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Arson is a tricky thing, John knows. He wasn't promoted to Sheriff for his good looks. He knew who to put on the case to get it solved, he knew how to fill out the proper paperwork, he even had connections to get the family proper support. What he didn't know was why his son was at the Hale house in the middle of the preserve on a school day.
Looking back, he shouldn't have been so surprised. Stiles had the ability to get into anything and everything, the kid was never where he was supposed to be. John walked straight to the family huddled outside their smouldering shell of a house, relieved to count all eight members of the Hale clan. The Mayor, Talia, holds her husband, Andrew, close as the three Hale girls, Laura, Cora and Malia on their phones probably tweeting about the whole ordeal. John isn't quite sure what goes on in the brains of teenagers in this day and age, lord knows he doesn't even understand how his own child's mind works. Talia's brother, Peter, and his latest wife are huddled close to the Mayor sipping on some water brought by paramedics.
The outlier is Derek, Beacon Hills' resident bad boy, sitting off to the side with his head between his knees. Now Derek had never been arrested, but his leather jackets and jock status didn't settle Johns stomach, nor did the gangly, familiar, arm strewn across his shoulders. John knew the moment Stiles realized he was there, his sons eyes grew huge and he tried to pull away from the 22 year old currently clutching his hand like a lifeline. Stiles froze, staring at John as if he wasn't expecting the small town's Sheriff to show up at Beacon Hills' only house fire in the past 10 years.
That's how John remembers Stiles at 17, gaping like a fish, holding hands with a man five years his senior.
Stiles at 19 isn't much different, only this time Derek Hale is being straddled by his son. To top it off, no one is wearing a shirt and Stiles only has one shoe on.
John had woken up in the evening after a week if overnight shifts to a thump in his boys room. Stiles has always been one to flail and make the most noise possible, but the father in John pulls him out of bed and down the hall to make sure everything is okay.
The unexpected scene has John slamming the door and swearing louder than he intended.
The Sheriff had warmed up to Derek, they had weekly dinners together and Derek followed Johns curfew like it was law. He really should have seen it coming though, Stiles was two weeks into his 19th year and John wasn't supposed to be home until morning.
The following conversation involves three fully clothed men, a lack of eye contact, and Stiles and Derek at opposite ends of the couch.
Stiles' twenty first year is a blur. John sees him when he's home on breaks and holidays, but his boy spends more time at the newly rebuilt Hale house than his own.
John doesn't mind too much, the quiet grew on him sometime during Stiles' first year at Stanford. The Sheriff is able to spend his days off fishing and watching tv, he even strays from Stiles' healthy eating plan if he's feeling rebellious. John lets Stiles and Derek do their own thing, he sees the two often enough and he's finally relaxing in life.
The one thing John is all too aware of is the fact that he and Claudia married at 21 and 26. Marriage is not something John's quite ready to handle, and he feels a sense of impending doom whenever Derek invites him out to lunch. He knows that laws have changed and his boys would be able to walk down the aisle under the eyes of the law but John wouldn't mind waiting until Stiles was forty to give him away.
Marriage doesn't happen that year, but John knows it's near the moment Stiles comes over with a huge smile on his face and a shiny promise ring on his fourth finger.
John would never have enough time to prepare for Stiles at 23.
Stiles was fresh out of college with a mythology degree which John couldn't think of any actual profession for, but his son was through school nonetheless. He knew it was coming too, Derek had asked permission months before which John had proudly given, but he didn't expect to be so involved in the proposal.
John was preparing their usual Friday dinner when a yelp came from the backyard, completely forgetting about the lunch half a year in the past, he jogged out back to help only to find his son passed out on the patio with Derek lightly slapping his cheek.
When Stiles comes to, they've moved him inside onto the couch. He's mumbling about having a dream where Derek and he were getting married when John sees Dereks ears tint pink and everything clicks. His son managed to pass out right where John proposed to Claudia 25 years prior. John pats Derek on the shoulder leaving him to deal with Stiles when he realizes that his dream wasn't too far off.
If the light in Stiles' eyes when he drags a blushing Derek back into the kitchen is anything to go by, John assumes everything went almost according to plan.
And if John sheds a tear 7 months later while handing his boy off to a wonderful man, then nobody needs to know.