Characters: Stiles, Isaac, Derek, Peter

Genre: Fluff

Notes: Prompted by sixchord on tumblr, "Isaac gets turned into an actual puppy". Thank you for all the prompts, by the way!

When Did You Guys Get A Puppy?

It's late, the sun is just setting and Stiles is hesitantly, slowly, so slowly it's more or less a snail's pace, walking towards the old Hale house, printed out pages of research in hand.

He doesn't know why he's doing this, why Derek asked (threatened) him to do research on mistletoe, of all things. There has to be someone else Derek can ask, can't there? Peter should know these things, shouldn't he?

Ultimately, though, it doesn't really matter because he's decided he's going to walk up there, knock on the door, hand Derek the printed out pages of everything he found on mistletoe, turn around, and leave. Then he will go to Lacrosse practice and pretend to be the normal teenage boy he unfortunately isn't.

It's just the walking up to the front door part that's causing him trouble.

He takes a deep breath, takes another step forward and is suddenly toppled over by a large puppy that if he had to guess he'd say was a german sheparard that has somehow come at him from out of nowhere. Before he can say or do anything the puppy has him on the ground and is licking his face like his face is the world's best ice cream cone.

He half laughs, half screams and does his best to get to his feet. The puppy is having none of this though and every time he tries to move, the puppy counters, pinning him. He's about to call out for, of all people, Derek (he'd call for Isaac, but Isaac generally likes him even less than Derek does) when he hears behind him, someone laughing.

He's able to twist his head just enough to see that it's Peter behind him, laughing.

A few seconds later he finally manages to get up and starts wiping at his face with every available inch of his shirt - anything to get all the dog slobber off of his face.

The whole time he's doing this, Peter just stands there, laughing like this is the most hilarious thing he's ever seen and the puppy just sort of sits there, staring at Stiles, watching him. Stiles is sure the puppy is just waiting for the right moment to pounce and start licking him again. Carefully, he bends down and grabs the papers he dropped when the puppy attacked him.

"So," Stiles says, trying to make conversation with, of all people, Peter Hale. "When did you guys get a puppy?" Why did you get a puppy is the question he really wants to ask, but he doesn't.

"We didn't," Peter says with this ridiculous grin and Stiles can't help but wonder just what's so funny about the dog. Maybe it's a stray? But how is that funny?

They walk up to the house, the puppy bounding ahead of them, and don't say anything else.

When they get to the house, the door is open and Derek is walking through the entryway with a weirdly concerned look on his face.

The puppy crashes through first and charges at Derek. Derek, however, is ready for the puppy. He catches the dog just before it reaches him and holds him still. He kneels down and looks the puppy dead in the eye. "Stay," he growls lowly and the puppy whimpers. Derek gets to his feet. "Stay," he says again. This time, the puppy sighs.

Behind Stiles, Peter closes the door and Stiles can't help but gulp - being stuck in an enclosed space with not one but two Hales is not his idea of a good time. It's not his idea of a safe time, either.

"So," Stiles says, hoping Derek will explain why all of the sudden there's a puppy and trying very hard not to think about the whole trapped with two people who have no problem with murder thing, "when did you guys get a puppy?"

"That's not a puppy. That's Isaac," says Derek, like this isn't at all strange.

"How? What? Huh?" Stiles is sure he says other things as well, but none that he really remembers. He's just stuck. How exactly is that...

Peter laughs. "Go on, Derek. Tell him how that's Isaac."

Derek growls and frowns and for a second, Stiles almost laughs because all of a sudden a thought has occurred to him - sure, Derek is excessively attractive, but with all the frowning he does, when he's older, he's going to be nothing but wrinkles. And then he's thinking about Derek and about dogs and Derek as a dog and how Derek would probably be a Shar-Pei. No, that's not quite right, Derek as he is right now would be a Rottweiler. The old man version of Derek would be a Shar Pei.

"I was reading a book," Derek says like that explains anything.

"Tell him how you were reading the book," says Peter. At this, Derek rolls his eyes.

"I was reading out loud. There. You happy now?" Derek crosses him arms and the puppy, Isaac, whines. Derek reaches down and scratches the puppy's head and it's almost sweet, which is weird because Derek is never sweet, ever.

Peter laughs again and Stiles is almost tempted to turn around and look at him, because he's sure the expression that matches that laugh must be something to see.

"I don't get it. So you were reading out loud. Lots of people do," Stiles says, not because he's in any way trying to stick up for Derek but because he just doesn't get it.

"Not spellbooks, they don't!" Peter says like this is the best punchline to any joke he's ever heard.

"Spell... Spellbooks?" Stiles stammers. Magic? There's magic and so far no one has brought this up?

"Yes. I was reading a spellbook and Isaac walked in and accidentally got hit with a transformation spell." Derek says this through gritted teeth. Stiles wonders how he and Peter have managed not to kill each other yet. Or maybe they have and reversed it. It wouldn't exactly be the first time.

"So... what you're saying is... Isaac is stuck as a dog now?" Stiles says, trying to wrap his mind around the situation and how utterly ridiculous, but also completely tragic it is.

"No," Peter says and this time he sounds not only completely serious, but kind of annoyed. "Seriously, kid, if someone was going to be stuck as a dog for the rest of their lives, you think I'd laugh about it?"

Stiles thinks it over for a second, then nods. "Well, yeah."

"Come on, I might be what you'd classify as evil, but I'm not heartless." Peter walks over to Isaac, and kneels down in front of him. He starts rubbing the spot just behind Isaac's ear and Isaac's tail starts wagging and thumping against the floor. "It'll wear off after a few hours."

"Oh," says Stiles. "Okay, then. Well..." He trails off, not sure what else to say. "Here." So he hands Derek the papers he came by to deliver, the papers that are now bent, out of order and a little dirty. "I have to go. Lacrosse practice."

As Stiles turns around and starts leaving, he can hear Peter saying something to Derek, something mocking. Derek doesn't say anything back and Isaac barks.