened. Even he knew Stiles was changing him, especially from the way everyone seemed to stop treating him like he might break at any moment.
On one, fine Saturday night, as Stiles and Derek were re-watching the season finale of Supernatural’s season eight, lying on the couch cuddled together with Stiles on top of him, Stiles suddenly tensed. As Derek was about to ask him what was wrong, someone said, “You know, I still don’t understand why they changed the Winchester Gospel.” It was male, obviously, and came from behind the couch.
Derek sat up with Stiles still in his arms. The man was leaning on the divider between the dining room/kitchen and the living room. He had a long hair that reached somewhere around his waist or hips and was wearing almost the same clothes Stiles was wearing the first time he came into Derek’s life. The difference was that the man’s clothing had long sleeves, and flowed all the way down the floor. He was obviously an angel.
“Gabriel.” Stiles whispered and was suddenly in front of the other angel.
“Isttryiael.” The other angel, Gabriel, said softly with a fond but sad smile. Gabriel nodded towards the dining room/kitchen and walked in. The lights in the dining room/kitchen suddenly turned on, even thought the switch for the lights was far from the angel. Stiles looked at Derek over his shoulder. He was scared, somehow, and pained, emotionally. Derek could feel his heart beating out of control in his chest.
Gabriel looked at him directly in the eye, and all of a sudden, Derek couldn’t hear their footsteps or the rustle of their clothes, no matter how hard he focused. He walked over to the kitchen but felt something blocking him. He raised his hand and felt something hard keeping him away from the angels, from Stiles. “Stiles.” He croaked. The angel didn’t seem to hear him and he couldn’t seem to hear them either, as they talked. “Stiles.” He said, louder this time. “Stiles!” he shouted, finally. The angels both looked at him—Gabriel with sympathy and Stiles with sadness. Stiles looked back at Gabriel and nodded dejectedly. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the next second, Stiles wasn’t there anymore.
Whatever was blocking him and Gabriel disappeared as the angel walked towards him. “Where’s Stiles?” He asked frantically as he gently shook the angel without much thought.
“I had to take him home.”
“What?” Derek asked, confused. “He is home. With me.”
Gabriel shook his head as he took Derek’s hands off of him. “No, Derek. His home is heaven, with us, not here on earth.”
“I haven’t even found a mate yet.” Derek reasoned. He knew it was a weak one but he had to try. He can’t lose Stiles.
“His assignment with was supposed to last for only a month at most. He’s been down here on earth for too long.” Gabriel explained, looking at him in the eye. He felt the archangel’s sympathy.
“But—”
“But what?” Gabriel challenged. He seemed to be hoping for something, waiting for Derek to say the answer he wanted to hear. But Derek didn’t know what it was so he didn’t speak for a while. Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him and said, “Are you even looking for a mate?”
“Of course.” Derek replied, a little too quickly.
“You think you are but you’re really, really not.” Gabriel said as if he was awed at that realization. “Tell me, Derek, is your wolf whining now inside you?” He started to walk around Derek slowly, eyes never leaving his face, as if he was studying him “Are you agitated, feeling empty, wanting to lash out, hoping that it do something to ease that emptiness?” He was still walking around Derek, circling him as if he was a prey.
Gabriel was taunting him. He knew the angel wanted to get a rise out of him. But the knowledge of that didn’t stop Derek from roaring a loud, “YES!”
“Why?!” Gabriel boomed, his eyes glowing brightly and the lights in the apartment flickering, as he stood right in front of him.
“Because I love Stiles!” He suddenly sagged as the realization hit him. That was why he never wanted anyone else. That was why Stiles was all he wanted, all he needed because Stiles was it for him. Stiles was the one he wanted for a mate, not some stranger who liked his face or his body. Stiles was the one who genuinely liked him, who didn’t care how he looked or how horrible some of his attitudes were.
Gabriel sighed softly and moved back to lean on the dining table. “Isttryiael, Stiles, as you say, was special, the last angel god created. He has waited so long for you, even though he didn’t know he was actually waiting for you. That’s why we sent him to you instead of a cherub who would be able to actually help you find someone.” Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest and looked down on the ground with a distant look on his face. “He was supposed to be the first and probably only angel who would be given the chance to live and grow and age like a mortal, live with the humans and the supernatural beings.” Gabriel looked up and stared at him right in the eye, “He was supposed to be an alpha werewolf’s mate. A true mate.”
“Then why did you take him away from me?” Derek asked weakly.
“God let us, the archangels, decide what we think would be best. I wanted the two of you to be together, of course, because Stiles is very close to me. But the others,” he sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was fighting an oncoming headache, “they wanted you to work for it. We all love Stiles dearly and seeing as he’s been hurting, thinking that you’d belong to someone else, pissed my brothers off big time. You have to prove that you’re worth it.” He then disappeared with a flutter of wings as Derek sank to the ground.
0===0
When Derek told his family about what happened, he was bombarded by his family’s emotions—betrayal and sadness from Scott, slight smugness but pity from Laura, plain sadness from Cora, and concern from the rest.
Derek could feel that they would be back on treating him as if he would break at any given moment soon enough, so he simply walked out the door and drove back to his apartment, the one he couldn’t call home anymore since Stiles was taken away from him. None of his family followed him and he was thankful for that. He needed the time alone.
That night, he started to pray.
0===0
“I pray to thee, God, to bring back the one I love. I was stupid, I know but I love him. He’s everything to me. Amen.”
“I pray to thee, almighty God, to bring back my angel, my mate. I can’t go on without him. Amen.”
“God, please give me Stiles back. I’ll take care of him, I swear. I can’t promise that I won’t hurt him at one point, because I know I will, but I promise to avoid doing so and I promise to always love him. Amen.”
“I need Stiles. Please give him back to me.”
“God, I know you’re hearing my prayer, and so do all of you dick angels, I know you’re hearing me, too. I nee—want Stiles back. I want here with me, in my arms. Please give him back. Amen.”
“You manipulative, insensitive, son of a bitch. You gave me an angel, and not just any angel, my mate, and you took him away from me?! What kind of dick does that? I love him! Gabriel told me that Stiles loves me, too. So what gives, huh? A stupid broken werewolf isn’t enough for one of your angels?” A broken, humorless laugh. “Fuck. You.”
“Stiles, I hope you’re hearing this, I love you and I’m sorry I never got to tell you. I was scared, thinking that you can’t love someone as broken as I am. Come back to me.”
“Stiles. I love you.”
0===0
For the following months after Stiles was taken from him, Derek’s prayers turned from pleading to self loathing to blaming God until he finally settled on praying simply to tell Stiles he loves him. It was awful. Derek turned twenty-seven without Stiles with him, even though they had planned on having a road trip because Stiles has always been fascinated by cars.
Derek could just imagine Stiles looking like an eager puppy as they traveled, that big grin of his that Derek couldn’t help but smile as well. Derek could picture himself and Stiles sleeping in the Camaro if needed and moving from one hotel room to another, sightseeing even though Stiles must have seen most of it. It would have been amazing and maybe, just maybe, Derek could have told Stiles how he felt for him. But he missed that chance, let it slip.
Derek could feel a pain in his chest. He missed Stiles so much that he just had to pause and let the tears fall every now and then. He wondered if he was the only one oblivious to what he felt for the angel. (He probably was.)
0===0
Weeks passed quickly, most of them spent with Derek feeling pathetic and lonely and so alone, even though he has his pack with him. He appreciated their effort, especially Scott who wasn’t really as close to him as Laura was, to cheer him up. He knew, that for the first few weeks, that they all prayed for Stiles to return, to save Derek from the constant sadness he felt. He knew as well, that as time passed by, one by one they stopped praying, save for Laura, Talia, Cora and Scott. Laura has always been closest to him, Talia liked Stiles for him while Cora knew him well enough to know he truly needed the angel, and Scott has always been the one with a big heart.
Truth be told, he was close to giving up as well; which just figured that when he entered his apartment on a quiet Wednesday (and wasn’t that just ironic), he was welcomed by the smell of ozone, earth and candy. He wanted to break down and cry right then and there because he has been smelling Stiles’ scent everywhere for a while now and he couldn’t even touch him. Then he heard a heartbeat upstairs and quickly ran up, hoping his senses weren’t deceiving him. It seemed impossible that Stiles would be here, would finally be allowed to return to Derek’s side, to Derek’s arms. He didn’t dare hope too much because it could be a trick.
As he got closer to his bedroom, though, the scent got stronger and he moved faster—hoping, praying, that Stiles was actually waiting for him in there. When he finally opened his room, he was welcomed by the sight of Stiles sitting on his bed, cross legged, wearing one of his Henley shirts with a small smile on his face. All of a sudden, Derek felt as if he couldn’t breathe, as if all the air was taken away from him. He stood there, still and stiff, waiting for the hallucination to fade. “Hi.” Stiles said, breaking Derek from whatever trance he found himself in. It was real. Stiles was right there in his bedroom, smiling shyly, sweetly, at him. Before he even knew it, his feet were moving, taking him to the angel.
“Hi.” Derek whispered and shakily cupped Stiles’ face with both hands. Stiles held his wrists and let his smile widen slightly. God, how he missed that smile, that smile that made Derek feel like he was watching the beautiful sunrise, how the colors changes from one to another.
“I missed you.” He whispered as he kissed Derek’s palm without taking his gaze away from him. Those beautiful amber orbs which he could drown in, which he would willingly get lost in. And, oh, those soft lips touching his palm, lips that Derek never got to taste.
“I missed you, too.” Derek replied brokenly and finally leaned down to take Stiles’ lips between his own. The angel tasted sweet with a small hint of mint and maybe something resembling wine, Derek couldn’t point it out, but the taste was definitely heavenly.
He pushed the angel down to the bed and crawled over him, caging the angel’s leaner form. It felt good, knowing he was caging Stiles, shielding him from everything around them. He could easily tune everything out as long as the angel beneath him was in his arms.
When they pulled apart to take a breath, Derek’s forehead resting against Stiles’ chest, the angel spoke. “Can we copulate now?”
Derek huffed out a soft laugh and looked up at the angel, his angel, and asked, amused, “Did you seriously say copulate?”
Stiles looked at him with a confused look and said, “I know I didn’t use the word wrongly. Do you prefer the term fornication?” Derek laughed loudly at that, earning a pout from Stiles.
“I prefer the term making love.” He said with a soft smile as he looked into Stiles amber orbs. The angel’s eyes softened and he pulled him for a deep kiss. Derek could kiss Stiles forever if they were allowed of that.
“We have to use protection, though, if you’re not prepared for cubs.” Stiles gasped as Derek nibbled at his neck.
“What?!” Derek looked up at him sharply, wondering if he heard the words wrong. Stiles simply smiled innocently at him and rolled his hips upwards, quickly distracting Derek.
It turned out that he heard correctly when they found out two months later that Stiles was pregnant. With twins. Derek absolutely did not freak out. (He so did.)
Epilogue
Stiles was eight months along in his pregnancy and he was looking quite big; Derek was delighted for that. For him, it meant that Stiles and his cubs were healthy and would grow so well. He hoped that at least one of them would get Stiles’ eyes—soft amber framed with long, thick and beautifully curled lashes.
When Stiles returned, he still had his powers but he would live a normal human life—he would age and eventually die. Both he and Derek would have a place in heaven after their death and so would the rest of the Hales, instead of being sent to Purgatory. Derek decided that he liked that very much.
Now, though, as he watched his mate, and now husband in the eyes of humans, as he played with the children in the pack, Derek sent a quick prayer of thanks to God—for the happiness and contentment, for the family, the incoming cubs and most of all, for Stiles, for the beautiful mate that he has been blessed with.