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There was a clearing in the woods not too far from Stiles’s house. Since he was a kid, and learned how to control the shift, he would run to the clearing and play with the animals there.
Over the years, Stiles had built a little hut where he kept the things he found. Sometimes he would come here as a human and build little obstacle courses or restructure the hut after a storm. It was nice. The other animals liked him, and they could even recognize his scent in his human form. They’ve grown fond of him, and he’s grown protective of them.
Stiles quickly became an advocate of protecting Beacon Hills Wildlife, his father standing next to him, supporting him the whole way. Stiles was more concerned for the safety of his animal friends, while John was concerned for the safety of his were-fox son.
The school year was over and Stiles had big plans for the clearing this summer. It might even be the year to tell his best friend, Scott, his biggest secret.
The two of them planned to spend the first day of summer sleeping in and being lazy and then getting to all the good stuff on the second day. However, Stiles had no intention of staying inside.
He quickly stripped in his bedroom and shifted into the burnt orange and black fox. He trotted down the stairs and out the doggy door his father installed on the back door. He crawled under the fence and made his way to the clearing.
An unfamiliar scent made Stiles stop just outside the clearing. He wondered if it would be a new friend. He slowly crept up to the edge of the clearing, just inside some bushes. He didn’t want to accidentally scare the visitor away.
Stiles looked through the bushes and saw a large black wolf sniffing around his hut. He didn’t seem to notice Stiles was there yet. A snap of a twig caught Stiles’s– and the wolf’s– attention.
A large rabbit poked its head out from behind a tree. The wolf stared at it. Stiles sniffed the air, trying to discern what the wolf was feeling, if he would attack the rabbit or not. What Stiles was not expecting however was the amount of sadness covered in anger the wolf was radiating.
The wolf prepared itself to pounce and Stiles was filled with the need to protect his friend from the hostile visitor.
Before the wolf moved, Stiles jumped into the clearing, scaring the bunny off, and grabbing the attention of the wolf. Stiles chattered happily and rolled on the ground, belly side up, to show the wolf he meant no harm.
Stiles could have sworn the wolf rolled his eyes, and he went back to sniffing around. Stiles shadowed him at a distance, just in case the wolf changed it’s mind about killing him. He wasn’t completely helpless, he knew how to use his teeth and claws, but he didn’t like to use them.
The wolf found himself back at Stiles’s hut and started to go in. Stiles yelped and ran to the burrow, blocking the now growling wolf just before he entered. Stiles bared his teeth right back. It was just rude to enter another man's home without permission. Stiles made a mental note to look up how wolves acted when he got home.
Now that he’s thinking about it, he was pretty sure there were no wolves in California. Where did this one come from?
The wolf didn’t take Stiles’s threat seriously and tried to push his way past him. Stiles nipped at the wolf’s nose in warning and continued to bare his teeth when the wolf jumped back with a small, almost involuntary, whimper.
The anger Stiles smelled earlier was nothing compared to this, He almost couldn’t smell himself over it, but he wasn’t backing down. This was his hut, the wolf could make his own.
The wolf snapped back at Stiles, but he was expecting that and his small body allowed him to move out of the way. He took the opportunity to claw at the wolf’s neck, drawing blood this time. The wolf backed out of the entryway of the burrow and Stiles sat himself in front of it.
After a few seconds of glaring, the wolf backed up and started walking away. Stiles chattered to him to get his attention then quickly ran into the hut to grab what he assumed the wolf was after.
Back at the entryway, he dropped the plastic bag of bacon he kept stashed here and replenished every few days. Stiles looked to the wolf who sat there with an almost curious look on his face. Maybe he was just confused. That happened a lot around Stiles.
Stiles picked up the bag again and slowly walked toward the black wolf. He placed the bag down about a foot in front of him, then backed up back to the entryway of the burrow.
The wolf bent down and sniffed the bag, eyes never leaving Stiles. Honestly, this was the most work he’s had to put in for an animal to like him. They usually take to him pretty quickly.
Stiles watched as the wolf placed a claw on one side of the ziplock and brought his head down to bite on the other side, successfully opening the bag with minimal tearing. Smart wolf.
He ate all but two of the larger pieces and looked to Stiles expectantly. Confused, Stiles chipped and pounced around the entryway, but not venturing out too far.
The wolf huffed and nodded to the two pieces of bacon left. Stiles stopped pouncing and looked at the wolf, tilting his head in confusion. He huffed again and carefully picked up the bacon and dropped them at Stiles’s feet, The wolf backed up and nodded down at the bacon again.
Did he want Stiles to eat the bacon? Well, he wasn’t about to argue with a wolf who knew how to open a plastic bag.
Once he had ate the first piece, the wolf layed down. Stiles chattered to himself, congratulating himself on another animal friend.
The wolf’s eyes were closed, but Stiles had no doubt that he was fully awake. Stiles decided to test his luck and venture out of his burrow. He went to one of the wooden slabs he built not too long ago and layed on it. It jutted out of the tree about 2 feet off the ground. Without really meaning to, he fell asleep.
When Stiles awoke, the wolf was gone. He jumped off his little perch and walked home. Immediately, he looked up wolves and familiarized himself with them.
The next time Stiles went back, the wolf was already there, laying right outside the burrow. The wolf’s head picked up as Stiles approached, a bag of fresh bacon in between his teeth. He placed the bag down between them and that began their bacon tradition.
For the rest of the summer, Stiles and the wolf would share bacon upon their meeting. Sometimes the wolf would already be waiting for him outside his hut, and sometimes he would show up and scare the other animals away. Over time, Stiles got the wolf to play with him, and even try out an obstacle course he had made. The wolf seemed to enjoy it, but it was too easy for him. Stiles made a mental note to design and build a better one for the wolf. He might be able to find some time on the weekends after school started.
Stiles was actually very proud of how much he and the wolf had bonded over the summer. He wondered if the wolf would consider him part of his pack or if that was strictly limited to other wolves.
The last day of summer, Stiles spent alone. The wolf never showed up and he was a little disappointed. He didn’t know the next time he would be able to visit. Stiles walked home.
“What’s wrong?” His dad asked as he came back in through the doggy door, head hung low.
Stiles chippered back in response, making his way upstairs to change. When he came back down, his dad had a cup of coffee poured for him.
“What happened?” He asked again.
“He didn’t show up today.”
“Who?”
“The wolf. The one I befriended at the beginning of Summer.”
“Oh. Eclipse, with the blue eyes?” He asked, gesturing to his own eyes. His dad always made fun of him for naming the animals, but Stiles knew that was the only way he would be able to keep up with his stories.
“He’s come every day. Every single time I went out there, he came. What happened today?” Stiles continued his pity party of one.
“I’m sure he’ll be back next time.” John placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “ I know something that will cheer you up, but you have to promise to stay in the house tonight.”
“I promise.” Stiles said immediately.
“Got a call for a Code 10-hundred. But–”
“A dead body?” Stiles interrupted. John stood and poured the remaining coffee into his thermos.
“But only half was found. We’re going to look for the other half here in a few minutes. I called the station and they’re putting together a search team, but I wanted to make sure you got home first.” He pulled on his sheriff's jacket and grabbed his keys. “Don’t wait up.” John cuffed Stiles’s shoulder and left.
Stiles listened for the car to leave the driveway before bolting upstairs and grabbing his phone. The sun was setting and it was getting colder out, so he grabbed his jacket, pulled the keys out of the bowl and ran to his jeep. Scott was never going to believe this. He turned on the police radio in his jeep and called Scott. No answer. No matter, he’d just surprise him.
The two eventually did go out into the woods trying to find the other half. Stiles subtly leading them in the direction of the scent of blood. Unfortunately for him, he ended up getting caught by his father. Scott would just have to find the other half by himself.
“If it’s any consolation, you’re really close.” Stiles whispered as John dragged him away.
“How would you even know that?”
Stiles poked his nose. “Smell of blood is hard to ignore and I was getting really close.”
John did his best to hide his smile. “You know, sometimes I think you’d be really useful out here.”
“I keep trying to tell you.”
“But we can’t risk the hunters knowing you’re here. You and your mother’s species is incredibly rare.”
Stiles rolled his eyes. He’s never met any hunters and he’s sure he would be able to outrun them if he did.
Stiles spent the rest of the night texting a non-responsive Scott. Finally sleep took over him about 3am.
Stiles met Scott at school the next day. He had a nasty bite on his hip which he claimed to be a wolf bite– which is ridiculous because he checked a few months ago and there haven’t been wolves in California for like 60 years. Well, except Eclipse but he doesn’t count.
Scott did find the body through. Maybe something interesting will finally happen in this town. The first day back to school was as boring as ever. With Lydia still ignoring him and Scott’s fascination with the new girl, he could tell this year was going to suck. Things only got interesting when Scott started describing his new found abilities, abilities much like Stiles’s.
“So this all started with the bite?” Stiles asked, intrigued.
“What if it’s like an infection, like my body’s flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something.”
Oh this could be fun, and it would provide Stiles with a bit of a preview of how Scott might react to Stiles being a were-fox.
“You know what? I actually think I’ve heard of this– it’s a specific kind of infection.” Stiles said as seriously as he could.
“Are you serious?” Scott started panicking.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s called lycanthropy.” Stiles actually has heard of werewolves, but he’s never met another were before, except his mother. If they were here, he thinks he would know.
“What is that? Is that bad?” Seriously starting to panic and Stiles was struggling to keep a straight face.
“Oh yeah, it’s the worst. But only once a month.”
“Once a month?”
“Mh-mmm. On the night of the full moon.” He paused, then fake howled. Scott didn’t find it as funny and pushed him away. “You’re the one who heard a wolf howling.” He laughed.
They continued on their search for the other half of the body Scott found, Stiles still poking fun at Scott.
A familiar scent caught Stiles’s attention. He couldn’t quite place it though. Stiles was ignoring Scott complaining about his inhaler when it finally clicked where he recognized it. Eclipse.
Before he had time to look around for the black wolf, they were interrupted by a man with a black leather jacket and a scowl on his face. Stiles immediately recognized him from the first case he ‘worked on’ with his father. Derek Hale.
“What are you doing here?” Derek asked.
Stiles's mind was going a mile a minute. The man before them was Derek Hale, older than the picture he’d seen years ago, but definitely him. He also smelled like Eclipse and if Stiles recognized him, he would definitely recognize Stiles. He was a werewolf. He had to be. Wasn’t he just joking with Scott about that? Was Scott a werewolf now?”
“This is private property.” Derek interrupted Stiles’s brief moment of panic.
“Sorry man. We didn’t know.” In truth, Stiles knew almost every inch of this preserve, and he’s been through the Hale property before. But Derek didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him, his focus 100 percent on Scott, like he didn’t know if he was friend or foe yet. Stiles wondered if he still fell under ‘friend’.
Derek tossed Scott the inhaler and left the way he came from. When Stiles was sure he was out of earshot, he explained to Scott who that was– leaving out the werewolf part of course.
At home, Stiles took out the book he made about wolves when he first met Eclipse-Derek. He reviewed it and started another book. This one on werewolves.
If Derek was a werewolf then he could have been the one that bit Scott. He could have killed that girl. Maybe he bit Scott because he needed a pack. If Derek was a werewolf, was his whole family? Is that where he was yesterday?
Stiles had so many questions, and he knew where to get the answers, but he didn’t know if he could trust a maybe-murderer. He did know he could trust the wolf however. Looks like he would have to tell Scott sooner rather than later.
Despite his best judgment, Stiles went to the clearing a few days later in his human form. He could barely see the sun in the trees, but he knew these woods. For some reason, he wasn’t surprised to see Eclipse laying down next to Stiles’s burrow.
“Derek?” He called.
The wolf lifted its head at the calling but didn’t get up. Stiles walked over and plopped down in front of the entryway. As if on instinct, he reached in and felt around pulling out the plastic bag of bacon he left the other day when Eclipse didn’t show up.
“I have been providing bacon all summer. You could have brought some… jerk.” He said pulling out a piece and giving it to the wolf. Eclipse– Derek, whatever Eclipse was easier– took the bacon without hesitation.
“Where were you yesterday?” He asked.
Eclipse placed his head on Stiles’s lap and closed his eyes. Accepting that he wasn't going to change back, Stiles took a deep breath in, gauging the emotion in the wolf.
There was anger, as always, but the grief overtook it as well as hits of fear and anxiety. Stiles wasn’t sure what to make of all that. Did he know her? Was the fear and anxiety from him thinking he might get caught? Was grief overtaking the guilt? Why was there grief? Did he kill her? Was he-
Eclipse barked, effectively drawing his attention back into reality and out of his own head. Eclipse nosed at Stiles’s hand until his head was under it.
“You want to be pet, sourwolf?” Stiles laughed but obliged. “I expect the same in return one day.”
Somehow, petting the soft, forever grumpy, wolf did make him feel better. Kept him from losing himself in his thoughts. Kept him grounded.
“Derek?” Stiles whispered. There was no movement or reaction to the name this time. Stiles chuckled quietly to himself. The wolf really fell asleep this time. Who knew all it would take was some pettings from a friendly fox.
Carefully, he moved out of the way of the sleeping wolf and grabbed the small notebook and pen out of his pocket. He normally kept it on him if he had an idea he didn’t want to forget, but notes to sleeping werewolves seemed like a good year for it.
Stiles ripped the page out and placed it under a rock near Derek for him to see when he woke up. Stiles wasn’t sure if he had a place to stay, so he wanted to offer his burrow if he needed it. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t, but he wanted to offer.
He had one last look at the sleeping black blob and thanked whoever might be listening that Derek showed up as Eclipse because he didn’t know what he might have done if he showed up as human. The man was scary and probably a murderer. But as Eclipse, it was hard to see him as anything other than a lone wolf looking for a pack.