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Derek’s pacing the kitchen. Eyes closed, listening to the beautiful, thump, thump of the heartbeat sitting on his couch, happily munching on popcorn. Derek was suppose to be getting drinks but instead he’s pacing back and forth, recalling his conversation with Laura on the phone earlier.
“Bro, you know you gotta tell him. He’s not gonna hate you, he’s your mate!” Laura tries to reason.
“I know that Laura, but just because he’s my mate, doesn’t mean I’m his! Or that he can’t easily walk away from this. I don’t own him. I’d never try to do that.” Derek whispers, heart hurting a little at the thought of Stiles walking away from all of this. Three months. Three months of snuggling on the couch, cozy dinners in quiet tucked away restaurants, hushed, meaningful conversations late at night. He’s told Stiles more about his life then he has with any other person that has come and gone since his parents died. He had shut down, he knows that, Laura knows that. All of his relationships have failed because of that. But Stiles? Stiles has stuck around a lot longer than most and he listens and he doesn’t push things when Derek just stops talking abruptly, realizing it’s too hard to talk about. Stiles just gives him understanding, loving, looks and changes topics to something him and Scott did the other day, or what it’s like working with first graders and laughing at the fact that he thinks his dad can get away with eating whatever he wants now that Stiles has moved out.
“I have magical powers, Derek. I know all.” Stiles jokes. It makes Derek’s heart jump, because is he? But no, Stiles is joking, Derek would actually know if Stiles was magic or not. He’s been around it before, it has an electric smell. Then again Stiles has always been like lightning to Derek, bright and illuminating, awe inspiring, kind of beautiful.
“Derek, you still with me?” Laura asks. Derek shakes his head and grunts into the phone. “Awe, baby bro, don’t be like that. I’m not trying to pressure you into telling him. You do what makes you comfortable, but I’m just saying. I feel it, Derek. He loves you. He’s not going to hate you.”
“Or think I’m a monster?” Derek confesses.
“Ah, I see.” Laura says, like she understand. And Derek knows she does.
“Derek, if he really thinks that then he doesn’t deserve you. You know that right? You are not a monster, we are not monsters. But, I promise you, Stiles isn’t like that. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Ew, stop with that snort, Derek. I don’t need to know about any bones in his body that have been in yours. Stop! Fine, just, I’ve said what I want to say. Now you just have to trust yourself, trust Stiles, things are gonna be okay.”
“I know. Thanks Laur. Love you.” Derek whispers.
“Love you too.” Laura says, before hanging up the phone.
Derek knew he had to do it. It had been three months, he couldn’t just keep doing this with Stiles, falling in love with him, without him knowing this biggest part of his life.
“Hey, big bad wolf. What are you doing in here?” Derek jumps and whips around to stare at Stiles, who’s leaning against the door frame, arms folded, an amused smile on his face.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Derek’s heart is racing.
“What are you doing in here?” Stiles looks at him concerned, “Is everything alright, babe?”
“What? No, yeah, it’s fine. All fine. No, I mean you called me something. What did you call me?” Derek asks.
“I called you big bad wolf. Just a nickname I’m trying out. Sometimes you remind me of one, all stoic and solid. Big bad protector of the ones you love. You’re like an Alpha.” Stiles shrugs, smiling up at him. Derek almost chokes on air.
“Stiles, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s pretty big.” Derek gestures for him to take a seat at the island table, but Stiles keeps smiling and walks up to him. He places his hands on either side of Derek’s face and shakes his head.
“I still love you.” Stiles says, never breaking eye contact.
“Stiles, you don’t even know what I’m going to say.” Derek whines.
“You’re going to tell me you’re a werewolf. And I’m going to tell you, I still love you.” The air whooshes from Derek’s lungs and he steps back like he can’t breath. He looks at Stiles confused and a little hurt. How can he know? How does he know? Is he here to hurt him? Has he been tricked again? “Derek? Hey, it’s okay. I’m not, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry, I’ve been waiting for you to want to tell me. So, that I could tell you that Scott? Well, he’s one too, was bitten when we were in high school. You wouldn’t know that because you guys haven’t met.”
“But I smell him on you and he doesn’t smell like, like anything.”
“Yeah, well because I tell him not to scent mark me, that’s weird. That’s a him and Allison thing.” Stiles shrugs.
“So, you’ve known? This whole time?” Derek asks.
“No, only for a month. When I hung out with Scott after the first night -” Stiles bites his lip and smiles shyly. The first night they slept together, Derek thinks. “Anyway, Scott said he could smell you everywhere, because you had definitely scent marked the shit out of me and left quite a lot of claiming bruises. Which I loved by the way.”
“And you’re not scared? You don’t think I’m a -” Derek pauses, looks up at Stiles, who’s looking at him like he just wants to wrap him up and kiss away his worries. Derek leans again the counter and opens his arms up and lets him. Stiles sighs gratefully and runs into his arms.
“I would never, ever think you’re a monster, Derek. That’d mean I think Scott’s one too and we’ve been friends since I peed on his sandcastle. Okay, sure, the first few full moons were sketchy as fuck for us but he’s not a monster. He’s my best friend. And you’re my boyfriend and I love you.” Stiles starts kissing his neck and up to his cheek, his forehead, all over before he finally looks back into Derek’s eyes. They stare at each other for a long time before Derek nods.
“I, I love you too. God, Stiles, I love you so much.” Stiles smiles brightly at him. He cups Derek’s cheek and kisses him softly at first. Small moans escaping his lips before his tongue darts out and licks his way into Derek’s mouth. Derek pulls back and pants heavily, forehead resting against Stiles, eyes closed. “There are other things you should know.”
“I’m your mate.” Stiles says simply.
Derek’s eyes shoot open and Stiles smiles, rolling his eyes.
“Come on, I’ve got some things to tell you too.” Stiles steps back, interlocking his fingers with Derek’s and dragging him back out to the living room. They sit facing each other on the couch.
“Scott’s a true Alpha, Derek. And I’m -”
“Part of the McCall pack. Holy shit, you’re the true Alpha’s emissary aren’t you?!” Derek’s eyes go wide and he’s terrified a bit. “I should’ve, there are proper ways I should’ve courted you then. I can’t just steal you from his pack. I should be dead by now.”
“You’re not stealing me. I’m not to be owned by anyone, Scott knows that.” Derek looks at him sheepishly, he didn’t mean to make it sound like that. He looks to his hands in embarrassment before he sees another pair land on his own. “I know that’s not what you meant. And what I’m telling you is, I’ve done the research. I’ve had to, it’s part of my job. I know things, Derek. And I know I’m your mate and I know I’m human and can’t feel, or smell, or heal, or do anything the way you guys can, but I know, I feel it. You’re my mate, too.”
“And your pack?”
“Is your pack. We can join forces, fight evil together. All that fun stuff.” Stiles smiles at him. Derek hasn’t been apart of an actual pack in so long. It’s only ever been him and Laura.
“I’ve, it’s been a long time Stiles. Laura and I, we’re the only ones left. I’m scared.” Derek admits, Stiles scoots a bit closer, hands tightening over Derek’s and giving them a tight squeeze.
“I’m right here with you and I’ll stay by your side through everything. There’s nothing to be afraid of with me here. I’ll protect you, Derek. My pack will protect you and Laura. You’ll be ours, and we’ll be yours. And pack? Pack means family and family means no one gets left behind.”
Derek scrunches his face up and laughs outright at Stiles.
“You’ve convinced me.” Derek says, looking up at Stiles, smiling.
“I tend to have that kind of influence.” Stiles winks. Derek smirks at him, tilting his head to the side. In an instant he has Stiles on his back, Derek looming over him, leaning down and capturing Stiles in a searing kiss.
“Oh yeah? What other kinds of tricks do you have up your sleeve?” Derek jokes.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Stiles tease. Derek moans into their next kiss, picking him up and carrying him to his bedroom.
***
Later, when Stiles is fast asleep, Derek picks up his phone and dials Laura. She answers, cheerfully as always.
“Hey, little bro. What’s up?”
“So, he knows.”
“Oh shit. And?”
“He’s known.”
“What does that mean?” Laura instantly sounds like she’s on red alert.
“The McCall pack? That true alpha shit? Yeah, well, Stiles is kind of apart of that.” Derek explains.
“Apart of that how?” Laura asks, slowly.
“He’s their emissary.” Derek finally says, he can hear Laura let out a slow, long breath.
“You do know they say the McCall’s pack emissary is the most powerful emissary they’ve seen in centuries right?” Laura asks. Derek’s eyes dart to Stiles. He lips parted slightly, a soft, small snore escaping his mouth and his neck stretched out facing Derek. Bites and bruises littering his neck, that make the wolf in Derek growl with excitement. Derek smiles and nods, even though Laura can’t see him. He’s heard the rumors.
“Yeah, well, now we’re apart of that too.” Derek says.
“What does that mean?” Laura asks him.
“It means Laura, that we’ve found a family again, and I don’t think we should let go of that. Stiles, he’s, his pack, they want us Laura. They want us to be apart of what they have. And I know we’ve always talked about joining a pack but we’ve never found the right one and we’ve just preferred to keep moving around and never staying in one place for so long. But, there’s something good here, Laura. We shouldn’t run from that.” Derek closes his eyes, bracing for Laura to say this isn’t a good idea and they’ve only stayed here as long as they have because Laura was just letting Derek have some fun. They’ve never stayed in a place this long, but the second they entered this small, stupid little town and Derek literally ran into Stiles as he was coming out of the town’s local coffee shop, Derek’s whole world seemed to stop.
“Derek? I’ve waited to hear you say that for nearly twelve years now.” Laura lets out a small laugh.
“What?” Derek says, voice picking up slightly and he turns to look at Stiles to make sure he hasn’t woken him up.
“It means, I’ve been letting us run bro, because you wanted to keep running. Because you weren’t ready and you didn’t want to talk about things or face your fears or your guilt. I know you’ve been guilty, I know you think our parents and family dying were your fault. But it wasn’t Derek, none of it has ever been your fault. I wanted you to feel safe though, so I went with you to wherever you wanted to go. But, we’re here now, and I’m really glad you’ve found someone that makes you want to stop running.”
Derek has tears slipping from his eyes and he doesn’t really notice how noisy he’s been until there’s a hand on his arm and a chin resting on his shoulder. Stiles kisses his shoulder blade softly, caressing his arm.
“Thanks, Laura.” He turns to look at Stiles, who’s looking at him concerned. “I’m really glad I have too.”
“So, it’s settled then? Beacon Hills is our new home?” Laura asks. Stiles smiles at him, because he can hear her.
“Yeah, Beacon Hills is our new home.” Laura wishes him a goodnight and he tosses his phone onto the bed stand. He brings Stiles down to him and Stiles curls up, resting his head onto Derek’s chest.
“So, is that true?” Stiles whispers, so softly, it’s a good thing Derek has werewolf hearing.
“What’s true?” Derek asks, even if he knows what Stiles means. Stiles turns his head so he can look at Derek.
“That Beacon Hills is your new home?” Stiles looks hopeful, happy. Derek smiles and cups his cheek. Stiles scoots up closer to him, so he can bring their lips together in a soft peck.
“No, Beacon Hills isn’t my home.” Derek says. Stiles look at him confused and pouts.
“Oh, but you said -”
“My home is wherever you are, Stiles.” Derek says simply. That makes Stiles light up and he’s crashing his lips into Derek’s, teeth clattering against each other. Derek laughs the whole time.
“You’re my home too, always.” Stiles whispers.
“Always.” Derek says back. And it’s a promise.