Some Werewolf Easter Traditions?
Just Fluff! Legit
"Can I ask you about them?" Stiles asked his boyfriend gently, not because he was afraid of Derek but because he would rather shoot himself in the foot than hurt his partner. Derek looked up from the book he was reading to frown at Stiles who was standing near the living room table which was more of a fold up card table than anything. Stiles asked him about three months into their relationship if he was willing to trade the long metal table in for something that Stiles had actually move around instead of that 'metal monstrosity' as the eighteen-year-old had called it.
"Stiles, I already told you I would answer any questions you have about anything, which includes my family."
The younger human grinned then moved over to the loveseat that was sitting in the middle of the Stilinski living room and Derek moved his arms out of the way so Stiles could sink into his lap. He wrapped his arms around Derek's shoulder and cuddled in as close as he could. Derek just set his book down and was glad that they had been open with the Sheriff about their relationship from the get-go otherwise they wouldn't be here. Stiles was incapable of being near Derek without touching him. Though the alpha werewolf didn't seem to have too much of a problem with his closeness.
"So, I know we are going to be here with my dad for lunch then spending some time with the others for dinner, the pack and all. I'm just curious about what you did with your family during Easter…before everything that happened?"
Stiles watched as Derek thought things over, what to say and how to say it without feeling everything that went with it. He wondered if there would ever be a time when Derek could just blurt something out without sending it through the filter of 'that's going to hurt if I talk about it' but until then he was glad to wait. He just used the opportunity to press his fingers through Derek's hair, scratching lightly at the scalp at the back of his head. Derek pressed into the caress and Stiles smiled at the move. They had come a long way in this relationship, Stiles mostly believed when Derek complimented his body and Derek accepted loving gestures when Stiles was willing and able to give them. It didn't make everything perfect but it did delight Stiles that they could do this with each other.
"Well Easter is a religious/children's holiday. I understand the whole 'He is risen' thing but being werewolves and taught that we were monsters and an abomination in God's eyes made it so most werewolf families and packs aren't necessarily attached to the idea of Christianity. Much like homosexuals and so on, it's hard to believe in a benevolent something or other when the 'normals' were constantly telling you that your evil because you share you mind and body with that of a wolf. Anyway, that's a whole other thing that we don't need to talk about right now."
Stiles grinned and pressed a kiss to Derek's stubbly cheek, "I would have it with you."
"I know you would Stiles," Derek said with a small smile, "So, we celebrate holidays around the moon but Easter is one that kind of snuck in because we had human children in our pack and we had friends outside the pack and searching for hidden eggs is really easy when you're a werewolf."
"You cheat," Stiles chortled though he would have done exactly that as a child.
Derek shrugged, "I presented pretty young, it was one of the reasons I struggled for a while, mom worried about me a lot but then Paige and—" Suddenly Derek stopped and Stiles waited for a moment then pressed his palm into the side of Derek's neck finding the skin there a little clammy, this conversation was getting to him a little at a time.
"You presented pretty young and so you were ace at finding eggs?"
Derek nodded, heaving a sigh of relief for Stiles bringing him back on track. "But I always gave them to the other kids. But we were always coming home with chocolate bunnies and candy and because we were werewolves, the candy might give us a fast and hard sugar high but that was about it. You don't see fat werewolves because of the metabolism."
"Yeah," Stiles snorted.
"I know you know everything," Derek said with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, we ended up hosting egg hunts on the Preserve for the little kids, it was a way for my mom to bring us out of the forest and into the world of humans. It was a way for the people of Beacon Hills to see us as something other than eccentric hermits. Good all around. Then we would eat lunch and play in the woods, shifting and running around. It was always just for fun, sometimes we would hunt but mostly we would just run. Together. Then we would curl up in a pile in the living room and watch movies together, mom would shush people without ever meaning it. Peter would quote literally everything in that smug tone that he would do. Once upon a time, Stiles, we were just a family. A normal family that celebrated being alive and together."
Stiles could feel the tension and sadness starting to shudder through him so he hugged Derek close, "Normal?" he snorted, "You're a werewolf. You went running and hunting in the woods. I will give that you had traditions and you had this big 'ole family but you weren't normal."
Derek chuckled, which was a gift. It wasn't that long ago that Derek had been trying so desperately to be 'normal' that a sentence like that would have cut deeply. They had done a lot for each other in this thing and Stiles couldn't help but be really happy they'd each given each other a chance to have this.
Derek watched as Stiles bounded over to the front door like an overgrown puppy and invited his dad into the loft. Derek stood by the table where he'd put together some sandwiches and potato salad. It wasn't very fancy but he didn't do fancy plus the idea of watching Stiles try to force the salad he'd made onto his father's plate instead of the bacon-filled potato salad was going to be as fun as it had been at Christmas.
The Sheriff hugged his son then walked over to Derek with a grin on his face, his arms open for a hug. Derek slipped his hands around the older man's shoulders and sank a little into the parental comfort, tucking his nose into the man's collar that seemed to always smell like gun oil and sweat. Noah didn't say anything about the scent-marking, Stiles didn't make fun of him for it because the one time he had, Derek had shut down for days. Derek spoke to Stiles about it finally and told him that he couldn't help but be comforted by someone who smelled like Stiles and there was something like parental comfort and pride. It was impossible to explain in a way that a human would understand but it hadn't mattered, the next to they'd all gone out to lunch Stiles had shoved Derek into his dad's arms and just grinned while they hugged and trade a couple of hard slaps to each other's backs.
The Sheriff released Derek after a moment and they headed to the table and the fight for Noah's cholesterol began before they were even sitting, "Potato salad with the bacon Derek? Ah son, you are too good to me!"
"No, Dad I made some salad!"
"How do you 'make' salad son?" Noah said as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it's not like cereal Dad! I had to chop things and toss them together to make a lovely salad and you are going to eat it."
"Only one kind of salad on this table I want to eat son, and it's not yours."
Derek flushed under the look of adoration that Noah was heaping down on him, it was mostly aimed towards the food that his son was now forcibly removing from his dad's grip and Derek smiled as they continued to grapple with it until Derek became concerned that someone was going to end up wearing it. He served some to both other men at the table to Stiles's whispered, "Kiss ass."
The conversation carried around the table and it steered clear of the supernatural or whatever the newest case at the Sheriff's department was, instead Stiles yammered on about his college course and Noah spoke about the new gal at his favorite coffee stand that seemed to always know what everyone was up to, including Stiles some of the time. Noah listened as Derek shared about one of his new projects, they weren't anything special but he'd been woodworking for the past couple of months. The weird thing about his life, knowing that there was enough money in his account that he didn't have to worry about bills so he'd recently started looking into hobbies. When he started doing woodworking, he was able to build furniture and people were starting to notice his work because Stiles kept posting pictures of his work all over the internet and he'd lovingly rolled his eyes and let him keep doing it.
Lunch came to an end with laughter and full stomachs. Noah left with a Tupperware container full of the potato salad despite the glare of doom coming from Stiles. Derek reveled in the hug from the Sheriff, wondering how he ended up lucky enough to not only have Stiles but also Noah in his life. They waved the cruiser off as they both loaded up into the Camaro and headed out to the preserve. There was already a blanket and a picnic basket full of snacks and a plan to meet Scott, Kira, Lydia and Malia out there as well as the new pups: Scott's pack. Derek pulled up in the driveway of the old house and looked around into the distance where he'd recently finished clearing a new plot of land. He could just barely see where the hole was being dug for the new place.
"When is the foundation going in?" Stiles asked as the younger man clambered out of the vehicle and they both looked out there. The others weren't there yet, they could spend this moment together looking out towards the future. It had taken a lot of coaxing on Stiles's part for Derek to even consider the idea of rebuilding the Hale house especially because it required reclaiming the land but he'd done it. The Sheriff had stepped up and helped with dealing with the lawyers and the rulings of the court, he vouched for Derek and shared a little about what he'd gone through and the last remaining Hale, from a prominent family in the county shouldn't have to grovel to have his land. Derek had found himself tearing up more than once at all the work the Sheriff had done to help him and he'd held Stiles's hand through it all. And now he loved the idea of building a future, something that would include Stiles if he was lucky.
"Next month, I think. I am going to be out here a lot I think. I promise to get back to the loft whenever you want to spend the night though," Derek rushed to add but Stiles just nodded and hugged him from behind.
"You think I'm not going to be out here every second I can be, helping you with this then you don't know me as well as you think you do."
Derek flushed with pleasure, pressing a kiss to Stiles's temple, only contorting his neck a little since his boyfriend's chin had naturally landed on Derek's shoulder as they stood there. There was a honk as Scott's car came down the path and Derek and Stiles both turned to wave at them. It didn't take long for everyone to join before they were piling food baskets and blankets over arms and backs and they set off into the woods. Derek smiled, thinking about the not at all surprising turn of events. When he'd shared about the running with his family on Easter, he'd known the exact moment when Stiles reached out to the others and told them that things were changing for their plans. He didn't care that it wouldn't be a surprise, Derek only cared that Stiles had done just one more loving thing. He'd been determined ever since they started dating that he would vow to give Derek happier memories, that though he would never be 'over' what happened to him, there would be happy memories again.
They found one of the many clearings and settled in for a quick bite to eat before they went running, the shift and actual running can drain even a werewolf's abilities, the extra calories helped with the collapse afterwards, something that Stiles knew because he was one of their resident werewolf geniuses even though he wasn't a werewolf. Ever since that day in the woods when Scott had been turned, Stiles had always been the one to find out what they needed to know, even if that meant pushing Derek into giving up information that he normally wouldn't have handed to a human.
After they were done demolishing all the food that was brought Derek stood up and Stiles followed close behind though he wasn't going to be running, neither was Lydia, he always stood at Derek's side now. A true partner in their world and the others treated him as such. Well except for Lydia, she always treated Stiles like he was her brother.
"I know why we're here, besides spending time together."
Stiles gasped, faux horrified that his surprise had been 'ruined' by the werewolf boyfriend but they both knew he wasn't upset. He smelled happy, a scent Derek was never going to get sick of smelling on his loving partner.
"I am so pleased that you would all join me here for this special Hale Easter Tradition. This holiday hadn't ever meant much to my family in the traditional sense, we would look for eggs because of the community and the other children in our family, but right now just before it would start getting dark we would take to the Preserve and run together and now I am pleased to ask you to join me."
He turned to Stiles, pulled him in close and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Run with me?"
"No, Derek, you know I can't run with you guys," Stiles said with a smile though he did seem a little sad about it. Derek turned and held his arms back so Stiles would get the memo and jump on his back which his boyfriend did pretty quickly as everyone started their shift. Scott leaned down to help Lydia up onto his back as well so no one was going to be left behind.
Stiles leaned in and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the side of Derek's neck, just under his ear causing the werewolf to tremble under the sudden onset of lust for his partner just as Stiles whispered into the shell of his ear, "Did your family make sure to run with your human members?"
"Of course," Derek husked, "They are pack."
"I love you Derek, Happy Easter Moon Run."
Derek rolled his eyes with a grin, "We are not calling it that."
"Why not?" Stiles chortled as he tightened his arms around Derek as the werewolf started running to catch up with the others, "The moon is out and its Easter and we are running. Why you gotsta take all my fun?"
"Why you 'gotsta' name everything?" Derek returned.
Stiles just threw his head back a little and laughed, causing Derek to stumble a little before he righted himself. He didn't need anything else then, he was running with his pack. This was family and he had Stiles and there was nothing out here that was going to hurt anymore of his people.
"Love you Stiles. Happy Easter."
Stiles tightened his arms around Derek and pressed another kiss to the side of his neck, making the werewolf stumble to a stop. He pulled Stiles down off his back and glared at the smirking boyfriend, "Do you want to land in the dirt?" he demanded.
Stiles's eyebrows waggled, "What the matter Sourwolf? Am I too much for you? A sexy monkey on your back?" he chortled, throwing his head back with a gut-deep laugh that had Derek grabbing him by the hands and swinging him around gently, enough to move the younger man but not enough that he wouldn't be able to stop or pull away. Derek pressed Stiles up against the nearest tree and pressed himself as close as possible. Stiles gasped which was perfect because Derek dove for his lips and pressed in close. His hands gripped Stiles's waist gently, his tongue licking along Stiles's lips and tongue and teeth, tasting the lingering tastes from lunch and coffee. Stiles always tasted a little like coffee, even when he wasn't drinking any, it was like he drank so much that it had become a part of him, much like the smell of ink and computers. Derek loved everything about Stiles's scent and taste.
He felt as Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek's neck again, his leg lifting to awkward wind around the back of his hip, hoping that he would have the body strength to hoist himself even closer. Derek just reached behind Stiles, pulling him away from the trunk so he could lift Stiles. His boyfriend gasped and wrapped his legs around the werewolf's waist and laughed.
"There leaving us in the dust Sourwolf, I thought you wanted to run."
"You don't want to make out, pressed against a tree in the Preserve?" Derek asked, pressing small kisses to the side of Stiles's neck.
"Well yeah but we could always come back to this. How often do the two packs run together?"
Derek looked down and around the, listening to the distant sounds of movement in the forest, the growls and the snaps as the werewolves played and tumbled as well as the laughter, "We could make it a thing we did more often?" he asked quietly.
Stiles pressed a hand against his cheek and brought Derek's gaze back to his, "Yeah we can do that love. I want to make all the traditions with you."
"Even werewolf ones?" Derek asked with a small hopeful smile.
"Especially the werewolf ones, it's a part of you and that's never going to change and I love all of you. I want to celebrate that."
"Then we will," Derek said and realized despite their proximity, the erection that had been raging was going down. He moved away from the tree, moved Stiles easily from the front of his body to the back of him before he started running to the laughter and stilted words of "Mush Sourwolf! We can win this!" from Stiles and he had to laugh because when did this get to be his life and god how did he ever deserve to have it. He would do anything to keep it.
He couldn't wait for all the traditions they were going to make together.
