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He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he watched the Impala drive off. A few weeks ago, the sight would have left him feeling empty and hollow. He wouldn’t have known if he would see that car again, it would have left an ache of longing in his heart. Things were different now. He knew better. He knew the Impala and its driver would return by the end of the week, as promised.
“You two seem to be getting pretty cozy.” His mother mentioned as he made his way into the TM office.
“They’re always like that. Honestly, have you ever seen them when they weren’t cozy?” His brother, Stiles, muttered as he shoved past Jax, dropping a grease-covered clipboard onto Gemma’s desk. “The white BMW’s done.”
“Aren’t you the busy bee this afternoon?” Gemma used a relatively clean rag to move the clipboard off her stack of files. “Juice must be at the weed shop today. He’s not here to distract you.”
“I thought we were talking about Jax and Dean being grossly domestic.” Stiles deflected, unwilling to admit the truth of Gemma’s statement. “Dean has been spending a lot of time here with you, Jax, instead of at fleabag motels or with his brother.”
“Something we need to know, Jackson?” His mom leaned back in her chair, an expectant look on her face.
“Dean and I are together now.” After years of being close friends that enjoyed having incredible sex together, they had decided to take their relationship to a deeper level. “Officially together. You know, like Stiles and dipshit are.”
“It’s about damn time.” Gemma grinned. “Bring him to dinner Friday night.”
“We’re having dinner Friday night?” That was the first Jax was hearing of it.
“We are now.” She took a pen off the desk and began jotting down a grocery list. “It will give me a chance to get to know him.”
“You’ve known him since I was fifteen.” Dean may not have been around much all those years, but he was present enough for Gemma to get to know him.
“I’ve never known him as your boyfriend.”
“Ooh, an official meet the parent’s dinner.” Stiles bounced on the balls of his feet. “This is gonna be good. I wanna come.”
“You have to bring Juice.” Gemma told his brother, an evil glint in her eyes.
“Okay.” Stiles agreed, not the least bit fazed by whatever ulterior motive Gemma might have for the extra invitation. “I gotta clock out early today. Pop has the nightshift. I need to make sure he eats something that isn’t greasy diner food or Chinese takeout.”
“I thought your dad was blacklisted at every restaurant and fast food joint within a twenty-mile radius of the station?” Jax wasn’t entirely sure how the hell his brother had managed to scare half the food joints in Beacon Hills into refusing to serve the sheriff, but somehow he had.
“A new place opened up right down the street from the station. They don’t take my threats seriously.” Stiles cracked his knuckles, as if he were preparing for a fight. “But they will. They will.”
“You’re not gonna burn down their restaurant, are you?” Jax would like to think Stiles would not go quite that far, but you could never really know with him.
“Of course not. Arson’s not really my style. Someone could get hurt that way.” Whatever Stiles had planned would not involve collateral damage. “I’ll have the health department shut ‘em down temporarily.”
“You are going to bribe the health department?” Did the kid come into some cash Jax didn’t know about?
“I don’t have to. If the inspector doesn’t want his wife to know he’s banging the deputy mayor, then he will do what I tell him to do.” Stiles concluded as he sauntered out of the office.
“Wow.” His eighteen-year old brother was blackmailing city officials, that really should not surprise him. “He gets this from you, Mom.”
“I know. I’m so proud.” She beamed, face lit up with misguided pride.
“I’m all for a free dinner.” Juice's voice filtered over the other end of the line. “I’m just not sure why we can’t throw something together at my house, instead of going to Gems.”
“Because,” Stiles shifted the phone to his other ear as he pulled open the door to his father’s office. “Dean and Jax will be in Gemma’s hot seat. I want to watch them squirm.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Gemma said I couldn’t go unless you were with me.” He was really hoping to convince Juice to go, because he really wanted to watch the hilarity that was sure to ensue at the dinner. “Come with me, please.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Juice agreed. “When is it?”
“Friday.” He was definitely going to owe Juice one for this. “Thank you.”
“No problem. It’s been a while since I had Gemma’s cooking.” Gemma hadn’t hosted a dinner since LuAnn’s death. All the guys probably missed her food. “I doubt this dinner goes how you hope it will.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was only one way it could go: down the rabbit hole. “I gotta go. I’m at my dad’s office. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yep. Love you.”
“Love you too.” He ended the call and pocketed his phone as he greeted his father. “Hey Pop.”
“Hi Son.” His dad gave him a brief nod as he took a bite out of a larger burger in his hands.
Stiles leaned over the desk and yanked the fattening, cholesterol infused, beef from his dad’s fingers. His ignored the man’s indignant noise of objection as he tossed the burger in the trash bin. He rooted around in the lunchbox he had brought in until he found the tupperware containers he had packed.
“Veggie burger and carrot sticks.” He set the containers down in front of his father. “With low fat dressing.”
“What did I do to make you hate me?” His father asked with a pout that seemed out of place on a grown man’s face. “Is it because I gave you my old Jeep instead of your grandfather’s Firebird? If that is why you’ve been punishing me with this crap you call food, then I will hand over the keys to the Firebird right now. It is all yours, if you would just let me eat something that actually tastes like food.”
“First of all, that burger tastes perfectly fine, and it is much healthier than the beef. I make you eat that kind of stuff so you are not clogging up your arteries with gunk.” He would prefer that his remaining parent live as long as humanly possible, which would not happen if he continued to eat greasy foods. “Secondly, as much I would like to have the Firebird, I love my Jeep. The Jeep and I have bonded in our time together. I am not giving her up now. Plus, do you know how the guys at TM would react if I came rolling up in the Firebird? They would be panting over it like dogs in heat.”
“That car is a beauty.” His dad wasn’t even a car guy and he could admire its appeal.
“Can hardly get them to work as it is. They don’t need the added distraction.“ His Grandpa Henry’s 1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am would be a major distraction if he took it to the garage. Even Stiles could barely keep from drooling when he brought the car out of storage once a month for routine maintenance.
“What’s going on Friday?” The older man questioned. “I overheard you on the phone when you came in.”
“Jax and Dean’s official coming out party. They decided to be a real couple.” It was about damn time too. The pair had been dancing around each other for years. “Gemma wants to have a ‘meet the family’ dinner. She said if I wanted to go I have to bring Juice.”
“We never had that kind of dinner after you told me you and Juice were together.” His father pointed out.
“I didn’t know you wanted one.” When he told his dad about he and Juice’s relationship, neither of them had made a big deal of it. “It’s a little late to have one now.”
“There is a reason Gemma wants you to take Juice with you to that dinner. Jax and Dean aren’t the only ones participating in the official meet the family dinner. You and Juice are too.” His father mused knowingly. “I’m sure Jax will have just as much fun at your expense as you plan to have at his. And, you know, I don’t think Gemma would mind one more guest.”
“Huh?” Say what now?
“It’s a meet the family dinner. I am your family." His father said slowly as if Stiles were struggling to understand the concept. “It’s past time I met your boyfriend officially.”
“You have met him.” They had met several times, in fact. Hell, the first time they met was long before he and Juice even began dating.
“Not since he became your boyfriend.” The devious grin playing on his father’s lips was one Stiles recognized from his own face. “I’ve seen him, spoken to him, but never in the context of him being your boyfriend. I think it’s time that I do, and I don’t think Gemma would mind me doing it at the family dinner.”
“Is this payback for the veggie burger?”
“It might be.”
Dean dropped his duffle on the floor of the Singer living room and rolled the kinks out of his shoulders, muscles stiff from the long drive. Loud guffaws of laughter caught his attention and he followed them into the kitchen, finding his brother and Bobby chuckling over one thing or another as they shared a late dinner.
“Hey,” He clapped a hand to his brother’s shoulder as he joined them at the table. “What’s so funny?”
“Bobby was just telling me about this hunter named Garth.” Sam clutched a hand to his chest, trying to get a hold of himself.
“You’re here early.” Bobby noted. “I didn’t think you would be here until sometime tomorrow.”
“I wanted to make sure you two weren’t getting into too much trouble.” With his trips to Charming lasting longer and longer, he hadn’t had a lot of downtime to spend with his brother or uncle. “I thought we could get some research done, maybe get a few hunts in. The thing is, I have to be back in Charming by Friday night, if that’s possible.”
“Why?”
“Jax’s mom wants us to have some kind of family dinner.” When Jax had called him while he was on the road to tell him about the dinner, he was naturally confused and nothing Jax said cleared things up.
“You are attending a family dinner?” Sam’s brows rose high on his head in surprise.
“Well, yeah.” He had never done the meet the parent’s thing with a significant other before, but there was a first time for everything. “You guys are invited to, as my family.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, boy.” Bobby’s quick acceptance of the invitation probably had more to do with vetting Jax than it did the dinner itself.
“Yeah. I’m not missing you making a fool out of yourself either.” Sam said with a snort. “I’m definitely in.”
“I’m not gonna make a fool of myself.” It was a dinner with Gemma; it wasn’t like they had never met before. “It’s going to be a nice, quiet dinner.”
“You really believe that?”
“A man can wish, can’t he?”
There was something hilarious about having a sheriff head one end of the dinner table and the matriarch of a violent biker gang head the other. There was a joke in there somewhere that Stiles was not stupid enough to say aloud. Seeing as Gemma had been adamant about the seating chart, Stiles had to assume she saw the humor in it to.
He felt a bit sorry for Juice, who was squished between he and Jax on one side of the table. It was not an easy fit for three grown men. Dean was in a similar predicament across from Juice, sitting snuggly between Sam and Bobby. Stiles was fairly certain the seat arrangements were strictly in place to keep anyone from playing footsie under the table.
Of course, the seating placement served another purpose as well. It drew a proverbial line in the sand. The dinner was for the families to meet one another officially, seating them on opposite sides of the table allowed each family to size the other up, and no one was wasting any time with that if the calculating glances being exchanged meant anything.
Stiles took a moment to be thankful it wasn’t his head on the chopping block during the meal. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how he would react if he faced similar scrutiny from Juice’s family.
“I dodged a bullet with you, didn’t I?” He murmured to the mohawked man seated next to him. “Not to sound insensitive or anything, but being estranged from your family has its benefits. We’re lucky. We can just sit back and enjoy the show.”
“I guess you missed the glare you dad’s been shooting me all night.” Juice mumbled lowly, offering Stiles father a weak smile.
“He’s only doing it because it makes you uncomfortable.” His father took far too much pleasure in Juice’s fear of him.
“Actually, it might have something to do with the beard burn on your neck.” Jax reached around Juice to pinch the rash running down Stiles throat.
“Stop it.” He smacked his brother’s hand away. “Pop, you said you were okay with me and Juice. You told me you would be nice.”
“It’s not my fault he scares easy.” His father retorted with a smirk. “And just because I am okay with it, doesn’t mean I’m completely comfortable with it yet.”
“You’ve had over a year to get comfortable with it.” To be fair, for most of that year Stiles had been underage, so he could see how that might hinder his dad’s acceptance of the relationship. “If it makes you feel better, at least I’m not dating a mass murderer.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dean’s a serial killer.” Stiles thrusted an accusing finger out to the hunter.
“What?” Dean squawked, choking on the food he’d been chewing. “I am not.”
“You were on the national news for that Milwaukee bank thing a few years ago.” He had seen Dean’s face plastered on the six o’clock news on more than one occasion, usually with the words ‘armed and dangerous’ accompanying a photograph. “Jax dating a murderer trumps the age difference between Juice and I any day of the week.”
“Jax is Gemma’s son,” His dad reminded him, as if he could forget. “That makes Dean her problem, not mine.”
“You’re a cop.” For god's sake the man had his badge clipped to his belt.
“I’m off duty.”
“Tough luck, kid.” Dean clucked before turning his focus to Stiles father. “Hey Sheriff, did I ever tell you about the time I caught Stiles and Juice getting busy in the back of the Impala?”
“What the hell did I ever do to you, Dean?” The mildly panicked lit to Juice’s voice was only amplified by the man’s eyes darting toward the Sheriff, as if he might pull his gun or cuffs out at any moment.
“You had sex in the Impala?” Sam questioned incredulously. “I’m not even allowed to do that.”
“The clubhouse apartment was taken and Impala has a bigger backseat than my Jeep.” He admitted with a shrug.
“Only I am allowed to use the Impala’s backseat.” Dean grumbled, shoveling food into his mouth.
“You shouldn’t have left it unlocked.” The car had just been sitting in the TM parking lot, the light of the moon accentuating her beauty, she practically purring with the need for someone to use that big backseat. “If that backseat is so special to you, next time we’ll use the front seat.”
“Stiles.” His father scolded, looking pained.
“Sorry, Pop.”
“Idjits.” Bobby shook his head at their ridiculousness.
“You’ve been awfully quiet tonight, Jackson.” Gemma observed, tapping her fork against her eldest sons plate. “Something wrong?”
“Nope. I’m just thinking of new and exciting ways to pay Stiles and Juice back for trying to have Dean arrested.” Jax leveled Stiles with a look that promised some good-natured brotherly retribution.
“I didn’t do anything!” Juice insisted, barely resisting the urge to stomp his foot like a child. “That was Stiles. I have done nothing but sit here and enjoy Gemma’s cooking, which is delicious.”
“Don’t be a suck up.” Stiles gripped his boyfriend’s knee under the table. “And thanks for standing by me. You’re so sweet.”
“I just came for dinner.” The Son said petulantly. “Thank you for inviting me, Gemma.”
“Of course, sweetheart.” The matriarch added an extra helping of mashed potatoes to Juice’s plate. “You need to eat some real food. You’re too skinny from all that organic crap you’ve been eating. You’re all too skinny, in fact. Even you, Johnny, and I half expected you to be pot-bellied by now, like every other small town sheriff.”
“Stiles would never let that happen.” Jax commented. “He’s got you on a strict diet, doesn’t he, John?”
“He makes me go for a run with him once a day too.” His dad scowled in his direction as he cut into his steak, shoving a bite into his mouth defiantly.
“That’s tofu.” Stiles lied, if only to put an affronted look on his father’s face.
“What?” Dean spit out his food as if Stiles had just told him it was poisoned. “Seriously?”
“There’s nothing wrong with tofu, Dean.” Sam griped with a put-upon sigh.
“It’s not tofu.” Jax assured the elder Winchester. “Gemma would never allow that crap in her house.”
“You are damn right about that.” Gemma knocked her glass against her son’s.
“It’s all wonderful, Mrs. Teller-Morrow.” Bobby acknowledged politely.
“Thank you.”
“Is there gonna be pie for dessert?” Dean asked excitedly. “I love me some pie.”
Stiles clapped a hand over his mouth, before anyone else could do it for him, to prevent himself from making the sexually suggestive comment that was waiting on the tip of his tongue. He glanced around the table to find Gemma muzzling herself as well, mouth hidden discretely behind her glass.
“And here I thought the whole point of this dinner was because you were strictly into dick now.” Sam proclaimed with a shit-eating grin overtaking his face.
“Damn it, Stiles.” Jax admonished sharply.
“I didn’t say it!” He was a little offended by the insinuation that he had.
“You were thinking it.”
“But I didn’t say it. Sam said it.” Stiles did not appreciate being blamed for someone else lack of brain-to-mouth filter. “It’s not like Sam and I have some little brother ESP or something. Gemma was thinking it too!”
“I know how hard it is for you to filter yourself, I admire your restraint,” Juice praised and Stiles chose to ignore the underlying condescension.
“Thank you.” He pressed his lips to the older man’s for a quick kiss, earning a round of ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ from the Winchester’s and his own brother.
“Back to what Sam was saying,” Bobby interjected. “That is what this dinner is about, right? Dean, you and Jax are together or whatever you kids are calling it these days.”
“Yep.” Dean smiled softly.
“That a problem?” Jax sat up a little straighter, setting his jaw as if he were expecting least one person at the table to argue about the sudden change in relationship status.
“No. Any reason why you think it would be?” Bobby countered defensively. “So long as Dean’s happy, it don’t matter to me where he sticks his dick.”
“I am happy.” Dean confessed, before Jax or Bobby could say anything further.
“What does that mean for our…job?” Sam asked cautiously. “I mean, I’m happy that you’re happy, I really am, but we still have a job to do.”
“My relationship with Jax won’t affect our job.” Dean brushed off the implication that it would. “Instead of the occasional visit to Charming every couple of months, I’ll be swinging by after we’ve finished a hunt.”
“He can’t visit you?”
“Where would I visit him? The Impala is his home and it goes where he goes.” Jax pointed out the obvious issues that came with trying to visit Dean while he was on the road. “If he’s on a case nearby, then I’ll ride out to see him, yeah.”
“It’s easier for me to visit him, especially when he’s got the baby to think about.” Dean picked the baby monitor up off the table and waved it around. “He can’t just get up and leave whenever he wants to.”
“That’s another thing, he has a child.” Bobby gazed absently at the monitor. “That’s a big responsibility you’d be taking on, Dean.”
“I’m aware of that.” Dean was no stranger to responsibility.
“Oh!” Juice leaned around Stiles to address his father. “I don’t have any kids.”
“I know, Juan Carlos.” The sheriff nodded cordially. “But thank you for telling me. The fact that you know how to use a condom is far more reassuring than it probably should be.”
“Yeah, well, thank my mom. She gave me a really graphic STD talk after a priest caught me and a girl from my church choir swapping virginities in a confessional booth.” Juice revealed, seemingly oblivious to his word vomit as he picked up his beer to take a sip, only to have Stiles stop him. “What?”
“I think you’ve had enough.” Stiles took a swig for himself before the bottle was snatched from his hands by his father. “Hey!”
“You are eighteen not twenty-one.”
“No STD talk at the table, Juice.” Gemma warned.
“Sorry.” The Son ducked his head, ears tipped red with embarrassment.
“Babbling when you’re nervous, you’re picking up my habits.” Stiles rubbed Juice’s back consolingly. “Hazards of spending so much time together.”
“Something to look forward to with you guys.” Sam gestured between Dean and Jax. “Since you’ll be spending more time together.”
“I don’t think they can be more alike than they already are.” Stiles snickered. “However, I doubt Jax is ever going to develop an affinity for classic cars or classic rock.”
“I like classic rock just fine.” Jax claimed. “Although, if I ever hear Bob Seger’s Turn the Page again, I might actually kill myself.”
“What do you got against Seger?” Dean glowered as if Jax had just personally offended him.
“Nothing. It’s that song.” The blond tugged at his ears like he could still hear the song playing. “It was the only song Stiles would fall asleep to when he was a baby.”
“That’s my fault.” Stiles dad raised his hand sheepishly. “I didn’t know any lullabies. I went with what I knew. Turn the Page was his favorite. Come to think of it, it still puts him to sleep.”
“That’s good information to have the next time he goes on an adderall and red bull binge.” Juice muttered, casting him a sideways glance. “I’ll have to download some Seger to my IPod, though it might sound a little funny mixed in with all my heavy metal.”
“Download Metallica’s version of Turn the Page.” Dean suggested. “They’re heavy metal.”
“Metallica is not heavy metal.” Stiles tried to let the hunter down as gently as he could. “Maybe in your day it was, but if their older albums were released today, they would be considered soft rock or pop.”
“W-What? What did you just say? You take that back!” Dean pushed his chair back, prepared to stand. “No one insults Metallica, no one.”
“Calm down, Dean.” Sam wrapped his fingers around his brother’s bicep to keep him in his seat.
“You know better than to talk shit about Dean’s music.” Jax reprimanded him. “Why do you insist on riling him up?”
“It’s fun.” Stiles had a knack for it, actually. “It’s easy.”
“One of these days, kiddo,” Dean wiggled a finger at him. “You and I are gonna go a round or two.”
“Kinky.” He winked and licked his lips coyly. “Bring it on, big boy.”
“Too far.” Both Jax and Juice chastised.
“Yeah, that was a little weird, even for me.” He skeeved himself out a bit with that one. “Sorry.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, sweetcheeks.” Dean mimicked the same wink Stiles had given him.
“Clearly, it’s not Dean and Jax we need to worry about adopting each other’s traits.” Bobby commented amusedly. "Stiles and Dean have that covered."
“Hey Jax, what’s it like dating your brother?” Juice joked, earning a few chuckles from everyone but Jax.
“You want to find out what it’s like to not date my brother?’ Jax shot back. “’Cause you keep asking dumbass questions and you’re gonna find out.”
“Because you have the authority to put an end to their relationship?” Gemma offered her eldest an unimpressed look. “I don’t think so.”
“I don’t even have the authority to do that.” His dad grumbled under his breath. “Not that I would if I did.”
“Really?” Stiles father had never actively tried to separate them, but Stiles couldn't help but wonder if he had ever wanted to.
“I would never deny you anything that made you happy unless it was harmful to you.” His dad admitted warmly, features softening.
“The age thing doesn’t bother you at all?” To his credit, Sam’s tone held no judgment, only curiosity.
“There’s a bigger age difference between he and Gemma than there is me and Juice.” There was nearly twelve years between his dad Gem, while there was less than ten between he and Juice.
“Stiles has always had a thing for older men. Even his childhood crushes were twice his age and then some.” His father divulged with a huff. “Like the crush he had on Chibs, before Juice showed up in Charming.”
“Oh, and the one he had on your dad.” Jax told Sam, a sly grin playing on his lips. “He had a huge crush on your old man.”
“Yes, I did.” He couldn’t very well refute their claims, not when every person at the table could call him out on the way he used to follow Papa Winchester around like a puppy begging for attention when the older man had joined Dean in Charming. “Your dad was hot.”
“He was.” Gemma concurred.
“I told you no more Johns.” Jax shut his mother down. “You’ve been through two already.”
“The man is dead, it doesn’t matter if I once found him attractive.” Gemma turned an apologetic smile to the Winchesters. “Sorry, boys.”
“Anyway,” Dean swiveled his head to the elder Stilinski. “You were saying something about Stiles older man fetish being why you didn’t care that Juice was older than him…”
“I figured if he was going to date someone older then at least it was someone closer to his age than mine.” The Sheriff reasoned.
“Fair enough.” Dean nodded and held his beer up in salute to Juice. “Aren’t you a lucky pup?”
“Was that a compliment to me?” Stiles fluttered his lashes dramatically. “I think it was. Juice is lucky enough to have my father’s approval so he can date me. You just said Juice was lucky to date me. Aww.”
“Don’t let it go to your head. I’ve had a few drinks, my tongue is looser than usual.” Dean knocked back what was left in his glass.
“Are these two always like this?” Bobby waved a hand between Stiles and Dean.
“With the borderline flirtatious banter? Yes.” Jax nodded enthusiastically. “It’s only creepy when I remember the time Stiles told me he loved Dean like a brother.”
“You said that about me?” Dean gushed sarcastically.
“That’s hearsay.” Stiles narrowed his eyes at his brother. “You can’t prove I said that.”
“That’s okay, pookie, love you too.” Dean blew him a kiss.
“Oh, bite me.” He stuck his tongue out at the hunter.
“You are going to have your hands full with these four.” Bobby sent Gemma a pitying look. “Good luck to you.”
“I’ve only gotta deal with these two full time,” She pointed to Jax and then Juice. “Stiles belongs to Johnny, and Dean is yours. I only have to deal with them all when they gather together, which doesn’t happen as often as you might think.”
“That will change with Dean coming around more and Stiles being out of school.” The wide grin on Jax’s face could barely contain his joy over the situation.
“What about college?” Sam furrowed his brows in Stiles direction. “I helped you fill out all those applications and scholarship forms. You didn’t get in?”
“He got into almost all of them.” His dad announced proudly. “Berkeley offered him a full scholarship.”
“I want to stay a little closer to home.” Stiles had been ecstatic to learn he had gotten into so many fantastic schools, but the idea of attending one far from home had filled him with an overwhelming since of anxiety. “There’s a university an hour outside of Beacon Hills that has a good criminal justice program. It’s not Berkeley, but it’s the same degree and it keeps me close to everyone.”
“Shouldn’t you want to spread your wings now that you’re out of high school?” The wistfulness in Sam’s tone was a telling sign of his yearning for missed opportunities. “You should travel, be adventurous.”
“My high school years consisted of bikers, werewolves, and being possessed by an evil fox spirit.” He had enough adventure to last a lifetime. “I could use some calm.”
“Your choice of schools has nothing to do with your deep rooted codependency to your family?” Dean speculated thoughtfully.
“You’ve got no room to talk about codependency, babe.” Jax snorted. “You and Sam are a hell of a lot worse than Stiles and me. You have actually died for him.”
“That’s true, but I was talking about Stiles and his dad.” Dean clarified. “At least when I made the deal to save Sam, he was already dead. Stiles drowned himself in an ice bath, he was dead for sixteen hours, when his dad was only missing.”
“He is right here.” And he did not appreciate anyone questioning his choices in regards to keeping his father safe.
“You gonna deny the codependency?”
“No.” He was incredibly close with his father, he wasn’t going to be ashamed of it.
“Then shut up.”
“Are you gonna let him talk to me this way?” Stiles asked his brother. “He’s being a dick.”
“I honestly don’t care.” Jax told him before swiftly changing the subject. “Juice, how’s the weed shop doing? You’ve been spending a lot of time there recently.”
“Why are you picking on me?” Juice whined, looking for all the world like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “It is a legal business. It’s medical marijuana and colonics. The paperwork is in order. I’m not breaking any laws.”
“Then stop acting so guilty.” Stiles advised, then turned the tables on his brother. “Hey Jax, how are all of the clubs illegal enterprises?”
“They’re great.” Jax grinned. “Trying to get me in trouble, little brother? It’s not gonna work. Your dad already said he was off duty.”
“Talking about SAMCRO’s illegal enterprises doesn’t exactly help my case either.” Juice grumbled, slumping down in his chair.
“I’m well aware of how you make a living, Juan Carlos. Thankfully, it’s all out of my jurisdiction.” His dad remarked, taking a sip of his beer. “At least that’s what I tell myself to help me sleep at night.”
“Sorry.” Juice ducked his head.
“No. No. I’ve been telling myself that since the first time I left Stiles in Charming overnight.” His father was quick to reassure Juice that his feelings toward SAMCRO’s business dealings had nothing to do with Juice personally.
“Oh. Okay.” The explanation did not seem to relax the Son at all. “You know, Dean desecrates graves.”
“What the hell, Juan Carlos?” Dean spluttered around a fork full of food, using Juice’s actual name for effect.
“You did it to me.” Juice attempted to justify throwing Dean under the bus.
“Jax did it to you.”
“Same thing." Juice couldn't very well bring up Jax's morally objectable activities when he was usually involved in those too. "You guys are a package deal now.”
“Definitely gonna have your hands full, Mrs. Teller-Morrow.” Bobby repeated with a shake of his head.
“That’s okay. I’ve had a lot of experience dealing with unruly boys. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” The matriarch’s statement was followed by stern looks of warning to each young man under her charge before landing solely on Stiles. “Only one of them has ever caused me any real problems and he does it like it's his main goal in life.”
“You’re welcome.” Stiles gave her a jaunty thumbs up. “I like to keep things interesting.”
“Mission accomplished.”