Work Text:
The legend says that Lycaon had been turned into a wolf by Zeus after he tried to trick him into eating human meat. The transformation, though, turned out to be a gift for Lycaon rather than a curse because as a wolf he could keep killing animals and humans to satisfy his blood thirst. Lycaon wandered from one village to the other, killing sheep, dogs, horses and humans as well. Humans, whose faith in Zeus wasn’t as strong as it had once been, thought that Lycaon was a creature sent by Zeus to destroy mankind. When Hermes told Zeus about what people on Erath believed, the god decided that he had to do something to stop Lycaon and, upon his wife’s suggestion, he went down on earth among humans to find the beast. When he found Lycaon he tried to turn him into a human again but, instead of turning him, his soul split in two parts, one stayed within Lycaon’s body and the other half originated a new creature, a beautiful woman. As soon as he had the woman by his side, Lycaon stopped killing innocent people and his blood thirst was finally quenched , the woman was Lycaon’s soulmate and their bond worked as an anchor for Lycaon. That day the deities promised that every born werewolf will have a soulmate to complete him, to make him stronger and keep him anchored to its human part. No one knows exactly why everyone has a soulmate but what every werewolf knows is that somewhere in the world there’s someone to whom they’re bonded with the strongest bond.
Derek knew his mom and dad were soulmates and he knew also that his aunt Susan was not uncle Peter’s soulmate. Werewolves who didn’t find their soulmate could easily live a happy life and form a family with someone else, instead werewolves who found their soulmate couldn’t bear the idea of a life without their other half. They didn’t talk about him much but Peter and Talia had another brother, Ben, who killed himself after his soulmate was killed by hunters. For him, a life without his soulmate wasn’t a life worth living. Finding your soulmate was at the same time the best and worst thing that could happen to a werewolf.
Derek knew a lot of things about mates when he met Stiles, but that night his mother still sat with him in the kitchen and explained him some important things that Derek had to know even if he was too young to understand.
“Your mate is human,” she said with a sigh that had Derek wonder if it was a bad thing. Talia picked up on her son’s confusion and explained, “See, the bond between mates works both ways, when you find and claim your mate you and your mate become stronger werewolves.”
Derek quirked an eyebrow, “Does this mean that because Stiles is human I won’t be stronger? Won’t there be a bond between us?”
Talia smiled reassuringly and took her son’s hand and asked, “How did you know Jake had hurt Stiles?”
“I felt it.”
“See? This means that there’s a bond between you two, it’s weak but it will become stronger once you claim Stiles by mating him.”
Derek beamed but became thoughtful almost immediately, “What does it mean that I have to mate him?”
“Ask me again in five years and I’ll tell you,” Talia mumbled, trying to avoid the subject. Derek nodded, he will ask Laura sooner or later, he can’t wait five years.
“And don’t ask Laura. Or Peter,” Talia added, making Derek flush bright red. “They won’t tell you.”
Then Talia expression turned serious and she sighed again before saying, “Humans don’t have mates so Stiles might not understand what this means for you, he might not understand how important he is to you.” Derek frowned.
“Derek, what I’m trying to say is that he might not want to be your mate. Humans are free to chose who they want to be with, and he might decide to be with someone else. He might not want to be your mate and be with you for the rest of his life.”
Derek’s eyes became so huge that Talia was worried her son might burst into tears, she took his hands in hers and waited for her son to look at her again. “If you spend time with him, your bond will grow stronger and he might feel the connection. When you’re both old enough you should tell him that he’s your mate and let him decide if he wants to spend his life with you or not.”
“But I want to spend the rest of my life with him!” The ten years old pouted.
“Relationships work both ways, it’s not about what you want or what he wants, it’s about what you both want, compromises and sacrifice. I don’t want to scare you, Derek, but you have to understand that tomorrow you can’t go and tell Stiles that he’s your mate. Not yet. And once you do you can’t expect him to accept to be your mate, whatever he chooses to do, you’ll have to respect his decision even if it’s not what you want, even if it hurts you, you can’t be selfish. I know this doesn’t sound happy Love is when you’ll do everything, especially things you don’t like, just to make your mate smile. Love isn’t easy, Derek, you will understand better when you’re older.”
Derek nodded, he understood perfectly. Since he couldn’t mate Stiles, whatever that meant, he was determined to spend as much time as possible with him to strengthen their bond. He went to sleep with that thought in mind.
The next day Derek didn’t see Stiles until lunch break, Stiles was sitting on his favorite bench eating one of his two sandwiches, alone like always. He didn’t look up when Derek sat down next to him. “I don’t like the tuna one,” Stiles said looking at his two sandwiches.
Derek smiled, unwrapping his sandwich and offering it to Stiles, “You can take mine, it’s ham and cheese.”
Stiles smiled brightly and reached out to take Derek’s sandwich but he stopped before grabbing it, “You sure you don’t mind tuna?”
“I don’t mind at all,” Derek said putting his sandwich into Stiles’ tiny hands as he took Stiles’ tuna sandwich. Derek hated tuna, or better, he simply hated fish, he thought it might be the wolf in him because no one in his family eats fish. Derek tried not to make a disgusted face as he ate the first bite of his sandwich, when he swallowed and looked up, he was greeted with a look of utter joy. Derek decided that he’d eat all fishes in the ocean if it would make Stiles happy. In that moment, while eating a disgusting tuna sandwich, Derek realized that he would do anything to make Stiles happy.
“Why don’t you tell your dad that you don’t like tuna sandwiches?” Derek asked, taking another bite.
Stiles shrugged chewing his sandwich, “He doesn’t have time to do the shopping every day but there’s always tuna in the house so he makes tuna sandwiches, I don’t want to make him feel bad by telling him that I don’t like his sandwiches.”
After that Derek fell in love with Stiles a little more.
Derek didn’t see Stiles at the end of school, he spotted his sister who was going home with a friend of hers and, resigned, he climbed into Laura’s car.
“Why are you so sad, Derek?”
Derek shrugged, “I wanted to wait for Stiles and ask him to come home with me, but I didn’t see him.”
“Maybe he had gotten out of school earlier than you,” Laura assumed, starting the car and driving away from school.
“Can I ask you something?”
Laura nodded, “Yep.”
“What does it mean that I have to mate Stiles?”
Laura almost crashed the car into a tree. But she still didn’t tell him.
*
Derek and Stiles spent time together every day during lunchtime, it wasn’t enough for Derek, but he knew it was all he could get. He was constantly thinking about Stiles and during spring break he refused to get out of his room, he was almost in physical pain being parted by his mate. To distract the boy from his misery, Peter took him and Cora to the playground hoping that maybe playing with other kids would distract him enough to forget Stiles even if just for few hours.
As soon as they got to the park Cora had run to the slides but Derek didn’t even move, he was sad and he felt alone and lost in a new way.
“Let’s go get some ice cream,” Peter suggested and they walked to the ice cream truck just a few feet away. Derek took a cone with a big scoop of mint and chocolate, ice cream seemed to make him feel a little better. Derek thanked his uncle for the ice cream and trotted in the direction of the swing set, he sat on one swing to eat his ice cream. The swings were under the shadow of a big tree but it was a hot morning and some melted ice cream was running down his fingers making his fingers sticky.
While Derek was eating his ice cream Cora sat on the swing next to his, slurping an orange popsicle. “Come play with me,” she whined.
“What do you want to play?”
“Hide and seek,” Cora mumbled munching her popsicle.
Derek snorted and stood from the swing, brushing the crumbs of his cone away from his shirt, “Hide and seek is not fun.”
“It is. When we play it at school I always win,” Cora said following her brother.
“That’s because you can hear people’s heartbeats. And smell them.”
“Exactly.”
Derek rolled his eyes, “That’s cheating, Cora.”
Cora sulked and returned to the slides, she didn’t want to play with Derek anymore.
Derek shook his head at his sister’s behavior and walked to the small fountain to wash the ice cream away from his hands. He was busy scrubbing chocolate off his fingernails when he smelled something familiar in the air, something that smelled like cinnamon, milk and freshly baked cookies. Stiles. He looked around to find his mate but, at first, he couldn’t find him. He saw John sitting with his uncle peter on a bench and the two of them were talking, like friends usually do. Maybe Stiles’ father and his uncle were friends, that would be awesome, he could take advantage of the situation to spend more time with his mate.
Derek looked around himself again and suddenly he saw Stiles. The kid was riding a blue bike around the park, wearing his favorite superman T-shirt and a bright red helmet. At one point Stiles fell off his bike and Derek, on instinct, leaped towards him to make sure he was okay. Before he could get to him though, Stiles had already gotten up from the ground and was on his bike again, happily riding around the park. Stiles seemed to have a lot of fun with his bike and Derek didn’t want to interrupt him, so he just sat on the swings again and watched his friend enjoying his bike. When Stiles noticed Derek watching him, he made a sharp turn with his bike while waving at Derek with one hand, the bike swayed dangerously but Stiles managed to keep it balanced and rode his bike to the swings.
“Whatcha doin’ here?” Stiles asked as he climbed off this new bike and struggled with the strings of his helmet.
Derek shrugged, “Peter took Cora and me here.”
Stiles’ eyes beamed and he looked around, searching. “Is Cora here?” he asked.
“Why?” Derek almost snarled, frowning hard at Stiles.
The younger boy, noticing his friends’ reaction, bit his lower lip nervously, “I just wanted to say hi.”
That seemed to calm Derek because his sour expression turned into a smile, “Sure. We can go find her,” he suggested.
Stiles nodded, “I should give my bike to dad before we go.”
Derek nodded and together they walked towards the bench where John and Peter were sitting together, now laughing at distant memories. Derek guessed they were in high school together or something like that.
“Derek!” John greeted him, “Your uncle Peter and I are good friends. I haven’t seen your mother in a while before that day at school and that’s why I didn’t recognized her. I knew you both looked familiar.”
“Oh that’s cool,” Derek said. It was a good thing Peter and John were friends, Derek thought that maybe John knew about werewolves.
“I’ll go play hide and seek with Derek and Cora now,” Stiles said handing the bike and his helmet to his dad.
John ruffled his son’s hair, “Okay but be careful and watch where you run.”
Stiles nodded vigorously and then took Derek’s by his hand and they both ran towards the slides where Cora was. While the three of them played hide and seek together (Cora even let Stiles win from time to time, but only because he was her friend and not because Derek had threatened her), Peter decided that this was the right time to tell John what they found out.
Telling John was Talia’s idea, John knew about werewolves and she thought that he deserved to know that Stiles was tied to Derek. Talia wanted to tell him herself, both as Derek’s mother and the alpha of the Hale pack, and Peter argued that since John was his friend it would have been easier for him to break the news to him. At the end they decided that whoever say John first would tell him.
“Derek found his mate,” Peter said while they were watching the kids play.
“That’s good to hear,” John said. As a human he can’t quite understand the importance of a mate but he knew it was something very important. “Who is the lucky girl?”
Peter didn’t take his eyes off from the kids, “It’s a boy, actually.”
“Oh,” John sounded surprised but not in a bad way. “Isn’t it against mating purposes?”
Peter shook his head, “Not really. Mates are not only about procreation, is a lot more complicated than that. Soulmates complete each other, it’s a powerful bond between two people which makes both of them stronger.”
“I guess it’s another werewolf then.”
“Not unless Stiles is one and you didn’t tell me,” Peter smirked.
John almost chocked on thin air, “What? Derek and Stiles are mates?”
“Yes, but only when Stiles lets Derek claim him,” Peter said, causing the sheriff to become even paler than before.
“In that case, you might want to remember him that I have a gun, I know he can heal but I’ll make sure it hurts.”
Peter laughed, relieved that his friend had taken the news well. “No mating before Stiles is eighteen, understood.”
They watched the kids play in complete silence for a while, Cora was trying to track Derek and Stiles who were hidden together behind a big oak.
“I’m glad it’s Derek,” John admitted.
“We’re all glad it’s Stiles.”
“I’m not going to tell him, you know, not until it’s time. He doesn’t know about werewolves yet. I’ll tell him everything when he’ll be older and ready. Maybe Derek should tell him,” John suggested. Peter didn’t say anything, he knew that whatever John decided to do was going to be the right thing.
When the sheriff called Stiles because it was time to go home, the child pouted because he didn’t want to leave his friends.
“Your friends can come over whenever they want,” John informed Stiles who shrieked in happiness and bounced on the spot, thanking his father.
Derek and Cora both beamed, they would be happy to spend more time with Stiles, especially Derek.
“Oh and Derek,” John called before they walked to their car. “You uncle Peter told me the good news. Congratulations.”
Derek blushed bright red and mumbled a small thanks, only when they were in the car driving home Peter told him that what John said meant that he accepted Derek as Stiles’ mate. Derek couldn’t be happier.
Derek learnt that love is happiness.
*
After that morning at the park, Derek and Stiles spent almost every afternoon together. They would do their homework together after school and Derek sometimes helped Stiles with his even though the boy was too proud to ask for help, they would play together, watch movies and talk until the sheriff came to take Stiles home. Everybody in the Hale family liked Stiles, Talia always made his favorite cookies and Laura, who didn’t like kids, found him adorable and she even volunteered to babysit him when the sheriff had to work in the afternoons or at evenings. When Laura babysat Stiles, Derek was always with them and they would play together until they both fell asleep either on Stiles’ bed or on the living room carpet. Derek liked spending his afternoons at Stiles’, they did many things together, the kid had a wide collection of comic books and a rocking horse that they used to play cowboys.
During the summer Derek and Stiles would spend entire days together, camped in a makeshift tent in the Hale’s preserve, eating sandwiches and playing all day. They would chase each other around the woods and Derek showed Stiles his favorite places in the preserve, places that became special to both of them. Laura had explained to Cora the importance of the time her brother and Stiles spent together, it was meant to strengthen their bond so that maybe even Stiles could feel it.
Nothing changed until Stiles turned eight and became a third grade student. On a Wednesday Derek came to Stiles’ house (he was old enough to go to his friend’s house on his own) and found another kid playing with his mate. The kid, who Derek later realized was of the same age of Stiles and was one of his classmates, was showing Stiles some comic books that were presumably his. Before he could decide whether he should stay or go back to his house, Stiles ran in his direction and hugged him. “Derek!” he greeted, taking his hand and tugging him towards the porch where the other kid was sitting. “This is my friend Scott,” he said pointing to the kid.
“Hi,” Scott said awkwardly waving at Derek who distractedly waved back. He didn’t like that Stiles had a new friend, to him Scott was a threat, Scott was trying to take his mate away from him.
“Scott, this is Derek. Derek is my best friend, he’s older though so he doesn’t come to our school,” Stiles explained to Scott. “He is Cora’s older brother.”
Once they had been introduced, Stiles made Derek sit on the porch next to him and started talking. “Scott was showing me his favorite comic books. Scott likes Marvel better than DC and he agrees that Iron Man is the best. The problem is that he says that X-Men are lousy, which is not true, because Wolverine is super cool.”
“Is not,” Scott replied childishly.
“It is. I mean, he has adamantium claws and bones, he has super senses, he is stronger and heals faster than humans.”
Derek was so proud of Stiles that he had to restrain himself from hugging him tight. He was not Wolverine but he and the superhero had many things in common, he made a mental note that Stiles liked Wolverine because he had a feeling it would come in handy in five or so years when he’ll have to tell Stiles his true nature.
The two ten years old started arguing over Wolverine until Derek suggested they all go inside and watch the X-Men movie together. Stiles was ecstatic and rushed inside, fumbling through his collection of DVDs to find the X-Men one. While Stiles was searching Scott spotted a DVD that piqued his interest.
“What’s this?” he asked showing Stiles a DVD of Star Wars.
Stiles gaped and the X-Men DVD he was holding fell to the floor. “You’ve never seen Star Wars?”
Scott shook his head.
Stiles turned to Derek and pointed accusingly at Scott, “He has never seen Star Wars!” Stiles cried incredulous. “Oh my god, you need to watch Star Wars. On Saturday we can have a Star Wars marathon together,” Stiles suggested.
The other two kids agreed and settled down on the couch to watch X-Men. Derek wasn’t too happy that Scott was there with them.
Over the next days Stiles and Scott became close friends and wherever Stiles was, there was always Scott with him. For Derek it was almost impossible to spend time alone with Stiles, Scott wasn’t around only at nights when Laura was babysitting him. Derek actually liked Scott and he enjoyed hanging out with both Stiles and Scott but he still craved spending time alone with his mate.
Stiles told Derek about school. He told him that he started playing lacrosse together with Scott, and that even if they weren’t good at lacrosse, they still enjoyed the game. Stiles made new friends on the field. The first one was Isaac, a shy blonde boy that sometimes was at Scott’s house when Stiles was there too. According to Stiles Isaac was nice but he was too attached to Scott which somehow made Stiles a little jealous. Then Stiles told him about Jackson the Jackass, who was the captain of their lacrosse team and was mean to everyone, especially Stiles because Stiles wasn’t good at lacrosse. Stiles thought that Jackson needed more love and that with real friends he could become a nicer and better person, not that Stiles was volunteering. A couple of days later Stiles told him that Jackson isn’t really a douche and Stiles was now his friend, too, even if Jackson didn’t hang out with them after school. Then there was Danny, Jackson’s best friend, which was nice with everyone and had pretty eyes. He was almost as good as Jackson at lacrosse but he didn’t practice as much as Jackson did because he was also part of the school band. During lacrosse practices Stiles met also Boyd, who is Cora’s best friend along with Erica.
Most of the time Derek and Stiles spent together was spent sitting on the couch with Stiles talking about his classmates and lacrosse, Derek listened to him and was glad to hear that Stiles had many friends that made him happy. Of course Derek was also jealous because Stiles seemed to care more about his school friend that Derek, Laura had told him it was normal because Stiles, who was eight, was supposed to have fun with kids of his own age and not with a twelve year old boy. They were friends and they had a great time together, Stiles was always thrilled to have Derek over in the afternoon or evenings, but the more he talked about his friends, the less important Derek felt. Stiles and Derek didn’t have fun together as much as Stiles had at school with his friends so Derek wanted Stiles to spend more time with his friends because he was happy to see Stiles happy, but he also didn’t want him to spend too much time with them because he was jealous.
Derek learnt that love is complicated.
*
Derek should have seen it coming. Lately Stiles had started talking about Scott and his crush for Allison. Allison was the new girl in class, Scott had fallen in love with her since the first moment he saw her. Stiles told Derek about all plans Scott came up to in order to try to make Allison like him. He shouldn’t have been too surprised when one night while they were watching cartoons Stiles scooted a bit closer and whispered, “I think I’m in love.”
Because Derek had always been too presumptuous for his own good, he had assumed that Stiles was trying to confess his love for him. Derek thought that the bond had become strong enough over the past two years that Stiles finally felt their connection. Derek was suddenly so happy that he couldn’t hide the smile blossoming on his lips.
When his mother had taught him how to fight, she had told him to never let his guard down, ‘because the moment you do, you get hurt’. So, because he had let his guard down, he should have seen the blow coming when Stiles said, “Lydia.”
Lydia. Five letters, and his world was crumbling to pieces, he could feel his heart shattering in his chest, he felt like he was drowning, he was hurt, hurt by his mate, hurt by the one person that held his heart.
“Lydia?” Derek asked, surprised.
“Yep. She’s pretty. The pretties, she has long strawberry blond hair and big eyes,” Stiles said, completely in awe.
Derek pulled his best poker face and faked a smile, “Where did you meet her?” he asked trying to sound genuinely interested.
“She’s one of my classmates but I never noticed how pretty she was before now. She is Allison’s best friend, which is cool because when I marry Lydia and Scott marries Allison our wives will be best friends and we could all hang out together.”
“Sounds cool,” Derek agreed, trying to hide his disappointment.
“It is! Lydia is perfect, I want to marry her and have many kids. Our kids will be beautiful-“ Stiles was interrupted by Derek who got up from the couch and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind himself. Derek held back his tears as he ran to his house, trying to forget what just happened, trying to forget the pain caused by rejection.
Laura came out of the kitchen as soon as her brother shoved the door shut, only to find Stiles dumbstruck on the couch, mouth still open, watching the closed door.
“What happened? Where is Derek?” Laura asked.
“He… he ran out of the house,” Stiles explained, taking a deep breath. “We were talking and suddenly he got very mad at me and left.”
Laura’s eyebrows went up in surprise, “What were you talking about?”
Stiles, who can’t hold back his tears anymore at the realization that he might have lost his best friend, threw himself in Laura’s arms and sobbed. “I told him about Lydia,” he said.
“It’s okay don’t worry,” Laura stopped him before he could say more, she knew already where this was going and she didn’t want to hear it. She was going to kick her brother’s ass as soon as she gets home. “He’s just having a bad day,” she assures.
It took more than one hour for Laura to calm Stiles and assure him that everything was going to be okay, that he hadn’t messed up his friendship with Derek and that his brother still loved him and that Stiles had done nothing wrong. Stiles, exhausted by all the crying, fell asleep earlier than usual but his sleep wasn’t as peaceful as it had been recently.
That night when Laura went home from the sheriff’s house she found Derek sitting on the front porch, his eyes red from crying.
“You’re an idiot,” she said in her best scolding tone as she stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“He loves another girl,” Derek mumbled kicking a rock. “He doesn’t want me, he will grow up and marry that girl, that’s what he wants. He’ll be happy and I’ll be alone forever.
Laura rolled her eyes at her brother’s little dramatic speech, “Quit that martyr crap and listen to me,” Laura demanded staring down at her brother. “You’re twelve, he’s eight. You’re kids. Kids, Derek. No matter how much you pretend to be a grown up because of this mate thing, you’re nothing more than a kid and you should act like it! You have a whole life to be with him and it will happen, you two will get together, it’s just going to take time.” With a sigh, Laura sat down on the porch next to her brother and continued, “He’s eight, okay? Do you remember how were you when you were eight?”
Derek shook his head but didn’t dare interrupt his sister.
“You fell for every girl you met at the playground. Every single girl, Derek. You wanted to marry Jess and have kids with her, do you even remember who Jess is?”
Again, Derek shook his head.
“Exactly!” Laura exclaimed standing up from the porch a little dramatically. Apparently the flair for the dramatic was a Hale thing. “She was my best friend when I was 15. You wanted to marry her and now you don’t even remember her! Derek, this Lydia is just a childish crush, he’ll get over it.”
Derek shook his head, “What if they get together?”
“Oh for god’s sake,” Laura rolled her eyes. “He’s eight. And human, humans don’t understand how soulmates work, Derek. Look, I know you want to be with him now but you have to give him time. When he’s old enough to understand, you’ll tell him that he’s your soulmate and see how he reacts. He’s a smart kid, Derek. He will understand how important he is to you, you just have to give him time to grow up both physically and emotionally. No matter what happens now between him and Lydia, you’re his best friend, nothing will change that.”
“I still fucked up,” Derek mumbled, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
“Listen, it’s late and I have work tomorrow, I don’t even want to scold you for cursing, so I’ll just tell you to go to bed and think of what you’re going to tell to apologize to Stiles tomorrow when I’ll go there to babysit him. He didn’t understand what happened and he thought he did something wrong. I told him he didn’t but you’ll still have to convince him that it was not his fault because if you make that poor kid cry again, I’ll make sure he will be the one without a mate for the rest of his life.”
He threw himself at Laura and hugged her tight, “You’re the best.”
“I know, I know,” Laura laughed taking a step back from the hug. “Now go to bed, it’s late and I can tell you’re tired.”
Derek went to bed, relieved that he had another chance with Stiles. He couldn’t sleep well, though, knowing that he had made his mate cry.
It was four o’clock when Derek and Laura got to the Stilinski’s to babysit Stiles. As always, the sheriff was in a rush to leave and left the house as soon as they arrived. That day Stiles wasn’t waiting for them in the living room like usual, he was in his bedroom and didn’t come downstairs to greet them. Laura prepared a plate full of chocolate chip cookies, Stiles’ favorite, and shoved it in Derek’s arms pointing to the stairs with her finger.
With the dish carefully balanced on one arm he knocked on Stiles’ door, the door was left ajar but Derek decided to give Stiles a chance to kick him out.
“Come in,” the kid said with a small voice. He didn’t sound happy like he always was and Derek’s heart hurt at the sadness in the boy’s voice. His expression changed from sorrow to happiness when he saw Derek walking into his room.
The older boy placed the dish on the bed just before Stiles jumped at him and hugged him tight. “I thought you were mad at me,” he admitted when they broke apart.
“I could never be mad at you,” Derek said sitting down on the bed with Stiles. “I’m sorry for yesterday. It was not your fault, I was just…” jealous. He couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.
Stiles took a cookie and gave it to Derek, then he shoved two in his mouth. “It’s okay,” he mumbled between bites. “Lydia is already with Jackson,” Derek shouldn’t have been too happy about that but he was downright pleased. “But even if she becomes my girlfriend, you’ll always be my best friend,” Stiles said bumping his shoulder against Derek’s as he eats another cookie. “You know I love you.”
Even if Stiles had meant it a very platonic way, Derek’s heart swelled with pride at the declaration of affection. He pulled his best friend and mate in his arms and hugged him tight, like he never wanted to let him go.
They spend the rest of the afternoon eating cookies, drinking milk and playing videogames, the events of the previous night already forgotten.
Derek learnt that love is forgiveness.
*
Things didn’t change much from there for Stiles, two years later he was still in love with Lydia, he was still very close to Scott and Laura still babysat him four days a week.
Things changed completely for Derek. He was fourteen when he realized that the age difference between them was going to be a problem at least until they both turned eighteen. Derek, like all fourteen years old, discovered his sexuality and then, in his dreams, he and Stiles did much more than just be an happy family forever. He felt dirty when he woke up in the middle of the night, panting and with his dick hard in his underwear, and not just because his pajama was soaked wet. He felt dirty because thinking about doing certain things with a ten year old boy wasn’t right, even if Stiles was his mate. Stiles was a kid and he was a teenager and thinking about doing those things was simply wrong.
Laura and his mom found out what was happening to Derek because he smelled different,
“It’s normal that you want to do such things with Stiles,” Talia had assured him. “You’re a teenager, it’s perfectly normal. Don’t beat yourself up for that, okay?”
“Don’t act on those thoughts unless you want his father to put a bullet between your eyes,” Laura had added trying to lighten the mood.
That night Talia told him what it meant to claim and mate Stiles.
Derek managed to keep his libido under control and still spend a lot of time with Stiles, they played videogames and watched superhero movies together. One night Derek wanted to kiss Stiles, just a little kiss, just to know how it feels like. It was only when Stiles handed him a fake gun and a worn-out cowboy hat asking him to play that Derek realized that Stiles was still a kid and that Derek had to wait for him to grow up, even if it was agony.
Since that day, on every full moon, when it was harder to fight back his urges, Derek didn’t go with Laura to babysat Stiles and stayed home, refusing to see his mate because he was afraid he would hurt him.
Some of his friends at school bragged about their girlfriend and what they did with them, using stupid baseball metaphors that Derek didn’t want to understand. One night in his dreams he saw Stiles as a fourteen years old, kissing Derek and doing things with him that Derek had wanted to do for a long time but couldn’t because he had to wait for Stiles to turn eighteen. But Derek was okay with giving Stiles’ time to grow up, he could wait for Stiles to turn eighteen before doing anything, in his mind he pictured himself telling Stiles the truth about them and revealing to him his real nature. Sooner or later Stiles will fall in love with him and they would finally become mates.
Derek learnt that love is waiting.
*
Just when everything seemed to be fine and Derek was happy with his life, things changed. And when things change, they always change for the worse.
It was one of the many nights Derek had spent with Stiles as Laura was babysitting him.
“Batman’s the best,” Derek stated.
Stiles shook his head, “Superman is cool because he as actual superpowers, Bruce Wayne is just a rich guy who has gadgets.”
“That sounds like Ton Stark to me,” Derek teased, Iron Man was Stiles’ favorite superhero.
“Yeah but Iron Man is Marvel,” Stiles said with an air of superiority, leaning closer to Derek. “Marvel’s way better than DC.”
Derek chuckled, “You’re right.”
“I’m always right,” Stiles joked, picking his Iron Man action figure and handing Derek the Captain America one. Stiles frowned down at the action figure in his hand and then asked, “Are Steve Rogers and Tony Stark best friends, like me and you?”
Before Derek can answer they heard sirens approaching. The tires of a car shrieked as the car stopped in front of the house, blue and red lights bathing the walls and illuminating all rooms. Laura started crying before the sheriff told them what happened.
“Dad?” Stiles asked confused as he saw his dad cross the threshold.
John didn’t say anything to Stiles and Tara, his deputy, promptly came into the living room and took Stiles upstairs. “Why don’t we go upstairs, Stiles? It’s late, you should go to bed.”
Stiles looked back at his dad as Tara did her best to drag him upstairs, “But… but Laura and Derek?” he managed to ask.
“They have to go with your dad now, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of you until he gets back home okay?” Tara said with a reassuring smile as she lead him into his bedroom.
Before the door closed behind him, Stiles heard his father telling Derek and Laura that something bad had happened and that they needed to come with him. Stiles recognized that tone, it was the same voice his dad had used to tell him that his mom had died. He didn’t ask Tara what happened, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He let the deputy tuck him into bed and they talked about Derek, comic books and school until Stiles fell asleep.
The sheriff’s car disappeared down the road, sirens blazing, with Laura and Derek inside.
The next morning John didn’t take Stiles to school. He sat down with him in the kitchen and told him what happened the night before. There had been a fire at the Hale’s house, the fire propagated quickly and the house collapsed on itself before Derek’s family could get out. Eight people had died that night, Talia, Peter and Cora among them. Stiles cried and John held him close, waiting before telling him the rest.
When Stiles had calmed down and the information had sank in, John told him that Laura had taken custody of Derek and that the two of them were already headed to New York because Laura wanted to put as many miles as possible between them and the fire, trying to start a new life and do what was best for her brother.
That was the last time Stiles saw Derek, he didn’t even get to say goodbye.
John let Stiles home from school the whole week, giving him time to mourn his friends and people he cared about. If John drank a little too much during that time, it had nothing to do with the fact that he didn’t know how to tell Stiles that he was the mate of a boy that was now miles and miles away.
The night of the fire, Derek learnt nothing about love.
*
Eventually, life went on.
Derek went to high school in New York, he met new people and made new friends, but nothing could make him forget Stiles. Now that there was the whole country separating them he knew he had to be strong and go on not only without his family but also without his mate.
Stiles and Scott become best friends, even after years he was still pining over Lydia and thought about his friend every day. One day Scott had told him that he was obsessing with Lydia, who he knew he couldn’t have, just to forget Derek. Stiles had brushed him off, telling him that he was crazy, but deep down he knew Scott was right. Stiles didn’t know how to contact Derek, how to talk to him, how to make sure he was doing okay. Stiles assumed that maybe Derek had forgotten the annoying ten years old kid with a weird name, who preferred Marvel over DC and hated tuna sandwiches.
One day Laura told Derek that she had proof that their house had been burned down by the hunters and, less than two weeks later, she finally found out who had caused the fire. She told Derek to stay in New York and wait for her to come back because she had to go back to Beacon Hills to avenge her family. She didn’t want Derek to come because as a sister and the alpha it was her instinct to protect her brother from what she knew was a suicidal mission. Laura couldn’t live until she took apart piece by piece who destroyed their family.
Laura left one morning with a small suitcase in the truck of her car, promising to Derek that she will be back in less than a month.
Laura never came back.
With nothing to lose and a duffle bag with all his belongings, Derek came back to Beacon Hills. He buried his sister behind their house and wondered what to do with his life. He had no friends, no family, no pack. He had nothing. The only thing left was a sixteen years old mate that probably didn’t even remember him.
He took Laura’s car, a black shiny Camaro, and drove around Beacon Hills, down streets that were familiar yet new to him. He drove past Stiles’ house just to see if Stiles still lived there and, almost by accident, he heard a familiar heartbeat and a scent that he couldn’t quite define but that reminded him of milk, cookies and a sunny day.
It was only when he saw a familiar shadow at the window that he decided to pull the car into the driveway, next to an old blue jeep. The front door burst open as soon as he got out of the car and next he found himself holding a teenager in his arms.
“Derek! I thought I would never see you again,” Stiles exclaimed, clinging to Derek’s neck and wrapping his legs around the man’s middle.
Derek caught Stiles only thanks to his werewolf senses and buried his face into Stiles’ neck, letting the familiar scent surround him, “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“Don’t you ever leave me again,” Stiles whispered. Derek’s brain almost shut down when he felt soft lips capturing his own into a heated kiss. It was like a rush of electricity went down Derek’s spine, it was their bond becoming stronger than ever before.
Stiles pulled back after what felt like ages and seconds at the same time. He laughed at Derek’s confused expression, he pressed another kiss to Derek’s cheek and then whispered, “My dad told me everything. When they found Laura he knew you were coming back, so he told me. I’m sorry for Laura, by the way, she was great. I’m sorry for your family, for everything, Derek. I should have been there for you.”
Derek cupped Stiles’ cheeks in his hand, “It’s okay. You were too young. I’m just sorry I left you.” They were both silent for a moment and Derek, who wanted to break the tension before they both ended up crying, asked, “What did your dad tell you?”
“He told me that you’re a werewolf and told me the importance of a mate. I figured I was your before he said it. Sorry it took me so long,” Stiles bit his lower lip.
Derek kissed him again, it was slower and tender this time. “We both needed time to grow up,” Derek said as he pulled back for air and for the first time he meant it.
When Stiles pulled back from one desperate and needy kiss, Derek noticed that Stiles’ skin was flushed red and that his heartbeat was faster than before.
“So uh… Dad told me about the actual mating part. The one that it’s not supposed to happen until I’m sixteen.”
Derek scoffed a laugh, “I’m so glad he did it, it would have been so embarrassing.”
“Do you want to come inside and, you know, spend some time with your mate?”
“Technically, you’re not my mate yet. Not until I claim you properly,” Derek teased.
“Then why wasting more time? We already waited enough,” Stiles took Derek’s hand and linked their fingers together. He tugged Derek inside and kicked the door shut. They had to make up for six years of being apart.
Derek learnt that love is many things, but above all, love is eternal.