Chapter Text
Stiles
The first time had been … well, it hadn’t been a disaster, exactly, but it definitely hadn’t been magical, life affirming, spectacular, or perfect, as all the filthy liars in the locker room liked to claim.
Instead, it had been a lot of other things: awkward (they really should have talked about who wanted to top that first time before getting naked and staring at each other like a deer and a werewolf caught in the headlights respectively), clumsy (opening someone up with shaking fingers was really not as easy-breezy as the erotica he had read in preparation made it out to be), a bit messy (people said there was no such thing as too much lube, but going through an entire bottle for safety purposes was probably pushing it just a little), and, for one brief second of performance anxiety that Stiles still shuddered to think about, absolutely mortifying.
Really, if Derek had laid back and thought of Beacon Hills, Stiles wouldn’t have blamed him.
For all the cocky attitude that he displayed at school Derek had been surprisingly not-at-all secure during the entire thing, blushing furiously when he had finally asked Stiles to top, staring at him intently while Stiles had tried his very best to get him ready and freaking him out even further (there were few moments when Derek’s creeper-tendencies were appropriate to begin with, and that one had certainly not been it) and his vulnerable expression afterwards, when he had obviously thought Stiles was going to get up and just go (when all he had really wanted was to get a washcloth), had destroyed any hint of post-orgasmic haze Stiles could have possibly fallen into.
Then again, when the sheets had been changed, the washcloths had been used, and Derek had fallen asleep against his back, Stiles had realized just how much Derek had trusted him that night – and not only because he had given himself over to someone who had obviously not had the slightest clue what he was doing either.
The Hales were the only werewolf family in Beacon Hills and although werewolf activists had made significant progress in educating the human population about their kind in recent years, stereotypes, prejudices, and stigmas were still running rampant in society, making many werewolves’ lives difficult even twenty years after they had first revealed themselves to the public.
As the only son of one of the most powerful Alphas on the West Coast, everyone automatically assumed that Derek would be an Alpha himself and before they had become a couple Stiles had often wondered if Derek was really the arrogant, domineering jock whose intimidating authority even put Jackson Whittemore in his place, or if he was just playing into the stereotype to make his life easier.
The truth, Stiles had found, was somewhere in between. Derek definitely had his snarky moments but he was also kind, loyal, and just as unsure of himself and his place in the world as the rest of their high school peers.
It irritated Stiles sometimes, the way people were constantly expecting Derek to take charge, expecting him to be fearless and without self-doubt, whether it was in his position as Captain of the basketball team or as president of the chess club (the shared hobby that had played a pivotal role in the evolution of Stiles and Derek into “Stiles and Derek”).
Derek had never asked to be the captain or president of anything but Stiles had quickly come to realize that he was also terrified of the alternative.
“Humans, in general, are scared of things they don’t understand,” Derek had once more said later that night, after he had woken up from his nap and nuzzled into the crook of Stiles’ neck.
“As long as I act like they expect me to no one’s going to go looking for trouble. Our rights are still so fragile, I just don’t want to do anything to risk it,” he had mumbled into Stiles’ skin, his fingers interlacing with the human’s, and Stiles had kissed his knuckles, a wistful smile on his face.
“You don’t ever have to pretend anything with me, you know that, right? I know the entire basketball team was talking smack about how you were going to fuck me all over the place now … don’t growl like that, it’s not like I care what they think about us. What I meant was, you don’t have to, you know, be Mr. Power-Top in here or something like that to fulfill the nonsensical expectations of someone who neither understands werewolves nor sex in general,” he had said determinedly and Derek had chuckled, his ears just a little red when he had playfully nipped at Stiles’ lip.
“I do want to fuck you all over the place … but it feels safe to know that I can also … that I …”
His voice had trailed off and Stiles, fervently wishing that Derek had told him sooner how much it had bothered him that Stiles’ expectations of their sex-lives might have been shaped by speciesist nonsense, had once again kissed the werewolf’s knuckles.
“I trust you enough to be myself around you … I’d be sad if you didn’t return the favor.”
And well, maybe they weren’t quite at the l-word stage just yet, but in a society where relationships between humans and werewolves were tolerated but still kind of frowned upon by many people, realizing that Derek trusted him was perhaps even more important.
All things considered, their first time had actually been sort of perfect, after all.
==================
Derek
“What are you grinning about?”
Derek, who had been midway into the process of putting a spoonful of honey into his tea, froze, his grin wiped off his face instantly at the gleeful expression on his uncle Peter’s face.
“You’re dripping honey all over the place little Bear,” his mother Talia admonished him, nodding at the quickly growing puddle of honey on the tablecloth, and Peter barked out a sharp laugh, his eyes glinting as Derek hastily put the sad remainder of honey into his tea.
“That’s not all he’s dripping everyw… ouch Mom!” his uncle yelped, ducking out of Grandma Hale’s way as she once more raised the spatula she had been using to distribute the scrambled eggs.
“You might think you’re too old to have your mouth washed out with soap, but you’re really not,” Greta Hale said firmly and Peter rolled his eyes, letting out another yelp when his mother lengthened one claw and flicked it against his ear.
“Don’t mind him Derek, he’s just jealous because the last time he got some was … ouch, Mom!” Laura exclaimed, looking at her mother in betrayal when the Alpha shook her head, in disapproval.
“I won’t have that kind of talk at the breakfast table,” Talia said firmly, turning towards Derek with an amused little smile.
“That being said little Bear, remind me and your father to give you a little talk about how living in a house of werewolves affects your hygiene after a sexua …”
“Talia!” Derek’s father Sebastian groaned, dropping the sports section of his paper onto the liberally buttered bread Grandma Hale had just put on his plate and Talia shrugged, reminding Derek of Laura when her eyes sparkled with just a little too much glee.
“Sorry Mom,” Derek mumbled, his ears burning in embarrassment, and Grandma Hale clucked her tongue as she put an extra-large portion of scrambled eggs on his plate.
“It’s ok little Bear, we all make that mistake in the beginning. Now tell me more about that boy of yours! When do I get to meet him properly? Is he nice? Handsome? Educated? Where did he apply for college? What are his career-goals? Will he make enough money to support you and …”
“If you intend to ask him all these questions I’m sure Derek will never bring him home to us so we can meet him properly!” Talia interrupted her mother and Grandma Hale let out the sigh of the long-suffering, a look of disapproval on her face.
“I just don’t feel right about him defiling our little Bear when I didn’t even get to invite him for coffee and a friendly conversation first! How do we know his intentions are noble unless we can listen to his heartbeat?”
“If you talk to him about defiling Derek that poor kid’s heartbeat is going to go all over the place and none of us will be any wiser. Also, that’s not what it’s called anymore,” Sebastian Hale said, carefully folding up his buttered newspaper as he stared at the bread morosely.
“His dad’s the Sheriff, Nana, I’m sure he’s as … uh … noble as can be,” Laura contributed gleefully and Derek glared at her, wondering – and not for the first time – if the Sheriff would mind too terribly if he just moved in with the Stilinskis to escape the increasingly mortifying family breakfasts, lunches, and dinners he had been subjected to ever since he had come home from his first date with Stiles and his family had descended upon him like the boundary-less werewolf version of the Spanish Sniffs-Quisition.
“Mother has a point though,” Peter mused, smirking when he turned towards Derek again, clearly enjoying his embarrassment.
“I mean, dating a werewolf is still relatively unusual among the human population and there are certain … uh … surprises that not every human is … ah … equipped to handle, so shouldn’t we make sure he’s got the strength of character to …”
“Cora’s sitting right next to you so I swear, if you’re going to start talking about your knotting fantasies one more time I’ll lock you in the damn shed!” Sebastian growled, fixing his brother-in-law with an angry glare and Cora groaned, shaking her head at her father with a grimace.
“I’m 11, Daddy! I know things now!” she protested, at the same time as Peter huffed, “For you information, not everything I say has to do with knotting!” and Laura mock-whispered, “’s not like he’s got one to begin with!”
“You know nothing, Cora-Cub. Oh and Laura darling, don’t even think for a second I won’t lock you in the shed with your uncle,” Derek’s father said calmly and Talia sighed, raising her eyebrows at her eldest meaningfully before she turned towards Derek, ruffling his hair with a resigned grin.
“On second thought, you might want to keep that poor boy away from us as long as you possibly can. We wouldn’t want him to flee the country, after all. You want him to stick around, don’t you, little Bear?”
Derek nodded, not able to stop his goofy little smile from spreading all over his face.
“I do. He’s perfect, Mom,” he said and Talia smiled, pulling at Laura’s ear when his big sister pretended to throw up.
“I’m happy for you, little Bear,” she said and Peter snorted from across the table, his expression amused.
“I still say we should make sure that boy can handle the responsibility of fu … damn it, Mom … of courting a werewolf!” he protested and Laura huffed, her eyes glinting in challenge.
“And how are we supposed to do that, exactly? Lock him in the shed with you for an hour and see if he keeps his sanity?”
“Something like that, yeah,” Peter mused, rubbing his fingers together in contemplation, and Derek glared at him, feeling anxious all of a sudden.
“You stay out of this, Peter! I’ll ask him to dinner, I promise, but if you so much as breathe in his direction I …”
“It’s not like I intend to scare him off, geez, you really do have it bad for that boy, don’t you? All I’m saying is I want to make sure my favorite little nephew is swapping kisses and fluids with someone who … Mom, ouch! Seriously!” Peter exclaimed and Derek leaned back with a satisfied smirk when his grandmother once more flicked her claws against his uncle’s ear.
He was terribly nervous about Stiles meeting his family, but at the same time his wolf couldn’t wait to see Stiles in his den, his thoughts drifting away to images of a happy Stiles snuggled against him during pack movie nights, smelling of home, mate, and happiness.
He was so focused on the lovely vision that he never noticed Peter’s shit-eating grin from across the table.
================
Danny
Danny Mahealani considered himself to be a very patient, very kind, and very honorable person.
The kind of honorable person that would always keep a promise, even those made under the influence of shock and adrenaline, shortly after having been rescued from certain eviscerated-by-mountain-lion death during track-practice last year.
It had been an altogether traumatizing experience that had even made the regional papers and Danny had all but blocked it from his mind successfully.
He had been successful, at least, until the madman who had rescued him from the mountain lion - and then proceeded to call himself the “Lion King” in front of every reporter willing to listen – climbed through his open window one night to reclaim his ‘life-debt’.
“You want me to do what? Why would you ask me to do that?” Danny asked, certain he had misheard the werewolf, and Peter sighed impatiently, tapping against Danny’s computer screen with a clawed finger.
“I’m asking you because I distinctly recall you owing me a favor of life-saving proportions. Look, I’ll even mail you all the information for the content, all I need you to do is set up that website and make it look like it has been frequently used by happily mated werewolves and their human mates for … say … the past two years.”
“Two years? Do you know how long it would take me to …”
“If I had let that mountain lion eat you we would not be having this conversation, so I’m sure that whatever you were going to say pales in front of the gratitude you should show me. Wouldn’t you agree? Also, there is that whole issue of the life-debt that you owe me, so …”
Peter grinned when Danny snatched his laptop out of his grasp, his face thunderous as he inspected the screen for claw marks. When he looked up his expression was cautious.
“Are you going to tell me why you need me to set up that website?” he asked and Peter shook his head, grinning.
“Nope,” he said cheerfully and Danny sighed, looking down at his computer in resignation when the werewolf began to flat-out giggle.
“Should have just had that mountain-lion eat me!” he muttered gravely, not at all surprised to find the window wide open and Peter gone when he looked up again from his laptop.
“For the record, this is really weird!” Danny huffed, shaking his head against the images in his head as he tried to come up with a reason for why Peter needed access to this type of website.
Somewhere out in the distance a wolf howled.
Danny groaned.
“Really fucking weird!”
=================
2 Weeks Later - Stiles
“It’ll be fine!”
“You say that, but you don’t know that!”
“They’ll love you, I promise! Just ... breathe, ok? Your chem-signals are all over the place and …”
“Oh my god, they’ll hate me, won’t they? They’ll think I totally stink! Literally!”
“What? No, you don’t stink, you …”
“We have to turn this car around right now, I’ll go get another shower, I’ll … holy mother of …”
“If you were planning to shower so no one would notice that you’ve been balls-deep inside my baby-brother as recently as this morning I’m afraid to say it’s a lost cause!”
Next to him Derek let out a deeply pained groan, his forehead thudding against the dashboard of Stiles’ jeep, and if Stiles hadn’t been busy catching his breath after Laura had unceremoniously yanked open the door he would have actually found it in his heart to feel sorry for his boyfriend.
As it was, the only feeling in his alarmingly fast beating heart was terror, inspired not only by Laura’s words but also her maniacal grin, eyes glowing just the faintest hint of gold and teeth subtly lengthened as she looked Stiles up and down.
“Gosh, you really are adorable, Derek can be glad I didn’t notice you first or we would have had a serious fight over who gets to claim you! Actually, considering that I’m next in line to be the Alpha I’m pretty surer I have seniority here, so I might just … just …”
Stiles wasn’t quite sure what his face must have been doing to cause Laura to dissolve into such a fit of laughter that she collapsed on the ground, but it must have certainly been quite spectacular.
Next to him Derek yelled, “Mom!” sounding so endearingly overwhelmed Stiles wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh or quake in fear.
“Laura Agatha Hale!” a new voice rang out and when Stiles looked towards the Hales’ front porch Talia Hale was shaking her head at her offspring with her arms crossed, frown disappearing when she stepped off the porch to greet Stiles.
“Do not believe a word she says, werewolves haven’t mated according to pack hierarchies in over two centuries. Welcome to our home, Stiles, my little Bear has told us so much about you!”
“Uh … hi Mrs. Hale,” Stiles replied and Talia’s smile widened, her grip on his hand strong but gentle when she said, “Please, call me Talia, Mrs. Hale is my mother. Come on, let’s go inside, dinner’s just about ready!”
Stiles watched, baffled, as Talia Hale effortless hauled a still laughing Laura off the ground and dragged her to the house by her ear, turning towards Derek with a raised eyebrow and having to bite his lip when he noticed how flaming red his boyfriend’s ears were.
“That … could have gone worse?” he tried, interlinking his fingers with Derek’s and Derek gave him a despairing look, muttering, “How?” but squeezing back nevertheless as they made their way towards the entrance.
Stiles had barely hung his jacket on the coat hanger when there was a very insistent tug at his sleeve and when he turned around he came face to face with the next in what seemed to be a long line of intimidating Hale women, only this one was about a foot shorter than him.
“Hi, I’m Cora Philomena Hale! I know Karate. And Kung Fu! Grandma said I didn’t need that stuff because I have claws, but Mommy said I could take classes if I don’t accidentally maim the human kids! That means I can kick you in your boy parts if you … uh … if you dishonor my big brother! Or if you’re mean to him! So you better not do either! Do you know Karate?”
Stiles shook his head quickly, staring down at the little girl who was giving him a death glare eerily reminiscent of Derek when he was particularly grumpy about something and Cora’s eyes sparkled gleefully, her pigtails bobbing when she nodded in satisfaction.
“Good! That means you’re scared of me and won’t make my brother cry! Because if you do you have to go sleep with the fishes!”
“Uh …” Stiles said eloquently and by the way Cora’s little nose was sniffing he was reasonably sure he smelled intimidated enough to her satisfaction, his suspicion confirmed when she bounced away to the kitchen.
“We let her watch The Godfather a month ago and she’s been convinced our pack’s secretly the Mafia ever since,” Derek whispered next to him, gently squeezing Stiles’ shoulder and Stiles cocked his head, making an inquisitive sound.
“Huh … you know, there are theories that The Godfather was actually a about werewolves, so she might be on to something there,” he said teasingly and Derek huffed, muttering, “Don’t encourage her!” as he dragged Stiles towards the living room, gently pushing him towards a big, comfortable looking couch.
“Mom gives me these looks if I don’t help in the kitchen when it’s my guest, so just make yourself comfortable, ok? My dad’s going to be ready in about five minutes,” he said, placing a quick kiss on Stiles’ temple before hurrying towards the kitchen.
Stiles leaned back against the cushions with a contented sigh, figuring that with Laura, Cora, and Derek’s mom out of the way without any major catastrophes – he was studiously not thinking about the fact that apparently all the Hales could smell where his genitals had been this morning – the evening could only improve.
He let his gaze wander across the room, taking in the antique looking furniture, the fireplace, the many paintings and pictures on the wall, the gray wolf regally sitting in the armchair across from him and fixing him with a serious …
Stiles did not squeak, really, he didn’t, but he was a tiny bit embarrassed when the entire Hale family came bursting out of the kitchen, expressions varying with different levels of alarm and – in Derek’s case – a serious death wish, reasonably sure that they had all heard his heart trying to explode out of his chest for the second time in under half an hour.
“Mother, please!” Talia said and the wolf raised her head even higher, completely ignoring her family as she gracefully leapt off the armchair and trotted over to Stiles, hazel eyes bearing into him as if she was trying to find the secrets of the universe inside his mind.
Stiles held absolutely still, eyes switching back and forth frantically between the impressive claws and sheer terrifying set of teeth and it seemed like a lifetime until the wolf let out a huff, taking a few steps back and morphing into a very tiny and – to Stiles’ horror – very naked old lady.
“Nana!” Derek yelped, his face turning an alarming shade of purple – which Stiles was very aware of because he was studiously looking at Derek and nowhere near Grandma Hale – and Stiles was a bit unprepared when Grandma Hale once more stepped into his line of sight, this time clad in a robe and clucking her tongue with a displeased expression.
“Being ashamed of one’s nudity is a very human concept, young man, so you are forgiven for your childish display this time, but if you plan to marry our little Bear you need to get used to it sooner or later,” she said, holding up her hand when Derek began to splutter behind her.
“I … I’m sorry Ma’m, I … ah … uh … I wasn’t trying to imply that you … I … I’m not …”
Stiles was in all nine circles of hell at once and from the look on Derek’s face his boyfriend was right there with him, but Derek’s Grandma wasn’t done yet, her smile rather wolfish as she sat back down in the armchair.
“The Hale pack has endured for over six hundred centuries and over the years we have had many humans marry into the pack. We would, of course, be willing to accommodate you, but being with a werewolf does come with its fair share of hardships and responsibilities. Are you willing to shoulder them? For my little Bear?”
Stiles had never heard someone say a term on endearment in quite such a threatening way and he gulped, helplessly looking towards Derek, who looked like he was writing his own epitaph.
“I … of course I would …”
“You would stay with him, even when society ostracizes you? You wouldn’t leave at the first sign of trouble?”
Stiles’ indignation briefly overrode his utter fear of the unholy terror that had been unleashed upon the earth in form of the Hale women, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown.
“What? Why would I leave? I lov…”
The evening could officially no longer get any worse, Stiles thought as he clamped his mouth shut.
To his side Derek made a bit of a strangled noise, which did not at all boost Stiles’ confidence that he hadn’t just messed up everything.
Grandma Hale stared at him without blinking, her nostrils twitching ever so slightly and Stiles was not prepared when she suddenly broke into a beaming smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she looked at him fondly.
“Call me Greta, dear boy,” she said warmly, getting up and holding out her hand and Stiles shook it almost on autopilot, holding his breath when Derek’s grandma moved away whistling and Derek took her place, hazel eyes blown wide open in wonder.
“Really?” he asked, taking Stiles’ hand as gently as if he was handling porcelain and Stiles raised his eyebrows, exclaiming, “Uh .. duh?” and then “Umph!” when Derek all but crashed their mouths together.
“Ewwww, gross!” Laura called from the kitchen, followed by a smack and a yelp, but Stiles didn’t care one tiny bit, because when Derek pulled back and cradled his face he looked happier than Stiles had ever seen him before.
“Your heartbeat was very steady,” Derek said softly and Stiles blinked, not having expected that turn of conversation at all.
“Uh … really? Because I still kind of feel like my jugular is about to burst out of my neck Alien style any second now,” he said and Derek grinned, leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together.
“When your heartbeat is steady it means that you’re not lying,” Derek whispered.
“Oh? Oh!” Stiles exclaimed, smiling when Derek said, “Yeah. Oh. It’s a handy little werewolf trick we aren’t quite advertising.”
“Huh … wait, is that why the President elected a werewolf as Supreme Court justice last year? Damn, you guys are good!” Stiles mused and Derek chuckled, his eyes soft.
“Yeah, we try. I do, too, by the way. You know?”
“You … oh! Cool! That’s … yeah, that’s cool. Really cool. Your grandma is whistling the wedding march, by the way, so I guess she … uh … approves? But … isn’t it kind of unfair if you can hear my heartbeat and I can’t hear yours?”
Derek grinned, taking Stiles’ hand and placing it on his chest, his voice quiet when he said, “I do. I really, really, do.”
“Oh my god, get a room!”
Stiles and Derek broke apart immediately, both of them looking towards the dining table where Laura had just set down a pot of steaming cream-cheese-smoked salmon-cannelloni with a loud bang.
“I can almost see the little glittery hearts that are floating around both of your heads right now! Seriously, I’m going to be sick, the last time there was that much swooning in this house Dad had just surprised Mom with take-out from this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant that they went to on their first date! Nine months later Cora came along and while I bought their lies that the dubiously blessed event and all the swooning were completely unrelated back when I was eight I do know better now! So enough already, nothing good ever comes of that lovey-dovey crap!”
“Language little Duck!” Greta Hale chastised when she came back into the living room, carrying a big bowl of salad and followed by the rest of the family, including Derek’s father and a slightly younger man bearing an uncanny resemblance to Talia.
“Little Bear and little Duck?” Stiles whispered to Derek as they sat down and Derek shrugged, the tips of his ears reddening once more.
“I was very attached to my teddy bear when I was a toddler,” he explained and Greta Hale chuckled, her eyes twinkling as she sat down across from Stiles.
“He would get all territorial and flash his eyes whenever someone tried to take the teddy away. He even tried to growl, it was the most adorable sound I have ever heard! And when Laura first learned how to walk she would waddle like a drunken duck, so that’s why she’s our little Duck,” Derek’s grandmother said fondly, ignoring Laura’s resigned huff from the other end of the table.
“So what’s Cora, then?” Stiles asked, smiling at Derek’s baby-sister encouragingly and wincing when Cora huffed, decidedly not amused.
“I’m Cora-Cub. Because I’m the youngest. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know Karate!” she said, holding up her knife and fork in a rather threatening way and Stiles gulped, eyes fixed on Cora’s disapproving glare even as Derek grabbed his thigh underneath the table and squeezed encouragingly.
Dinner went reasonably well and by the end of the evening Stiles thought he had pretty much charmed all of Derek’s immediate family members.
All except Cora, of course, who, when she was informed that it was her bedtime, unceremoniously hopped up into Derek’s arms and demanded he read her a bedtime story, sounding rather determined when she declared, “Just you!”, slinging her tiny arms around Derek’s neck, and giving Stiles the stink eye over Derek’s shoulder all the way out of the living-room.
“Don’t take it personally, dear, Derek’s always been her favorite and right now she’s seeing you as a threat. It’s normal behavior for a wolf her age, she’s just about to hit puberty and her wolf instincts are clashing with her human instincts, though in this case jealousy and being territorial are actually quite similar. She’ll come around eventually, don’t you worry,” Greta Hale said with a smile, bursting into laughter when Stiles muttered, “Great, I’ve always wanted to be considered a threat by a little werewolf with sharp claws who, as I’ve been informed multiple times now, knows Karate!”
“Cora takes a while to warm up to basically everyone, pretty soon she’ll demand you be the one to read the story, you’ll see,” Talia said, shaking her head when Stiles made to grab for some of the dirty dishes.
“Absolutely not, you are our guest. Make yourself comfortable on the couch, Derek will be back in about ten minutes and we’ll just get the kitchen ready during that time,” Derek’s mother instructed him and Stiles nodded gratefully, making his way over to the couches and flopping onto the love-seat with a little sigh.
“They can be a handful, can they? You’re doing quite well, you know, they chased away my last girlfriend within half an hour.”
Stiles let out a startled laugh when Derek’s uncle sat down on the sofa across from him and Peter Hale nodded, seemingly satisfied with his response.
Now that he was essentially alone with the man Stiles suddenly realized he really didn’t know all that much about Derek’s uncle.
His boyfriend had barely mentioned him before and Stiles’ knowledge of Talia’s younger brother basically started and ended with the fact that he had been an accomplished athlete at BHHS back in the day.
He had been mostly quiet during the dinner, throwing a couple of curious glances at Stiles but never joining the constant barrage of questions that had rained down upon him for a good one and a half hours.
Stiles liked him already.
“You definitely shouldn’t mind Cora, Derek’s always been her favorite of all of us. The Hale family has always been very female dominated, so when a little Hale boy comes along once in a blue moon it’s literally hardwired into all our females to be extra-protective of him. Cora’s just getting an early start,” Peter mused and Stiles, who clearly remembered the contented look in Derek’s eyes when Cora had nuzzled her forehead against his cheek, was pretty sure it was quite mutual.
“She threatened to kick me in my boy-parts, so I got the message loud and clear,” Stiles replied and Peter laughed, pearly white teeth shining brightly as he beamed at Stiles.
“Subtle and precise, that’s Cora for you. Honestly though, I’ve never seen Derek this happy so as far as I’m concerned you’d fit in with us quite well. He’s … special,” the older werewolf said and Stiles raised his eyebrow, feeling a little confused at the mysterious tone.
“Good, that’s … that’s good. We’re really getting along well,” he said carefully and Peter snorted, then scratched his ear as if he was embarrassed at his outburst.
“Trust me young man, we’ve all caught on to just how well the two of you are getting along,” Peter grinned and Stiles cringed, wondering if he really did like Peter after all as the blush crept all over his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s just that there’s still such a stigma attached to the whole idea. Personally, I am just sickened at how they have turned us into fetish objects, not to mention all the horrendous knotting-porn! In college I myself had quite a few unfortunate encounters with humans who just wanted to be able to say they fucked a werewolf and I’m just happy that my only nephew found one of the good ones. You seem like you’re very smart, so I’m actually quite relieved that you guys took the time to educate yourself on the delicacies that come with certain human-werewolf relations. Perhaps you can actually contribute your knowledge to help others, one day. After all, web-communities such as HumanMate.com are still so small and unknown! It’s a shame, really, so once again, thank you for taking the time to be responsible, my sister and brother-in-law appreciate it, too!”
Peter smiled brightly and Stiles smiled back automatically, racking his brain for the name of the website and realizing to his shame that – even though he had googled around for prepping techniques quite a bit before their first time – he had actually never searched for specific human-werewolf relationship guides.
“What are you guys talking about?”
Derek plopped down onto the love-seat next to him and wrapped his arm around Stiles’ shoulder immediately, pulling him close enough to his body that Stiles could feel his increased body heat against his shoulder.
“Oh nothing, nothing, just a friendly chat between gentleman. I think I just heard Mother call for me, do excuse me for a second boys!”
After Peter had departed the living room with a little wave Stiles turned his head towards Derek, placing a soft kiss on his bearded chin.
“Your uncle is cool,” he said and Derek’s arms tightened around him, his voice sounding amused when he huffed, “That’s one word for it.”
“He seems to like me more than your little sister, at least,” Stiles mused and Derek chuckled, kissing the top of Stiles’ head apologetically.
“Yeah, sorry about that. She’ll come around. I think. I mean, she hated Kate until the very end, but to her credit that was completely justified.”
“Good thing I’m not Kate, then,” Stiles said – a little bit on the snarky side – and Derek tilted his head up with one finger, his smile a little lopsided.
“And thank god for that!” the werewolf stated matter-of-factly, just before diving in for a kiss.
It was a good kiss, one of the open-mouthed, lip-biting, toe-curling variety, and Stiles felt himself getting lost in it, ignoring the little voice at the back of his mind that …
“Ah, the passion of young love! This reminds me of your dear grandfather, little Bear, he was also quite fond of biting when we were in the throes of …”
“Mother!” Talia Hale shrieked, accidentally dropping the plate of cookies she had been carrying into the living room.
“Nana!” Derek yelped, almost falling off the couch in his haste to untangle himself from Stiles.
Stiles had never been part of a big family, but as he watched the Hales descend into a heated argument over just how much information was too much information, loosened werewolf understandings of personal boundaries be damned, he thought that he could definitely get used to this.
Like Derek before him, he never noticed the shit-eating grin Peter was directing at him from the shadows of the room.
==================
Later That Night – Stiles
Stiles had always prided himself on his researching skills, but within the first five minutes of browsing the forum at HumanMate.com he wondered if his confidence had been premature.
The site had obviously been around for a couple of years and Stiles almost wanted to kick himself for not having found it earlier, mesmerized at the way nearly 90 percent of the conversation topics fit his situation with Derek to a ‘T’.
After browsing through “Will I turn if my werewolf girlfriend bites my earlobe?”, “Are knots real?”, “Do werewolves always come that much?”, “Does werewolf sperm have more calories than human sperm?”, and “Will my werewolf boyfriend want to bottom for me?” Stiles felt almost giddy with relief, certain for the first time since he and Derek had slept together that he wasn’t messing this up.
Not that he hadn’t believed Derek’s assurances, but it felt nice to know that others were going through the same insecurities and worries.
Well … Stiles had never really thought of the caloric content of Derek’s sperm, but he was certain that someone, somewhere, had a need for that particular answer.
He had just set up his user account – just in case – and was scrolling through the older topics when the title of one post made him pause, his breath catching in his throat.
“What the … that’s got to be a joke!” he exclaimed, clicking on the topic title with lightening speed, his eyes nearly boggling out of his head as he took in the picture in the first entry.
“Holy shit!”