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This wasn’t exactly the way Stiles had planned for his father to find out about…well…anything. He had figured he would tell him about Derek first, and even that was a year away from happening. Telling your father, the sheriff, that you were not only having underage relations, but that you were having underage relations with a suspected murderer, and were in fact bonded to said suspected murderer…yeah…Stiles figured waiting until he was 18 was a good idea. Strike something off the list of ‘Reasons to Kill Derek Hale’ in his father’s mind.
So it is beyond understandable that telling his father anything other than ‘no you cannot have that burger’ is the farthest thing from his mind that morning. Particularly when he had one Derek Hale pressed against his back while the rest of his pups grumbled at them to get a room.
“Careful or I may just let your bacon burn.” Stiles grinned brightly as Derek’s laughter rumbled through his back.
He unconsciously tilted his head to the side, putting the marks from last night on display for his mate. Derek growled, running his tongue across the largest of the bruises until Isaac started gagging in the doorway.
“Stooop it! It’s like watching my parents make out. In fact, that’s almost exactly what it is, so stop scarring me!” Isaac was banging his head into the door, making tiny cracks appear in the paint as he progressively hit harder and harder.
“Ohmygosh Isaac! Derek, go take them out to train or something, I’ll call when breakfast is ready.” He couldn’t help the fond smile on his lips as he pulled Isaac over to press a kiss to his forehead.
“I love you pup, I’m sorry for making you gag and giving you the mental image of use screwing like rabbits.” Hey, he did love his pups, but that didn’t mean he didn’t also love teasing them.
He turned back to the stove, enjoying the groans of dismay as his pack headed out into the forest for a pre-breakfast run.
Later Stiles would accuse every single one of them for not warning him, then he would rant about how dumb human hearing is, you would think evolution would have taken care of all these limitations by now, but no. So because evolution has yet to decide to get off its butt, Stiles was given the very unpleasant experience of being ambushed by his dad while he puttered around the Hale kitchen to set the table for Saturday breakfast.
He was setting down Isaac’s place next to his, his cup already full to the brim with orange juice and his plate piled high with turkey bacon and organic eggs when the door opened. He already had half an ear out for their return, though it struck him a little odd how quiet they were being but just figured Derek had run them harder than normal.
“You guys better hurry up before the eggs get cold! And the coffee, in fact, I want coffee. Come here delicious nectar of the gods.” He hummed that stupid Call Me Maybe song that Erica had been singing all week as he filled his and Derek’s mugs.
“Seriously guys what’s taking so long?” he was really glad he was used to being snuck up on, or he probably would have dropped both mugs to the ground, splashing himself with the piping hot liquid, Jackson would have laughed at him and he was really trying to avoid that this week.
“Stiles, I think you have something to explain.” His father stood in the entry way to the kitchen, his back stiff and brow furrowed in confusion and…and disappointment.
“Yeah, yeah I guess I do. Um, please, take a seat.” He knew he was mumbling, but in his defense, he was still trying to get his brain back online.
It wasn’t every day that your father showed up at your mate’s house while you were cooking breakfast, demanding an explanation. Okay, to be fair, this probably didn’t happen ever for most people, but then again this was Stiles’ life. Maybe his dad would even get selective amnesia, Groundhog Day syndrome or something, and this would have to happen every day. Holy shit, he was going to have a panic attack. Okay, no, no he wasn’t. But he was thinking about it.
“Um so…yeah…I have no idea where to start. I guess I’ll just go ahead and tell you the truth. It is all…Scott’s fault!” It was sort of the truth, and he was sort of going to stick by it.
“Stiles!” Okay, so he wasn’t going to stick to it, so he told him the truth.
The whole truth.
He told him about Scott being turned, Derek becoming the alpha, his cheeks were flaming red and he thought he was going to explode, but he even told him about the mating. He tried to ignore the way his dad’s face turned purple at that, but he kept going. He told him about Jackson, and Lydia, the Argents, and even admitted that Scott and Allison were secretly engaged.
“But dad?” He forced the eye contact, waiting until his dad stopped studying the cracks in the table from when Lydia had lost her cool one evening.
“I don’t know if it counts for anything but...but I’m really happy, happier then I think I’ve ever been. I love my pack, more than I thought I could. We may be a hodgepodge crew, and this house is definitely the Island of Misfit Toys, but…I couldn’t picture my life without any of them. It would mean everything if you would give them a chance.” It felt like ages they sat in silence, it took so long Stiles was casting nervous glances at the back door.
He would like to say being Derek’s mate had given him patience, but that was just an out and out lie. It wasn’t like they could surprise the pack, but he sort of wanted to get this finished before the hustle and bustle of his pack overshadowed everything.
“So…where is your…pack?” the word was spoken hesitantly, as if his dad wasn’t sure that it was even the right word, but Stiles smiled uncontrollably, taking that as a positive response.
“Out for a run, Isaac wouldn’t stop grumbling that Derek and I….Isaac was antsy.” This time it was his turn to be hesitant.
It felt like he and Derek had been together forever, but he knew this was all new to his dad, and he was still a minor for a few more months and maybe mentioning that he and his mate could barely keep their hands of each other was not the best thing to lead with.
“Actually, that sounds like them.” Stiles couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips as he heard Scott’s high pitched whine, and the unmistakable rumble of Derek telling them all off.
“Scott, Jackson, if you two still have so much energy, feel free to go run five more miles while the rest of the pack eats breakfast.” The immediate silence was chased away by the door banging open and Isaac bounding into the room.
“Derek said your dad was here, holy crap your dad is here!” Isaac was babbling, and it was moments like these which usually made Derek call Isaac his child and push him off on his younger mate
“Isaac, go back outside and open the door normally, unless you want to fix the wall…again.” It was an automatic response, something that had been conditioned in him over the past year in how he handled the pack.
He wouldn’t have even thought anything of it, his smile fond and bright as Isaac grumbled and marched back outside, but his father was just staring at him in disbelief.
“What?” Stiles furrowed his brow in confusion, his brain already being divided between everything going on around them.
“Nothing, you just…I never would have thought you would become so…”
“Motherly?” Erica laughed as she entered the kitchen, rounding the table to press a kiss to the top of Stiles’ head.
“Hello Sheriff Stilinski, my name is Erica Reyes, your son and I know each other very well.” She fluttered her eyes lashes, laughing loudly as Stiles’ batted her away with his hand.
“Yeah, we know each other really well. Why, just last week I had to clean up her vomit while she puked her guts out after eating a raw rabbit.” Stiles could see Isaac’s face turning purple with the effort not to laugh in her face and risk her wrath.
“Sorry dad, that is just Erica being Erica. That’s Boyd over there, and of course you’ve met Lydia and Jackson. Scott’s somewhere around here and this is Isaac, my favorite.” Stiles grinned, reaching over to run his fingers through Isaac’s sweat damp curls as his pup’s cheeks flushed with pleasure.
“I’m crushed Stiles, I thought I was your favorite.” Scott and Derek must have finished whatever they were doing, because suddenly Scott was pushing through the door to greet Stiles’ dad and Derek’s voice carried pleasantly through the crowded kitchen.
“Don’t worry Sourwolf, you’ll always be my second favorite.” He let Isaac scramble away as Derek’s eyes flashed red, his smile growing as he visibly checked himself as he fell under the scrutiny of the Sheriff’s gaze.
“So you and my son.” It wasn’t a question, and Derek didn’t make the mistake of interpreting it as one.
“Stiles says you are…mates?” that was a question, Stiles had been vague about the entire concept on purpose, trying to soften the blow a little.
“That’s correct.” The unsaid sir still hung awkwardly in the air as the entire pack failed at trying to not stare at their big bad alpha being run over by a human, well a human other than Stiles.
“And what does that entail, exactly?” Now the pack was not so subtly staring at Stiles, as if waiting for a protest, or something.
The sound of Derek’s teeth grinding was audible even to Stiles as the room grew thick with silence.
“It means that Stiles is bound to me, and I to him.” The words were spoken slowly, drawn out as if each one was being mulled over and considered beyond reason.
“What if Stiles wanted to leave you?” Ouch, that actually hurt.
Just the very thought of leaving Derek, of a life without Derek, of spending every night not pressed up against Derek’s furnace like heat, occasionally even sandwiched between Derek and the pack to chase away nightmares. No, definitely not an option, never in a million years, do not pass go, do not collect $200, never going to happen ever.
“Considering he is not a wolf, then I suppose…y-“
“No. Never, not happening ever, ever, ever. Sorry Sourwolf, but you are stuck with me until the end, death do us part. And no you can’t make a joke about me proposing because we are practically married as is, we are wolfy married, so shut your trap. I’m sorry dad, but Derek is it for me, there is no other option, no other fish in the sea. I could not leave him, I will never want to leave him. Wolf’s mate for life, and I’m mated to a wolf, maybe I’m a wolf at heart, who even knows. Long story short, and as they say on the internet, Derek and I are endgame.” He was maybe a little light headed, and a lot of out of breath at the end of that speech, but he could not bring himself to care.
The entire kitchen had descended into an even more awkward silence as the pack tried to figure out what the hell had just happened, but Derek was struggling to contain a smile, and surprisingly so was his dad, so that was all that mattered anyway.
“Well Stiles, there was no reason to yell, I was just asking a question.” Had he been yelling, he wasn’t sure, his voice may have raised just the tiniest bit but…oh…they were winding him up…well then.
“Are you happy with this dad?” He guessed the pack took that as a cue to take their breakfast into the living room, Boyd’s grunt of pleased surprise at the grapefruit on his plate accompanying their weighted shuffle into the other room.
“No Stiles, I can’t say I’m happy. But…I think I understand, a little bit, and I’m willing to try.” Stiles couldn’t help the little flair of disappointment, but the pleasure at the acceptance in his father’s voice overwhelmed him.
“Yeah, okay dad, that’s all I could ask for. Thank you.” Stiles grinned, pulling his dad out of the chair and into a hug.
“Get over here Derek. If you’re my son-in-law, you better get used to group Stilinski hugs.” Later Stiles would bribe Lydia with homemade cookies for the copy of the photos from her phone, Derek’s face crunched up awkwardly as he accepted the hug.
Yeah, this is home.