Work Text:
Stetopher || Teen Wolf || Stetopher || Wolf Under a Silver Moon || Stetopher || Teen Wolf || Stetopher
Title: Wolf Under a Silver Moon – Stetopher Week 2026
TW Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Jeff Davis and MTV. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/m/m, polyamory, soulmate AU, hurt/comfort
Main Pairing: Chris/Peter/Stiles
Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Chris Argent, Peter Hale, Derek Hale
Prompts: Moon + High School
Summary: Soul-marks manifested upon first physical contact. Stiles’ completes on the day he gets shoved around by both Chris and Peter. Triads were so rare, it doesn’t even cross Stiles’ mind that he could have two soulmates and met them the same day – so it hurts all the more when he realizes Chris and Peter are together, because one of them should be his.
Wolf Under a Silver Moon
Stetopher Week 2026
Chris met his soulmate for the first time in high school. It was ironic, Chris hadn’t even wanted to go to the stupid basketball game, he didn’t care for the sport. But his best and only friend Anita Milton dragged him along, because she had recently found her soulmate, Verne Boyd, the vice-captain. Even during the game, before knowing who he was or that he was Chris’ soulmate, Chris couldn’t tear his eyes away from Peter. Tall, lanky but in an athletic way, pretty, vicious and the MVP of the game. After the game, when Verne introduced Chris and Anita to the team.
In many cultures, touching upon first meeting a person was a big taboo, because the belief was that two people ought to get to know each other first, before finding out whether or not they were soulmates. In the US, shaking hands when first meeting was the norm, to know right away whether or not the other person was a potential soulmate. So Chris and Peter shook hands after the game.
Just underneath Chris’ elbow, on the inside of his arm, sat a silver moon. He’d always wondered why his personal mark was a moon – his mother’s had been a silver fleur des lis, the elegance and importance of the Argent name, his father’s a tall broad sword, the proud fighter and defender of the family, his sister’s a silver dagger, small but swift and deadly. Only many years later would Chris come to understand that he was the silver moon, protecting and watching his wolves from above.
“You are…” Chris trailed off, too stunned to even have words in that moment.
“Yours,” Peter whispered, voice filled with awe. “And you are mine.”
Beautiful baby-blue eyes stared at him like he was the most precious thing in the world. Even if Chris hadn’t felt the connection spark between them, he got to watch in real time how the silver moon appeared on Peter’s bare underarm, like it was rising in the night sky. Right above a pitch-black wolf with bright-blue eyes. The wolf’s head was tilted back as though it was howling right at the moon. Suddenly, Chris’ mark made much more sense – and so did Peter’s, probably, because before that, the wolf had simply been howling at his elbow.
There was a strange empty space between the two though. Usually, soulmate marks were closer together. For years to come, Chris and Peter would naively find comfort in the distance. Would interpret it to mean patience. You’re meant to be together, you’re soulmates, but things are keeping you apart. Be patient and you will be together. When Gerard and life tore them away from each other, when Chris found himself forced into an arranged marriage with a matchless woman from a highly respected hunter family, after Gerard caused the death of Peter’s father and aunt.
The mark on Chris’ skin would keep him going. And then he got Allison and she became the light in his life, the one good thing to come out of it. Late at night, when Victoria was asleep, he would stare at his soulmark and think of Peter, think of being reunited with his soulmate, raising Allison together and being… being happy, being a family. Patience, the soul-mark whispered.
Patience was both punished and then rewarded when Chris and Peter were reunited years later. Peter was a feral Alpha when they met again, having been abandoned by his pack, killed his niece in a feral rage and was rampaging through town, leaving a trail of bodies behind. Chris braced himself, ready to put down his own soulmate because this… this wasn’t Peter anymore, his beautiful, fierce wolf didn’t deserve this. If needed, Chris was going to end this himself.
Chris met his second soulmate for the first time in a hospital. His mind was steeled to protect the town from Peter, protect Allison and her very human friends from the dangers of this world. Stiles Stilinski was one of those human friends. A stunningly beautiful, recklessly brave and ruthlessly vicious boy, who walked into danger with his head held high. Chris grabbed the boy without even thinking, hauling him into an empty room, pinning him to the wall and trying to intimidate him into turning his back on all of this. A safe, normal life. Something in Chris desperately wanted that for Stiles, was suddenly overcome with the urge to protect the boy.
Only later that night would Chris realize why he had felt that way. When he sat down heavily on his bed with a glass of whiskey, mourning the death of his soulmate. He rolled his sleeve up to look at his wolf. He stared in surprise at the tree that had grown in the space between the wolf and the moon. Its roots twisted into Celtic knots beneath the wolf’s paws and its branches reached out to gently cradle the moon. They had a third. The space between them had always been meant to be filled – by Stiles. It wasn’t hard to figure that out, Stiles was the only person Chris had touched for the first time that day. He had touched his soulmate for the first time, to shove him around.
Chris sat heavy that night and drank until the pain dulled. He had lost Peter and he had no idea how to even approach Stiles. The boy was less than half his age, was younger than Chris’ daughter, and Chris had only just tried to intimidate him into not being involved in their world…
/break\
Why was it that Peter’s soulmates seemed to keep trying to kill him? He couldn’t even blame them. He knew he’d lost himself, after Laura and Derek abandoned him. All that mattered to him was his revenge – because what else did he have? His soulmate, his Christopher, had been taken from him years before the fire, by Gerard. His family had been taken by the fire. Laura and Derek had chosen left him. All he had was his revenge, he was willing to burn for it too, die once he killed Kate.
And then one clever boy changed it all. Peter had felt the thrill when that clever boy had trapped him in the school. So when Peter hit a dead-end, he decided to snatch the clever boy off school grounds and use his smarts and his knowledge of Peter’s wayward beta. Peter knew it the moment he curled his fingers around Stiles’ chin and if his mind had been clearer, he would have known even before. A wolf could tell, could sense their soulmates even before touching. But in that moment, as he had Stiles on his knees and was making the boy look up at him, Peter felt the overwhelming sensation of his soul-mark completing. A sensation he knew, had felt before in high school. And somehow, it happened again. Somehow, he was granted a second soulmate.
He took Stiles with him, offered his mate the bite. Got rejected for it, because of course he did, what reason did Stiles have to trust him. Peter never wanted to let Stiles out of his sight again, but he also knew that going to confront Kate to free Derek would put Stiles in danger and he would never put his soulmate into danger. So he left Stiles behind in that parking garage and left alone.
Suddenly, Peter had a reason to live again. Ironically enough, he died that same night, among many at the hands of his clever boy soulmate. Which naturally meant he had to bring himself back.
“Hello, Gerard,” Peter’s voice was deceptively light. “You know, you took my soulmate from me before. And now you apparently took my other soulmate too, gave him back bloodied and bruised. I’m tired of watching you hurt my soulmates, so this ends now.”
Peter had quickly lent his nephew his claws to help fix the Beta that had gone wrong. Really, Peter was dead for a couple months and not only had Derek collected a bunch of insecure teenagers, he had somehow managed to make a kanima. When all was said and done, Peter got to look at his clever boy and saw the prominent bruising on his face, the way he held his side, smelt the scent of Stiles’ blood – and the scent of Gerard Argent. That was the last straw. The man had killed Peter’s father and aunt, had abused Christopher and now had kidnapped and tortured Stiles. Peter’s claws sank into the man’s throat and tore it out. The gurgled last breaths of Gerard were satisfying. Just to make sure, Peter tore out the man’s heart too. In a good mood after revenge had been served, he cleaned his claws and made his way to Christopher’s house, waiting for his soulmate in the dark.
“Hello, darling. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How’s the wife?”
The last thing Peter needed was to be shot by Victoria. He’d worked too hard to bring himself back from the dead, and he was back for good. Things were going to change from hereon out. He was done running, done letting others take away his happiness. The reason he had helped Derek, because he would be a part of this Hale Pack, was going to help rebuild it. And now he was going to claim his soulmates, both of them. He was going to be better, this time around. A better Left Hand – and he had taken the first step toward that by killing Gerard – and a better soulmate.
He was going to achieve the latter by no longer letting anyone take his soulmates away from him. As Chris’ soulmate, he would be able to fast-track the divorce. Victoria was going to hate it, might fight them on it to keep the Argent name and influence. Yes, it would be easier to just rip out her throat. However, things were more complicated than that. She was the mother of Christopher’s daughter and if Peter wanted his mate, then he couldn’t have Chris’ daughter hate him for killing her mother. So a divorce, trying to reason with the woman.
“Victoria is dead,” Chris whispered into the dark kitchen, not meeting Peter’s eyes. “So are you.”
For a moment, Peter just sat quietly, letting that sink in. Well, how convenient. He got up and walked over to Chris to cup his face, gentle and careful, making the hunter look at him. It took Chris a few seconds to realize that this was real, Peter was real. Steel-blue eyes widened and then Chris’ arms wrapped around Peter’s waist tightly, hugging him.
“H… How…?” Chris asked, his voice shaky.
“Oh, Christopher, did you really think I would leave you just like that?” Peter teased, pressing a kiss to Chris’ jaw. “I like the beard, it suits you. Gives you more of a… silver fox vibe.”
Chris huffed out a shaky laugh, his arms tightening even more. “I love you. I love you so much, Peter. I wish I never left you, I wish… I wish so many things.”
“Wishes are for stars, my moon,” Peter whispered with a small, sad smile, pressing a chaste kiss to Chris’ lips. “We can’t change the past. But we can forge a future, together. Finally.”
He clung onto Chris near desperately, fearing to lose his soulmate again. He didn’t think he could survive that, even after all the things he had survived. Chris let go of Peter’s waist and for a long second, Peter’s heart was about to break. But then Chris grabbed Peter’s face and pulled him into a deep, desperate kiss, filled with years of longing. Peter melted into the kiss, taking a shuttering breath afterward. He leaned his forehead against Chris’ and tried to regain his bearings. They remained embraced for minutes that might have as well been hours.
“What… happened to your wife?” Peter asked softly.
“Do you really want to know?” Chris asked, huffing out a rough laugh.
Peter gently caressed Chris’ cheeks with his thumbs. “She mattered to you. She was the mother of your daughter. I want you, Christopher. And the years we spent apart are as much a part of you and me as the few short years we had together. Your daughter is an important part of your life and if I want to be a part of your life… I will have to play nice with her too, won’t I?”
He offered a crooked smile and got another breathless laugh from Chris, who leaned forward to bury his face in Peter’s neck. His hands went back to Peter’s hips, holding him close. Peter would be happy to spend the rest of his life in this embrace, if not for the ache. Their missing piece.
“Victoria tried to kill Scott, so Derek bit her. She… turned. And took her own life before she could…” Chris sucked in a breath. “I helped her end her life. She was… I may not have been in love with her, but for so many years, she was all I had, she was my… best friend. And now she is dead. And it… it fucked Allison up, Peter. I… I failed my daughter.”
The tall, proud hunter seemed so fragile and small in his arms in that moment. All Peter could do was hold him tight and close. The house stood dark and quiet around them.
“Where is your daughter?” Peter asked, brushing his lips against Chris’ temple.
“With her friend, Lydia,” Chris heaved a sigh. “Tonight was… The kanima, Jackson, he’s Lydia’s boyfriend. The girl is rattled, I thought… I thought it would do both girls some good to be together. Victoria’s death made Allison… sharper. And Gerard, he… he twisted his way in. I want her with Lydia right now, because I need her to remember herself. I can’t lose her, Peter. Not her.”
Chris looked at Peter with more despair than Peter had ever seen. He leaned in to kiss his hunter briefly, trying to reassure him. Chris relaxed, at least a little. And then he tensed up again.
“There’s something I need to do, Peter,” Chris whispered and then hesitated. “And… And something I need to tell you. My father, he had… he had two of Derek’s Betas in his basement and… and a human boy, a friend of Allison’s. I don’t know how much you remember from your time as a feral Alpha – you seem much more put-together now, I hope…”
“I remember everything,” Peter interrupted with a sharp twist of his lips.
Chris’ eyes filled with grief and he sagged into Peter’s arms once more. “Stiles, Scott’s friend, he… he was down there too. I need to find my father. He hurt Stiles and I need… I can’t let him hurt Stiles again, I know he will if he has the chance. Stiles, he’s… he…”
Peter raised his eyebrows surprised when Chris’ hand went to his clothed forearm, rubbing it subconsciously. Ah, wonderful. So Christopher already knew they had a third and knew that it was Stiles. And he seemed protective of their third too. Peter loved when things worked out in his favor. He had feared he’d need to convince Christopher that a teenager was their soulmate.
“I know,” Peter rolled up his sleeve to show off his own completed mark. “While I was… out of my mind, I had taken Stiles, I wanted to use his smarts. When I touched him, my mark completed.”
Chris stared in awe and then ran gentle fingers over it. The moon, the tree and the wolf. Then, he rolled up his own sleeve to show his matching mark. A low purr rumbled in Peter’s chest as he reached out to touch the mark too. Chris shuddered at his touch and leaned in once more.
“I noticed Stiles’ injuries,” Peter whispered tilting his head to fit his face into Chris’ neck. “And I noticed Gerard’s scent on him. He’s never going to hurt either of you again, I made sure of that.”
Chris in his arms went rigid for a long minute, before he seemed to lose all tension. A sob wrecked the hunter and he held tightly onto Peter. All the wolf could do was hold his mate and soothe him. Though Peter wasn’t entirely sure if it was grief or relief. It was probably a painful combination of both. Twisted, bigoted and abusive as he may have been, Peter remembered how Chris used to talk about his father when they were teenagers. About hunting trips with his dad, how Gerard had taught him how to make bullets, the first silver bullet they had made together. Even among all the twisted darkness and evil, there had been some good moments, times that he had been a father to Chris.
“What do we do?” Chris asked once he was calmed down again. “About the boy.”
“I… do not know,” Peter admitted reluctantly, his brows furrowing. “I haven’t planned ahead that far. To be fair, I’m relatively freshly out of my grave and already helped undo a kanima, killed a threat to my soulmates and have rekindled with you. I’ve been busy.”
Chris huffed out a laugh that was more sad than amused and shook his head. “I love you.”
Peter’s heart jumped and he gave a jerky nod. “I love you too, Christopher. And I think… it will be frighteningly easy to fall in love with that fierce, clever and brave boy.”
“Yeah,” Chris sounded positively wrecked at that. “If he’ll even talk to us. I… I only touched him because I was physically hauling him around, threatening him. I threatened his best friend, repeatedly. I’ve been… I’ve been one of the things he had to fear in these past months.”
Peter couldn’t help the humorless laugh at that. “Welcome to the club, dear. So have I. I doubt he will be over the moon about having the wolf who bit his best friend and mauled the girl he took to prom. Which, admittedly, was only partially because I needed her banshee powers for my potential resurrection and mostly because her scent was all over our mate.”
“Jealous wolf,” Chris hummed with furrowed brows. “You attacked Lydia. Stiles and Allison’s important friend Lydia. That’s… going to make things… harder.”
“Tell me about it,” Peter heaved a sigh. “We really got our work cut out for us.”
“We’ll just have to prove to him that we’re no longer a threat to his friends and would never hurt him,” Chris’ eyes steeled with determination. “I tried… I let the two wolves go, and drove them home to make sure they’d be safe. Dropped Stiles off at home afterward. I tried to make him see that I will change my ways. We’ll just keep doing that, until he trusts us. Until he accepts us.”
/break\
Stiles had no idea who his soulmate was. Which had been normal for the first sixteen years of his life. Most people who hadn’t touched their soulmate yet didn’t know who they were. For a while, Stiles had deluded himself into thinking it was Lydia, until they first touched in kindergarten and nothing happened. Then she touched Jackson and it was the first time Stiles met a pair of soulmates among his peers. It deflated his mood just a little, but his dreams of an epic fairy tale romance didn’t die with that. He’d grown up with the stories of his mom and dad, after all, and deep down he had always known he was meant for the same intense romance. Hopefully without the tragedy.
Somehow, Stiles managed to get the tragedy part even before the first kiss. Because he didn’t know who is soulmate was exactly, but he could narrow it down to two suspects: Peter Hale or Chris Argent. Both… not exactly Prince Charming types. More the Disney villains, the hunter who shot Bambi’s mom and Scar. Peter definitely had Scar vibes.
Stiles’ soul-mark had completed on one of the most eventful days in Stiles’ life. Prom night, he got to go with Lydia – as friends, but still, it had been nice – Lydia got mauled, Stiles got kidnapped by Peter Hale – touched by Peter Hale – and later on threatened by Chris Argent – touched by Chris Argent – just to end the night by setting Peter on fire and watching Derek tear out his uncle’s throat.
When he went to shower and wash off the smell of smoke and burned flesh, he saw that his mark had changed. Next to his tree now sat a howling wolf and above it was a bright moon. The only two people he had touched for the first time that day had been Chris and Peter. And the problem was that Stiles’ mark would fit either one of them, it didn’t give enough definite clue either way.
Sure, a wolf and moon for Peter, the werewolf, howling at the moon. But the moon was also silver – like the silver arrow that had appeared on Scott’s wrist after he had first touched Allison, because the Argents were silver – and the Argent symbol was a wolf. Stiles had seen Allison’s silver necklace himself, after all. The werewolf hunters used a wolf as their mark, so a silver moon and a wolf could as well represent Chris as it could represent Peter. Either way, he was fucked.
Not that he had a lot of time to dwell on that and think about what that could mean for him, really. Between Derek biting half his classmates and causing more trouble than helping, the kanima attacks, the growing rift between Stiles and his dad, Allison’s evil grandpa, and lacrosse? Well, Stiles had many more life threatening issues to deal with than whether or not he could have a happily ever after with Chris, if he was his soulmate. Chances were it was Peter and Stiles had officially burned his only chance at happiness. And just maybe Stiles was trying to distract himself with literally anything else so he didn’t have to think about the guilt.
Because what did it say about him that his soulmate was either a murderous werewolf or a murderous hunter? The fact that he’d helped kill Peter probably said also a lot. He couldn’t think about any of this, he couldn’t think about the possibility of having killed his soulmate.
And then he got kidnapped by Gerard and tortured in Chris’ basement and how was this his life?
At least Chris got him, Boyd and Erica out of that basement and home safely. So his maybe potential soulmate wasn’t as heartless and bigoted as his father. Yay for that he supposed.
Still, things were… exhausting and confusing. Scott hadn’t even asked about Stiles’ injuries, Derek had left with his tail between his legs, Lydia was now occupied by her recently resurrected and fully werewolved soulmate. So Stiles spent a lot of time with Erica and Boyd, because that experience in the basement had forged a kind of bond between them. And somehow, he ended up helping them rekindle things with Derek. Which ended up with Stiles establishing his place in the Hale Pack too.
“How are you alive,” Stiles whispered baffled, staring at the wolf on the spiral staircase, before whirling around to stare at Derek. “Is he a zombie? Are zombies real? Do we now have to deal with zombie werewolves? Or is he a ghost? …Wait, are you seeing him too, or am I just hallucinating?”
Derek heaved a tired sigh and shot Stiles a glare. “He’s real. And alive.”
“How,” Stiles said that one word with a lot of emphasis.
Somehow, the glower on Derek’s face deepened even more and he turned away. Great. So the Alpha didn’t know either. Peter just sat there, on the stairs, looking like he had no care in the world. Infuriatingly handsome and smug. Kind of made Stiles want to punch him in the face.
“Okay, different question then: Why is he here?” Stiles asked, shooting Derek a look. “Like, you really don’t need the reminder that he killed your sister. And he bit Scott. And attacked Lydia. And generally spent months terrorizing us and killing people!”
Stiles motioned widely for emphasis, because Derek didn’t seem to get it. Derek glared deeper. How was that even physically possible. Those eyebrows were their own entities. Peter chuckled lightly and the urge to punch his handsome, smug face grew stronger.
“He’s pack,” Derek forced out, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
Stiles opened his mouth and readied himself for an argument. It fully deflated when he saw the look in Derek’s eyes. Right. Not just pack, but family. Family when Derek had absolutely nobody else. Stiles knew that feeling – though his dad was not a serial killer werewolf. But that intense feeling of only having each other, Stiles could understand how that may override some things. Heaving a sigh, Stiles turned to look at Peter. He was wearing a long-sleeve v-neck, deeply cut and showing off Peter’s collarbone in a very distracting manner. Why did both his potential soulmates have to be unfairly attractive? It would be so much easier if they wouldn’t both appeal to him like that.
“If you ever lay a hand on anyone I care about again, I’ll set you on fire again,” Stiles warned.
And Peter, the absolute weirdo and creep that he was, just grinned. All sharp teeth and delight.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, sweetheart. No need to worry about that. Your little friends were tools I needed, and I was less sane when I used them. I’m much better now, thanks for asking.”
Stiles narrowed his eyes, trying to find a lie or deceit in those words, but he couldn’t, so he just nodded. So his potential soulmate problem was back to two living suspects. One of whom claimed to be all better now. Stiles just needed to figure out which one was his soulmate. And then he needed to figure out what to do with that information.
/break\
When summer ended, it stopped mattering which one was Stiles’ soulmate.
Chris Argent started working with the Hale Pack, trying to make up for the sins of his family or whatever. So Chris and Allison hung out with the pack, patrolled and planned with the pack, helped them free Cora Hale from a bank vault where the Alpha Pack was holding her hostage to blackmail Derek. Which was a problem, because Chris was very attractive and very competent.
Another problem was that all of that applied to Peter too. The man was working with the pack, to prove himself a part of the pack since things with Derek were super rocky and he hadn’t known any of the other Beta wolves. Peter too was very attractive and very competent. Working with him to figure out what the vault was made of had been so smooth and easy. Stiles wasn’t used to that, to working with someone who understood his leaps in logic. The wolf could follow and could supply information where Stiles needed it, could keep Stiles on track when needed.
Stiles ended up working with Chris and Peter on research, making their way through old tomes from the Hale Vault and from the Argent library and bestiary. Nobody else wanted to do research – Jackson, Isaac, Boyd and Erica ran from that and volunteered themselves for patrol, Lydia refused to be in the same room as Peter, so did Scott for that matter, and Allison was helping Lydia learn about her banshee powers and giving her some self-defense training. Which left Stiles alone with Chris and Peter, doing research. Getting to see them be competent and smart and hot.
The longer he worked with them, the more he found himself… wanting them. And his mind and heart were still confused by which one of them was his soulmate, so he found himself drawn to both, because either one could be his soulmate. It was frustrating.
It became devastating when summer came to an end. Because that was when Stiles came to the startling realization that Chris and Peter were a couple. He should have noticed sooner. Months of working with them and he had been blind to the glances and the lingering touches. Looking back at them, he saw the evidence with embarrassing clarity. Chris and Peter were together.
It didn’t matter which one was his soulmate, because whichever it was, he had chosen someone else over Stiles. And it made sense, he supposed. Stiles was twenty years younger than either of them, so his soulmate had spent actual decades waiting for him. Of course he’d grown tired of waiting at one point. Had gone looking for love and apparently found it. The kick to the guts was that Stiles was right there though. And whether his soulmate was Peter or Chris, surely the other must have noticed when their soul-mark finally completed after all these years. But neither said anything to him, instead they just continued being in a relationship with each other.
It was funny, in a painful horrible way that made Stiles want to cry, that he had thought it didn’t matter which of them was his soulmate because why would he want a murderous, dangerous villain who threatened his friends? Now that both of them were working hard on redeeming themselves, working with Stiles and his friends, and only murdered those who attacked their pack first… Now, neither of them were a viable option anymore, because they’d chosen each other.
Whoever Stiles’ soulmate was, he didn’t want Stiles. And that… that hurt more than it should.
/break\
Chris was doing his best to prove himself to Stiles. He wasn’t doing it just for Stiles, he also was doing it for Allison, because he refused to watch his daughter become like Kate, or worse, like Gerard. The longer he worked with the pack, the more invested he got in the kids, and in Derek. He liked working with the pack, training the teens. The longer he worked with the pack, the more he fell for Stiles. Wicked smart pretty boy. It was impossible not to fall for him.
Peter liked to say that they were getting through to the boy, albeit slowly. Chris knew he was right. Stiles trusted them, to a certain degree at least. They worked together will, they ate dinner together when they ran late. Stiles and Peter would banter with no end, where Chris was usually the one to rein them both in. They would talk about the research they had done and Chris loved helping Stiles figure something out. Chris loved how perfectly Stiles fit with them.
“When are we going to talk to him?” Chris asked softly, staring at Stiles with longing.
The boy was sprawled out on the couch, one arm curled beneath his cheek as he laid sideways and stared at a book that he was holding up with the other. Peter was making dinner for them and Chris had gone to set the table. The domesticity of the moment was filling him with longing.
“We do work well together, he relies on us, to a certain degree, which implies trust…” Peter pursed his lips and turned to stare at Stiles with as much longing. “Maybe it’s time we talk. He is far less hostile than he used to be when we started working together.”
Chris straightened at that and smiled before kissing his wolf. He grabbed Peter by the waist and pulled him toward the living room, under mild protests from Peter about dinner. Chris had waited too many months now – guilt keeping him from telling Stiles at first, and then he worked hard to be good enough for the boy. Maybe he was, by now. Or at least good enough to talk about things, about what potential they had with their clever boy.
“Stiles,” Chris whispered gently, sitting down opposite the boy. “Can we talk?”
“No,” Stiles grumbled, his nose wrinkling. “I wanna finish this chapter before Peter finishes dinner. I know you, you’ll try to pry the book from my hand because ‘no research during dinner’.”
Chris huffed out a fond laugh at Stiles’ bad imitation of him, while Peter chuckled. “Sweetheart, these books are worth far too much to risk you getting tomato sauce on them.”
“Fair,” Stiles glared at him, and when they didn’t budge, put his book down. “What is it?”
He sighed and sat up, staring at them both. Chris turned to exchange a look with Peter. They had never really talked about how to talk to Stiles about it. They needed him to know that it was his decision. After all they had done, both Chris and Peter understood why Stiles hadn’t enthusiastically leaped into their arms and declared his undying love to them. Chris slowly rolled up his sleeve, figuring that was the clearest way to start this conversation. When the mark became visible, Stiles sucked in a breath and tensed, his own hand flying to his own arm.
“It’s time we talk about this,” Chris whispered gently. “About us.”
Stiles averted his eyes, glaring at the ground. “I started to think you just want to… not address that. Because, like, I get it. You two have each other. You don’t need, or want, me. That’s fine. I get it. No need for you to say it out loud. I know I’m… I’m a lot. I’m exhausting to be around, I’m too loud and too much of a smart-ass for my own good. You have each other and are happy and that’s great, no need for me to get between you. We can just… just continue the way we have been.”
Chris frowned deeply and rested a hand on Peter’s thigh, holding onto his wolf for support. Was Stiles really suggesting that Chris and Peter had chosen each other over Stiles? Peter leaned forward to cup Stiles’ face and make the boy look up at him. There were tears in the corners of his eyes.
“I’m sorry if our actions made you believe that we don’t want you,” Peter’s voice was gentle and urgent. “Considering you didn’t say anything, we assumed that we needed to… earn your trust and respect first. I know I have no right to ask anything of you, after what I’ve done to the people you love, I know how fiercely you care about your loved ones.”
“...What?” Stiles asked, looking very confused, his eyes going from Peter to Chris.
Peter let go of Stiles and rolled up his own sleeve, his fingers running down his own arm. “When my mark finally completed, I knew I had to bring myself back, I had to meet you, properly.”
Stiles’ eyes widened even more at that, his breath hitching and his eyes going from Peter’s arm to Chris’. “Holy shit, we’re a triad. That… That makes so much sense. But triads are so rare, it didn’t even cross my mind that this could be an option!”
Chris frowned deeply in confusion at that. He got up and walked to sit next to Stiles instead of opposite him. He cupped the boy’s cheek and, for a long moment, got lost in Stiles’ eyes.
“What, exactly, did you think was going on, baby?” Chris asked softly.
Stiles twisted his face out of Chris’ hand and bit his lip nervously. “I thought… I mean, I knew my soulmate had to be one of you, because you were the only two people I touched for the first time that day. But I assumed it was only one of you.”
“...Oh, you touched us on the same day,” Peter whispered surprised. “That… I understand how that might have led to some kind of… confusion for you.”
“Yeah,” Stiles raised both his eyebrows and glared at the wolf. “I figured I must have touched my soulmate, singular, and that it had to be one of you.”
“Okay,” Chris nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “And what did you think was going on here? If you only thought that one of us was your soulmate?”
“I thought…” Stiles swallowed hard and shrugged. “I mean, I… You’re both significantly older than me, so I assumed what whichever of you is my soulmate just got tired of waiting to find me and you two got together, fell in love, had some Shakespearean levels of tragic romance. And now that I’m here… I just… didn’t matter, compared to what you have.”
Stiles’ voice got very small toward the end and he ducked his head. Peter gave a low growl and moved to sit on Stiles’ other side, pulling the boy close and looking deep into his eyes.
“You are not too much and you are not something either of us got stuck with, Mieczysław,” Peter spoke with firm conviction. “I’m sorry we gave you that impression. We thought… We thought we were too much for you, we’ve both done… horrible things, and it affected the people close to you. I was sure that we first needed to show you that we’re capable of more, that could be worthy of you, before making a move on you.”
Stiles swallowed hard and blinked wet eyes at the wolf. Chris rested a hand on Stiles’ lower back, pulling both his soulmates closer, feeling protective and possessive in that moment of vulnerability. Their brave boy had thought he wasn’t wanted, when they had thought they didn’t deserve o be wanted by him yet. He wished he could undo that.
“I’m sorry we hurt you, baby,” Chris whispered into Stiles’ ear. “We never meant to. I thought we were doing right by you, by giving you space and time to get to know us and learn to trust us.”
“I do,” Stiles admitted softly. “Trust you.”
Chris smiled warmly at him. “Let me make it clear: We did not choose each other over you. I want you, sweet boy, I want you as desperately as I want Peter. You’re meant to be mine and I don’t want to give up on you. Do you… Do you think you would… give us a chance?”
He held his breath after that, looking worried at their boy. Stiles held all the cards now, it was his choice. If Stiles decided he didn’t want them, then Chris was going to take a step back. They may be soulmates, but somehow, even in their attempt to do right by Stiles, they had managed to hurt him. Chris would understand if even the bond wasn’t enough to keep Stiles with them.
“I want you so badly that it hurts,” Stiles admitted softly, his fingers curling into Chris’ shirt, his other hand reaching out to grab Peter’s shirt as desperately. “I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t want you, either of you, regardless of which one was my soulmate, because of everything. And then you had to go and be heroic and help the pack and be so smart and hot while doing it and… and I kinda fell for you, even without meaning to. It… really hurt when I thought you guys were just… happy without me and didn’t need me. Didn’t want me.”
“We do. Very much,” Peter declared fiercely, nosing along Stiles’ neck and inhaling deeply. “I want you so badly, sweetheart. You’re perfect, you aren’t too much, you are perfect the way you are. So clever and bright, delightful and beautiful, absolutely perfect for us.”
“Peter’s right,” Chris agreed, pressing a kiss to the other side of Stiles’ neck. “Please forgive us, and give us a chance to show you just how precious you are to us.”
“O… Okay,” Stiles’ voice cracked a little and he clung tightly onto them. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Smiling, Chris lifted his face enough so he could steal a proper kiss from Stiles. His cheeks were red, his eyes wide and his lips pink and shiny when their kiss broke. And he looked even more wrecked when Peter was done kissing him. A smile spread over Stiles’ lips and Chris swore to himself, he was going to spend every day trying to make Stiles smile.
~*~ The End ~*~