Two weeks before Christmas, Stiles noticed Derek seemed depressed. Not that there seemed to be much of a difference between normal Derek and depressed Derek, but it was noticeable to Stiles. He was the only one that noticed.
"Scott?" he asked on the way home from school one day. Scott looked at him and he continued, "have you noticed Derek's been acting depressed lately?"
"Not really," Scott said. "But I believe you."
"Its almost Christmas, I want to do something special for him."
He started forming ideas and left it at that until the next day. The pack crowded around their usual lunch table in the corner of the cafeteria. When Stiles mentioned what he told Scott the day before, the girls, Isaac, and Danny nodded their agreement. Boyd didn't say much, but Jackson looked at him like he was stupid.
"What did you have in mind?" Allison asked.
"Okay, you know how people do Secret Santa?" Stiles asked. Everyone nodded. "We won't make it secret, but we can all draw names and get someone a gift. But you have to spend a little time with that person to get a feel of what they might want."
"That's a great idea, Stiles," Lydia said, "but what makes it special for Derek?"
"We all think of something to get him and chip in for it. Who ever draws his name has to get him a regular gift though. So he gets two. His life has been pretty crappy and he hasn't had a real Christmas in a long time probably."
"I like it," Danny said. "But we need to think about what we'll get him as a group."
"Scott," Stiles said smiling like a lunatic, "we need to have a talk about something."
"Am I going to like this?" Scott asked looking scared.
"Probably not."
Scott and Stiles got up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria. When they were far enough to not be overheard, Scott asked,
"What is it?"
"I want you to talk to your mom about letting Derek stay with you around Christmas." Scott was about ready to protest when Stiles talked over him. "Its only for a short period so he can have a Christmassy environment."
"You know he'll say no and why can't he stay at your house?"
"Because I'm going to ask my dad to let Isaac stay with us. My dad makes Derek uncomfortable. And he's not going to say no. I've got it covered if he even tries. And we always have Christmas dinner together every year lately because its just you and your mom and me and my dad, so Isaac and Derek can join us this year."
"Fine. But you owe me for this."
So later that day, Stiles and Scott went their separate ways to talk to their parents. Stiles knew he wasn't going to have any trouble at all. He didn't know what Scott's mom would say though.
"Dad, can we talk?"
"Am I going to like this?"
"Funny, Scott said the exact same thing when I talked to him. Anyway, would you be willing to allow Isaac to stay here around Christmas. Scott's gonna ask his mom to let Derek stay with them. I think they should both be in a Christmassy environment and they aren't going to get that staying in that dump. And then they can join us all for Christmas dinner. I just feel bad because Derek especially has had a really crappy life, and Isaac's comes in a close second."
"You are probably the nicest person ever, Stiles. Of course Isaac can stay here."
"Thanks dad. I know I won't have an issue getting Isaac here, but if Mrs. McCall says yes about Derek, I'll have an issue getting him to go there."
"My mom said yes," Scott told him when he called a few hours later.
"My dad did too!"
"Well actually, my mom said, 'oh my God he's such a dear sure he can stay here!'" He did a terrible immiation of Melissa.
"I think that's code for 'I hope I get to see him walk around the house shirtless,'" Stiles laughed.
"Eww! Stiles, gross! That's my mom you're talking about."
"And its true. We'll go and have the talk with him tomorrow after school. I'm going to talk to Isaac at school though so Isaac can help us with Derek."
Sure enough, Isaac said yes when Stiles approached him the next day. He kept constantly questioning if it was okay with the sheriff though. Stiles told him if he asked that one more time he'd claw him up badly. He told Isaac about his idea for Derek and he agreed to help him and Scott force Derek.
"No," Derek said when they asked him.
"I'm not taking that for an answer," Stiles said. "You're doing this and you're going to enjoy it. You can't celebrate Christmas in this shithole, so you're going to Scott's. Isaac is coming to my house. I will drag your werewolf ass across town if I have to and I have back up."
"You have a werewolf ass too now, Stiles," Scott whispered.
"You're really not helping, Scott."
"Come on, Derek, Stiles is right," Isaac said.
"I said no and I mean it."
"Fine, Mrs. McCall will come and drag you home with her," Stiles said. Derek still looked unconvinced. Stiles had an idea.
Stiles spent the better part of an hour following Derek around asking him constantly. He could tell Derek was getting irritated and could lash out at any moment. He sent Stiles multiple death glares, complete with red eyes, and orders to stop. Stiles was unaffected.
"If I say yes, will you shut the hell up?" Derek growled after a long time.
"If I say yes, will you say yes?" Stiles asked.
"Yes. Now shut up. I'll go to Scott's."
Stiles shared a triumphant smirk with Scott and Isaac.
The following day, the pack met with Derek and Stiles bought up his gift giving idea. Derek looked about ready to throttle Stiles to death, but when everyone, even Jackson, threatened him he caved. Stiles assumed that was because Lydia had forced Jackson into taking part and backing up the idea.
Stiles prepared for this moment during study hall. He opened a pouch on his backpack and grabbed several slips of paper. Danny tossed him a rusty pot to drop them in.
"Alright, here are the rules. You draw your name and share it. If you pick yourself put it back and pick again. If you're the last person and you pick yourself trade with the person to your left. After this, you will get closer to the person you got and attempt to find a good gift for them based on what you've learned about them."
He passed the pot to Scott who drew Isaac. Stiles got Jackson, Jackson got Derek, Lydia got Scott, Allison got Danny, Isaac got Lydia, Danny got Boyd, Erica got Stiles, Boyd got Allison, and Derek got Erica.
Stiles stayed back after everyone else had left. It was only him, Scott, Isaac, and Derek.
"So, Derek what did your family do on Christmas? Were there any werewolf Christmas rituals? Did you go hunting during the winter solstice or something?"
"Yes, Stiles, we went hunting. For a ham and a turkey. At the grocery store, like normal people."
"Very funny," he said while Scott and Isaac laughed loudly. "That's boring though."
"What did you expect? That we went out hunting for deer in the woods and had that for Christmas dinner?"
"Yes?" Stiles said nervously. Derek just rolled his eyes.
"Stiles, I think we should go before Derek decides to commit murder," Scott said.
Stiles reluctantly agreed so they said bye to Isaac and left Derek to brood in peace. When they had drove away, Scott asked why Stiles had asked Derek that.
"Because I was thinking we should have a pack Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We have our normal family dinner on Christmas, but make it just the pack on Christmas Eve. We can exchange our gifts and cook together and everything."
"Stiles, that's actually a good idea. We can do it at my house since it's a bit bigger than yours."
"We'll discuss it with your mom and then with the pack tomorrow."
Scott's mom said that they could do what ever they wanted as long as they cleaned up afterward. She had to work on Christmas Eve so she wouldn't be home early in the day. Mrs. McCall also said she'd talk the sheriff into having their Christmas dinner at his house so she could go over there and force him to help her start the ham and turkey that evening so they wouldn't have to do it the next day.
Stiles spent quite a bit of time around Jackson over the next two days. It was pretty torturous. The two of them got along a little better but they still didn't like each other that much. Luckily Stiles thought about what to get Jackson early on and didn't have to be around Jackson anymore than usual after that.
The group sat huddled together at lunch for a few days trying to find out what to get Derek. Jackson already had an idea of what his individual gift would be so they kept thinking. In the end, it was Stiles that came up with idea and they'd have to go see someone and cough up enough money in time. He had no idea how much it would cost.
Stiles told Isaac to pack up some of his things to take to his house. He did the same to a very stubborn Derek and he actually had to resort of being physical in order to get Derek to move. He shoved Derek into the train car he slept in and talked and talked and talked until Derek told him to shut the hell up and began throwing clothes into a bag.
One more chapter for this :)
