AN:I've been gone for a bit by a bit I mean a good few months, some may call it about a year, it's all in perspective. Start showing me TV and I'll hop back out of my shadows where I was hibernating. But I'll also go back to season two and pretend nothing else happened. This is what I write at 4am when I have a doctors appointment the next day. I don't know why I went back and edited it, I just did. It was a huge debate to post. I also apparently have issues writing monogamy(whoops) though I've no idea why. But hey, someone may enjoy this.
Pairings: Scott/Allison, Lydia/Jackson, Scott/Allison/Lydia/Jackson, Scott/Allison/Lydia/Jackson/Stiles and mentions of Erica/Boyd/Issac.
Summary: It's a pack thing, they were just unaware of what it was, what they were doing wrong and what they were missing.
Stiles knew exactly what he was going to deal with when they actually decided to call themselves a pack, he also knew exactly who convinced Jackson to admit that they were a pack. Derek had pointed it out before they even knew it and it took an entire summer to admit what every other werewolf in Beacon Hills knew. It was a little too obvious that when they had become a pack, Stiles would inevitably be the fifth wheel to the two couples. Scott had just assumed that's the worst thing Stiles would be in the pack was the fifth wheel on outings and all four of them tried their best to make sure that the human didn't feel left out. They may have made a small mistake somewhere in between that, completely unaware of how harmful it could have been.
Scott thinks it was Lydia's suggestion – it was – but his assumption was probably based off of how innocent he likes to think Allison is and how against it he believed Jackson was. Later, he learns Lydia had invited Danny once but the Hawaiian teen wasn't interested at all. Scott thinks it might be a pack thing that him and Allison decided it was okay the night she finally brought it up to him. She calls it sharing, he's not quite sure that's what it is. He is sure no one else is convinced they're simply sharing. But it works, as a pack, it works. Some nights he'll go over to Lydia's instead of Allison's, sometimes the girls would sit and watch, other times he comes over to see Lydia over Allison. There's never a blurring of lines, they're never confused on what it is even if they can't really put a name to it. It just works.
They keep it to themselves when the school year starts, no one needs to know. It's not anyone's business but there's. People see them as two couples, Scott usually sees them as one. He's pretty sure Derek's betas have an idea about what's going on but they don't actually say anything. He notices weird looks from the three directed at his pack sometimes, looks he can't really decipher. They don't talk much, it's not because they don't get along, in fact they get along great, especially when it comes to danger and threats now. They're two separate packs, it's much better that way, but sometimes – usually only when they need to, they behave like one. They can work as a team. It doesn't register to Scott that maybe what the four of them were doing was important to one other person.
It slips out on accident, they weren't hiding it from Stiles, they just didn't want to shove anything in his face yet. It felt too soon to talk about it. But he still rambles on about how great Allison is, how perfect she was, how great the sex was – even over Stiles' complaints – and it just comes out because it's nothing new. He says it because it's normal for him.
"Lydia and Allison though, man, God, it's...that's great." His mind doesn't even catch up to the words until he looks back at Stiles after his friend face plants on the floor. Big brown eyes stare up at him wide and shocked, then his words ring in his head.
"What did you say?" He asks as Scott's eyes follow his to widen comically. Stiles lips at parted and he licks them. "What?" There's a bit of betrayal in Stiles eyes, confusion on his face and Scott can smell arousal wafting through the air.
"Don't get mad." Scott says quickly. "It's a thing we do-" He doesn't get to finish as Stiles seems startled at this, cutting him off to clarify.
"You and...Allison and...Lydia?"
"And Jackson."
"And Jackson?" Stiles croaks out, pushing himself to sit back on the chair as Scott nods. "Right, right, that makes sense." He nods, his lips still parted and his brows still furrowed. Scott waits, trying to predict the reaction after the initial shock. Stiles' mind seems to be going over the information that Scott just presented him with before he nods again, his face relaxing a bit as he thinks of the words to say. "Is it, I mean, good?"
"It's really good." Scott says, his friend nodding and leaving it at that. Scott feels a sense of guilt when the arousal seems to get filtered out by pain. He wants to tell Stiles that it didn't change anything between the pack, that if it bothered him they would stop. He kind of wants to say anything in order to make up for not telling him earlier and for being a douchebag friend but Stiles just seems to brush it off. Whenever he tries to bring it up Stiles would cut him off obnoxiously before he can get too many words out and bring up something else.
Scott decides against telling any of them he let it slip. He's not sure why he doesn't tell them sometime that weekend or even that Monday at school. They deserved to know but he refrains from doing so, just like he does about bringing it up in front of Stiles again. That all comes crashing down once lunch rolls around. They're all sitting and talking, waiting for Stiles to join them like he usually does. Scott glances over to him, his voice failing as his words stop causing the rest of the pack to follow his gaze. Stiles' brown eyes look like they belong to a terrified animal who was trapped by a predator. He quickly plants himself next to Derek's back, sliding down at the curious glances and casting his eyes downwards. Lydia turns to him first.
"What did you do?" She asks, eyes glaring in the way they did whenever someone tried to approach or hurt Stiles. Allison turns to him and tilts her head while Jackson looks at Lydia before looking to Scott.
"It was an accident." He hastily replies, hoping to explain it without anyone getting upset with him.
"What was an accident?" The way her words are sharp make it seem like she's not really asking but rather demanding. It doesn't sound like a question but Scott knows better, he knew he had screwed up.
"Stiles know." Scott lowers his voice and Jackson snaps his head back to Stiles who seems to be getting interrogated over with the other betas.
"He knows? How does he know?" The blond co-captain asks and Scott sighs, slumping slightly.
"It slipped out. I was talking and it slipped out, he caught it before I did." Once the words are out of Scott's mouth they demand to hear the whole story, following with trying to figure out if Stiles was truly okay with this or if it was going to bother him. They wouldn't do it if it bothered him. They couldn't do it if it bothered him.
Things change, not drastically but enough that it bothers the couples. Stiles changes with the way he acts around them, his behavior is different and occasionally he leaves them alone, opting to do something by himself or with Derek's pack. It scares them. It takes two week filled with questions and clarifications before Erica tells them what they did wrong, probably because she like him the best out of the three betas. Erica and Boyd had formed a bit of a bond with their human after Gerard, Erica more-so from the incident in the library as well. They had been worried before this came out that he might take a turn to their pack instead and now it was even more of a scare. Erica sets them straight, with crossed arms and a threatening face.
"Stiles didn't care if he was the fifth wheel." She had explained.
"He isn't." They had defended. She just rolled her eyes with a smirk that said she knew more than she let on.
"He doesn't understand. You don't really understand." She spoke to them, as if trying to tell them something without actually saying it. She tells them about when he first sat with them a few weeks ago, how his eyes kept darting over to them, how he noticed the closeness of her, Boyd and Issac. She says he was curious, he wanted to know if Derek had started something with them but he didn't, he wouldn't. "We had though. The three of us. We started something." She told them, explaining how even if it wasn't sex, it was just to be closer and spend the night together. "It was pack." She told them, eyeing them as they nod in understanding. It had made sense that they started it and that it flowed so well because it was pack. She sighed. "Stiles is confused on his place with you guys, he feels like the odd man out. He doesn't belong with us and he doesn't belong to you." Her words are chosen carefully and Lydia leans a little closer.
"But he knows he's pack?" Allison's voice is quiet as she questions the fear everyone felt rising up in their chests. Erica sighs and raises a brow.
"He didn't mind being a fifth wheel to two couples...he doesn't feel like a fifth wheel with one." She tells them and it kind of goes unsaid that he feels left out instead. They feel bad long after she's left them alone. It's silent for a while as they take in the information as they think about it longer.
"We may have messed up."
Stiles stares at his computer screen and rubs at his face, stifling a yawn. He eyes his bed before turning his attention back to the computer. He thinks briefly that if he just takes a little nap that he could figure out whatever the hell it was that was beating on Beacon Hills this time. They hadn't gotten anywhere in figuring out yet, they're not even sure if it's supernatural yet and he admits that he might just be so deep into it so that he can focus on something other than the pack. His eyes snap over, his chair following, to the door at a knock on the open door. He looks to his best friend who stands there, leaning against the wall. He has that look on his face that Stiles has seen too often these past few days.
"Hey." Stiles mumbles anyhow, leaning back in his chair a bit as he waits for Scott to say it. To say something about the big...thing he was doing with the pack.
"Can we talk?"
"If it's about..." He gestures with his hands "I really don't want to hear about how great it is right now or anything." Scott bites his lip as Stiles twirls the chair back to face the computer. The werewolf looks down to his phone before glancing back up.
"Actually it's not." Stiles lifts his head, turning it to look at Scott without turning his whole body around to face his friend. "Lydia needs to talk to you about something in the bestiary."
"Why didn't she come here?" In response Scott just raises a brow that makes Stiles nod and turn to get up. "Right, yeah, okay. Jeep?"
"Nah, I got my bike." Stiles eyes Scott wearily but Scott knows he genuinely likes it better than he lets on. "It is faster." Plus, Scott drives ten times more cautious with Stiles than anyone else, which Scott wasn't actually consciously aware of until recently. And on top of all that, it gets Stiles where they need him to be to talk.
"Fine," Stiles relents. "But if I barf you're taking the fall." Scott grins as Stiles passes him and follows the human out of the house. He hands over his helmet when they get to the bike, making sure it's on properly before settling on the bike. Stiles' hands wrap and tighten around him the second he's on the bike, the way they always do, and Scott moves them lower without his best friend noticing as they take off. The scent of arousal fills Scott's senses in a way it usually does when taking Stiles for a ride, his best friend sliding a bit closer to ask "I thought you said Lydia's"
"She's at Jackson." Scott lies in reply, making sure Stiles can hear him. "She called me to get you." Scott hates lying but Stiles just settles against him before tensing briefly.
"Any idea what it's about?" Scott licks his lip and takes a sharp turn, startling a noise out of Stiles. He swallows, he didn't have a response for that question. He wasn't really expecting Stiles to realize he was heading towards Jackson's and not Lydia's until they were turning down Jackson's street and slowing. He didn't expect that question at all. But it comes again when they're sliding off the bike. "Do you know what she wants to talk about?"
"Uh..." He pause, taking the helmet from Stiles hands as he leads the way. "Something pack related." Scott decides, letting Stiles enter the house and setting the helmet down. Stiles continues to lead the way, stopping at Jackson's doorway while Scott stays behind him. Stiles frowns at the three in the room, there's a feeling inside it he can't place and he doesn't know what to do with this.
"Did something happened?" He asks, figuring that would make the most sense with the way they looked. "Is someone hurt?"
"No." Allison soothes his worry and he licks his lips.
"Then what's going on?" He's suddenly too aware of everything. Jackson's eyes trained on him, Scott's presence behind him, Allison's soft and hesitate smiles, Lydia's overwhelming yet still sweet smelling perfume. It doesn't seem like there was anyone in assistance of his help in here but it doesn't quite feel like a social call either.
"Erica told us what we didn't see." Lydia answers and Stiles frowns, tilting his head slightly. "We didn't realize we were messing up." Stiles looks back to Scott, worry etching his features.
"What did we do? Is it because of Derek's pack? Is it a Hale thi-" His sentence falls short when Scott's hands hit his waist and Lydia cuts him off.
"No." She replies with a sigh. "nothing about Derek. You didn't do anything, we did." Stiles licks his lips ash confusion filled him. He wasn't sure what was going on. Allison shifts on the bed slightly and Lydia continues. "I made the suggestion to bring Scott and Allison into bed." Scott tightens his hands when Stiles tenses, his jaw clenching. Jackson sits up a bit straighter, focusing on the human. "We offered it to Danny once. I brought it up with Allison before she knew about Scott but nothing happened until everyone was on the same page." Nothing had happened until everyone knew about werewolves and they had agreed to be a small pack.
"I don't..."
"Sh." She hisses when Stiles goes to talk, eyes narrowing slightly. His lips snap shut, causing Allison to smirk and Jackson to snort. "What I'm trying to say is that what we were doing, we weren't doing as a pack thing because we didn't know what it was..."
"It's fine." Stiles reassures, the way he has been doing since it was revealed. He brings his shoulders up in an aborted shrug, keeping them tucked tight. "I get it," He continues. "I don't know why you're explaining it."
"Because it is a pack thing, Stiles. It has always been a pack thing." The words hurt Stiles, Jackson flinches when the scent of his pain carries through the air. Scott makes a face behind him, looking to Lydia while opening his mouth to correct her wording when the human's shoulders slump. It had been the rejection he was waiting for. The newest werewolf snaps at the scent, forgets to wait for Lydia's go ahead and lunges towards the boys causing Stiles to back into Scott. Jackson's eyes don't meet Stiles' wide ones as he grips the humans jaw, pulling him forward and connecting their lips until the scent gets jumbled with something else, until it fades slightly. He can hear Lydia calling him off, her voice too gentle, too soft. There's a hand on his shoulder that he's well aware belongs to Allison and Scott tugs Stiles so the boy gets pulled away. Jackson looks to Stiles who blinks when he notices the blue eyes were just a tinge too bright, hinting Jackson was no longer in complete control.
"Whuh?" It's barely a sound that slips through the human's lips. Jackson leans against the wall, close but not too close, worried but not too worried. Jackson looks to Lydia.
"You said it wrong." Jackson accuses his girlfriend who raises a brow. She nods to him, waving him to continue. Stiles eyes snap to her and then back to Jackson, confused and unsure, a little lost. Jackson's eyes are normal when they look back to Stiles. "It wasn't the sex." He explains and Stiles just purses his lips, still confused. "That's not what she meant, it's not the sex. That's not the pack thing or at least, not yet, not in that way."
"You're not making any sense." Scott tells him and he rolls his eyes in a way Stiles was used to, a way different than this situation made everything feel.
"I'm trying." Jackson snaps back. "We were waiting. It wasn't that we knew we were waiting because otherwise we would have dropped hints but it was there. We wouldn't initiate anything because we didn't want to push you into anything you weren't ready for." It had taken hours to figure out that that's what it had been, it had taken too long for them to figure out why they hadn't initiated anything.
"We figured it out when we were talking." Stiles looks to Allison when she speaks up, his heart racing in his chest as he frowned in confusion. "We protect you, we were already basically dating. I'm sure you know the pull you feel when you're with one of us, even as a human, Lydia and I do." Stiles licks his lips, he knew very well what they were talking about. He had figured out only a few days after Scott got bit what it meant, that he had already been placed in Scott's pack before Scott even had a pack. "There was Jackson starting to protect you on the field."
"And Scott started driving the safest with you, even more than he does with them." Jackson nods towards the girls when he recalls the conversation where they had said what they already did for Stiles and what he did for them.
"Allison has your back whenever she has an arrow. She stands the closest to you." Lydia says, watching Stiles closely as his eyes avoid looking at any of them during the speech. They had decided she probably stood nearer to him because he was more likely to jump into something when Lydia wasn't.
"And Lydia glares off the other betas and assholes when she thinks they're up to no good." Scott's too close when he speaks to Stiles, who simply shakes his head. He doesn't really understand still, or well he kind of does but it's kind of frightening too. It didn't make much sense.
"But we were waiting for you, subconsciously waiting for you to initiate anything further because we didn't want to hurt you. Scott had already been with Allison and I had already been with Jackson." Stiles raises his eyes to Lydia as the strawberry blond speaks softly. "We felt safe asking them because we knew we wouldn't hurt them." Her face seems to be open, vulnerable as she speaks and Stiles looks to her. "We don't want to hurt you. We can't hurt you and we don't want to scare you away. When Scott told you..." She pauses. "We did hurt you. We didn't understand any of this even before but when we did, we brought you here so you could do and you wouldn't run."
"So this is like...some pity thing?" He asks, even though he already knows it's not true.
"No." Scott sighs, letting his head hit Stiles who once again tenses briefly. "It's a pack thing, we already date you." Stiles scoffs at that so Scott defends it, the same way he basically screamed it at them. "Jackson took you to the movies, Lydia took you to the carnival, Allison took you out to eat, and we went out into the woods." They were all simple things, things friends can do together without dating but Scott hoped he'd remember each one the way they had and be able to point out the details. Like holding hands, playing footsies and the way Jackson slung his arm around Stiles to scare off a flirty worker but didn't remove it until they parted to their vehicles at the end of the movie. "And that was long before Erica pointed out what we were doing and how we were doing it wrong. If you say no, this all stops." It's a promise, voice stern and Stiles assumes (correctly) that they had already decided that. "But Lydia meant that it's not an us this, it's a pack thing. You running away from us, sitting with the others...it hurt, it scared us." Stiles glances to see the agreement that floods through the three in front of him. "We can't lose you."
Lydia's staring at him, Allison's frowning at him, Jackson's body is too close and Scott's grip is too tight. Stiles' heart pounds in his chest and he's sure the girls can hear it because he can. He reaches down to pry the fingers off of him and Scott takes a step back, panic filling him as Stiles stands not moving. Jackson pushes himself to stand straight when Stiles broke the embrace and the girls had stood up as well, all of them waiting for him to turn and run away. He meets Jackson's eyes before looking at the girls and turning to glance at Scott. He takes in how they're waiting for him to make the next move, how they're waiting on him the same way they said they've been doing for quite some times. He looks to the floor as the revelation and the entire conversation sinks in. Lydia had asked Allison before they knew about Scott yet nothing had happened until they were actually a pack. That meant they had been given a lot of time to think about it, though he's sure none of that time was actually spent thinking about it as there were more pressing matters at the time.
Stiles knew if he walked out, wanting time to think about it they would take it to mean he didn't want this or anything to do with this and he wasn't sure what he wanted. He had been hurt when Scott said the four of them were together in a way, he had certainly felt left out and that feeling had only been amplified when the other betas had said they were sleeping or dating – it was definitely more like dating, he knows – as well. He licks his lips as those thoughts played with his head before making his decision. He looks up towards Jackson and rocks on his heels before leaning forward and letting their lips meet. The beta wastes no time in responding to the kiss and Stiles' heart basically calms in his chest, his head stops debating it. Scott's back behind him and when he pulls away to see the reactions he sees small smiles of relief and a calm sense of warmth in the room. They'd definitely had to work on this a bit but it was a pack thing.
I've really no idea what I just wrote but this is it. All errors are mine own, I apologize. It's an OTPack Thing(why yes, I do think I'm clever).