Author's Notes: Peter's up to something, but for now, I'll just enjoy the snarkiness as he seems to play matchmaker with his nephew's pack. Liked the finale, but why did Gerard take Stiles? Why did he let him go? And why didn't Stiles mention Boyd and Erica? Are these things that are supposed to be mysterious and we'll find out next season?
Summary: Derek doesn't understand Stiles, can't get a handle on him. Peter helps him figure out why that is.
All My Questions Contain Your Name
Scott can be an idiot, but Stiles is a fool.
He stands up when he should back down. He fights when he should run and he runs when he should have never left home in the first place. He cares and covers for those that could, and sometimes do, hurt him the most. Loyalty in the face of betrayal.
But Derek knows if you asked him, Stiles would say he liked being a fool. Better than all those stick-up-the-ass werewolves with their traditions or hunters with their Code. Even humans with their hang-ups and social tethers keeping them reigned in, tied down.
You couldn't tie Stiles down. Couldn't. He was a ball of destructive energy and outright stubbornness that refused to conform to any expectations.
Wolves were taught how to read a person, to get a handle on them. With Stiles…there was just no way. It left Derek floundering in a way he was unfamiliar with. He'd been confused about people and their actions before, but he'd always been able to figure out motives eventually. Everyone had a reason, something at the core of their being that dictated all their actions. Be it greed, affection, wrath, revenge, there was always something.
But not in this case.
Not with that damn kid.
Everything about Stiles is counterintuitive.
Even the way he saves people. A raised eyebrow and a quick slap to the back of the head for his best friend who is forever stumbling into an absurd new mess. He employs his sharp tongue with Jackson and his sharper wit with Boyd and Erica. Stiles has soft words for Lydia and compelling arguments for Issac and Allison. (Derek suspects it's because he knows they're the big thinkers of the group). But it's all in reverse. Everything.
Stiles' natural state is one of mania and scattered thoughts, but he somehow reins it in, controls it in a way that has nothing to do with any medication when he needs to; when those he values are in peril. Stiles can pull a 180 in a second and become exactly what he needs to be in the moment to keep every member of the pack safe.
Derek is no exception.
Others have saved Derek now and again. Mostly when he was still a child himself. They'd all done it the same way though. Gentle words and a light touch leading him away from danger, jumping in front of him in defense if the threat was great. Not Stiles.
All the times Stiles had saved him, all the ways, it was violent. Punching him in the face to wake him up after being shot with wolf's bane. Tearing him off the bottom of a pool almost angrily after letting him go. Shoving him and yelling at him when Derek wanted to run after the alpha threat alone and wasn't listening to him.
None of it forms a pattern and it keeps Derek constantly off balance.
They're limping back into the rail station, bloodied and battered, after a run in with the alpha pack when Derek mentions the confusion that is Stiles to his uncle. Derek still doesn't trust Peter, never will. He knows he's only waiting for an opportunity to turn on him. Still, at the moment, Derek needs him to increase his pack's chances of survival. He watches the man closely though. Constantly. So he doesn't miss the grin that spreads across Peter's face.
"What?"
Peter shakes his head and looks away. Derek follows his gaze to see Stiles and Erica helping a wounded Boyd down onto an old bench, the others settling in around them similarly to nurse their wounds. The wolves are all already healing of course. Allison is a bit mussed as Scott helps bind her shoulder, whining softly. Lydia is just sitting near Jackson since there's nothing she can do to aid in his healing. It's a testament to her worry that she hasn't complained once about the blood splattered on her jeans. The three betas are huddled together closest, Stiles at the center of them in front of Boyd. He's holding a cloth against the worst of the wounds, Issac helping while Erica clutches Boyd's hand.
Derek notes that Stiles' head pops up and thoroughly scans across all the others, assessing how they are, he realizes, before the teen turns back to Boyd and offers Issac a tight smile.
There's blood on Stiles' shirt that belongs to no one but him, his side having been raked across by one of the alphas. It's not serious, Derek knows, but it's painful. Still, Stiles is tending to the others, concerned for them over himself even though he has to know they'll heal up miles ahead of him.
This is exactly what Derek was talking about, this inexplicable behavior. Anyone would see to themselves first before helping others, even pack. Just a constant contradiction-
"I offered him the bite."
Derek pins his uncle with blood red eyes. Peter grins wider, knowingly.
"How long do you think it'll take before one of them notices him? What he can do and what he does and offers the same?" In that moment it clicks and Derek knows, even before Peter finishes his thought to drive the message home. "Or just takes?"
Loyal. Loving. Strong. Challenging.
It's everything an alpha could want. Everything Derek had resigned himself to always be searching for, never to be found. And here it is all wrapped up in human shaped packaging. All the things he thought and felt about Stiles that had been so infuriatingly confusing were suddenly so simple it made his head spin.
Derek just stares for a long time. Peter just grins.