The next day, after work, Stiles went to the Hale Mansion. He expected to find a lot of boxes in the entryway or in the living room, but there was nothing. After the amount Peter had paid, he doubted they would be late with shipping.
"Peter?"
"Upstairs!" He heard from the stairs.
Stiles went upstairs. He'd seen the entire house when it had been finished, but only the Hales went upstairs unless someone was staying the night (and that didn't happen very often). He found Peter in an empty room. Or it would be if it weren't for the mountains of bags and boxes inside. Peter was sitting on the floor with an instruction book in his hands and an open box in front of him.
"This will be his room?" Stiles asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Actually the one next door. It's not a good idea to assemble furniture there before painting or it'd have to be covered or moved."
"Well thought. This weekend I could get on with the paint. What are we assembling?" he bent down next to him and began to remove the components from the box, placing them on the floor in order.
"The changing table. We'll also assemble the crib. Leave the closet for when we can do it in the other room, so we don't have to move it."
"It'll be enough? The closet, I mean. With all the clothes you've bought."
"We'll buy another closet if necessary."
"If you keep buying him so many things, you're going to spoil him."
"Then spoil him," he replied with a shrug. Stiles snorted with a smile. "Have you told your dad that you're moving here?"
"Yeah, he has taken it much better than I expected. He knows it'd be difficult for the two of us alone, both obsessed with work."
Peter lowered the instruction book and met his eyes with a determined expression.
"Stiles, you're going to be a great father, I have no doubt about that. Yes, you became obsessed with investigations and mysteries, but you're also obsessed with taking care of others, and I know that your child will be number one on your priority list."
Stiles wanted to kiss him, right then and there, among all the boxes of furniture and toys. The drive was huge because, hell, Peter knew him so well and always knew what to say. He purposely tensed his legs and back so as not to move. It really wasn't the time, he didn't want things to get awkward if he was misreading the mood.
He did well because just a minute later Derek showed up. He looked around the room, his eyebrows twitching as if he wasn't sure what to think.
"Why did you buy so much?" he asked.
"I don't know if you remember, but babies need a lot of things. In the pack we didn't need to buy almost anything because most of the things passed of one another. But this will be the first baby of this pack, and if there are others his things will pass to them. Why don't you give us a hand?" Peter asked, waving the instruction manual.
Derek wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
"And get in the middle of that? No way."
He turned and left. Stiles looked at him confused, he wasn't sure what he meant by "that", but he didn't care that he left, he didn't feel like spending the afternoon listening to complaints or orders from the wolf. He looked at all the boxes and bags around them and thought of how much they had cost. Maybe Derek was right, maybe it was too much. Maybe in the future there will be other babies who could use it too or maybe not. It's possible that if Scott had a child he would not want to use what Peter had bought just out of stubbornness. It's possible that even he did not get to use it.
"Maybe we shouldn't assemble it yet," he muttered, though it was enough for Peter to hear.
"Why do you say that?"
"There are still more than two months left, a lot could happen."
"Could you change your mind about taking care of your son?"
"No! Of course not!" he replied, almost offended. "But... she might change her mind. She could decide to keep him."
"You said you would fight for custody."
"Shared custody," Stiles corrected him. "I'd never try to take him from his mother if she wants to be with him. The problem is... she lives in Minnesota." Peter frowned, probably thinking the same thing he did the first time he heard it: too cold, cloudy, and windy weather for a Californian. "And I couldn't have my son traveling from one side of the country to the other every two weeks or whatever the judge decides. I don't even know if they would grant me custody if that was the case."
Peter knelt, moving closer to him, and gave him a firm look.
"If we have to go live in Minnesota for you to be with him, we'll go. That child is already part of the pack, and no one is going to take him away from us. Whatever the situation, I'll make sure you get custody. Whether I have to hire a legion of lawyers or I have to do it myself."
He had used the plural, Peter was willing to move to Minnesota for him. He could only see determination and sincerity in that look and it made him feel more confident. And horny. He couldn't deny it made him horny that he was so protective of his future child, of him. If there was something he admired, it was loyalty to the family.
"Have you ever handled custody cases?" he asked and had to clear his throat.
He could hear Peter take a deep breath and his pupils dilated.
"My cases were more... financial," he said a little hoarsely, "but I'd tear them to pieces for you."
That was enough. He threw himself at Peter, knocking him off balance, and kissed him with all his energy. It was clumsy and a little desperate, their teeth colliding for a moment and his legs slamming against the pieces of the changing table. Then a hand grabbed his ass and the other the back of his neck to guide his head at the perfect angle. Stiles moaned when the kiss turned deep and passionate, no less desperate. Peter slipped one leg between his and lifted his hips. Stiles gasped for an instant and thrusted against him. He was only half hard, but if he kept up like this he would soon cum in his pants.
"Peter..." he moaned, and the wolf took the opportunity to move down his jaw, bitting slightly between kisses.
He couldn't believe he was doing this with everything that was going on. He was about to be a dad and was going to start a relationship that he didn't know where it would lead him? He didn't want to stop, but he didn't want to make a terrible mistake right now. He sat bolt upright and pulled away, panting and too hot. He watched Peter still lying on the ground, looking at him with a confused expression. Fuck, he wanted to get back on him.
"It's not that I don't want to. I really want to," he was quick to assure him so that there would be no misunderstandings.
"I can smell that," Peter said, sitting up.
Stiles rolled his eyes, it wasn't necessary to have a supernatural nose to realize how much he wanted it.
"It's just... It's a moment a little... I think we should first... talk about it...?" he babbled nervously. Good way to kill the mood.
"Of course. And whatever you decide, nothing will change about this," he assured him, gesturing toward the room in general.
Stiles sighed and his shoulders relaxed. He knew Peter was sincere, and that lifted a weight off his shoulders.
"Can we talk about it in a more comfortable place?"
Peter got up and held out his hand. They went downstairs, and Peter got a couple of drinks from the fridge and a pack of Reese's.
"Are you bribing me?" he asked, picking up the Reese's delighted.
"Sweetening the way."
They sat on the couch, one in each corner, but while Peter was relaxed with an arm on the back of the couch and his legs half stretched out, Stiles was vibrating, quite literally, in his seat. He nervously ate a cup before he could speak.
"I don't want a fling," he blurted out after swallowing the last piece. "I'm going to have a child, and although finding a girlfriend seems the most important thing to Liam, I don't mind being single. I don't want to waste my time, time that I could be spending with the baby, with a fling that won't last. I already did that in college, I've already experienced it, and it's not for me. A guy with a ten-year plan to woo someone, that's me, so if that's not what you're looking for... I'd rather you tell me as soon as possible so I can ignore my feelings for you and this doesn't turn out terribly uncomfortable."
He took a deep breath for the first time and popped another cup into his mouth to keep from rambling even more. Peter was looking at him with a smile and a calm expression. Stiles seemed the only nervous one there. He made an anxious gesture with his hand for him to start talking.
"If I wanted a fling, I wouldn't look for it in my own pack, I'm not that dumb." He omitted to say 'like Scott', but it was clear. "I told you a long time ago that I liked you and I do, in more ways than one. And the way you love and cling to those you love I couldn't think of anyone better for a long-term relationship.
Stiles lowered his head with flushed cheeks and began to twist the plastic of the wrapper between his fingers.
"You make me sound like a stalker," he muttered half jokingly.
"Loyal and protective. Two of the most important traits in our world, and you have many others." Only Peter can make that sound so dirty. Judging by the smirk on his face, Peter must have seen the effect it had on him. "Listen, Stiles, I can't be sure this will last forever, or even that it'll work, but I'd like it to. And if it doesn't, I assure you it won't affect the way I intend to spoil your child at all."
A kind of moan escaped his lips, and Stiles threw himself at the wolf for the second time. Peter adjusted his wild limbs to straddle him as Stiles attacked his mouth with all his will, but had barely caught up when he heard a growl. He raised his head to see Derek pinching his nose with his fingers and his eyes tightly closed.
"Not on the couch!" he exclaimed with a ridiculous voice because of his closed nose and practically ran off.
Stiles snorted a laugh and buried his face in Peter's neck, the wolf's chest also vibrating with laughter.
"Shall we take this to my room?" the wolf whispered in his ear.
Stiles nodded eagerly and kissed that amazing neck (he could finally do it!). The wolf growled and grabbed him by the thighs. He got up with him as if he weighed nothing, and Stiles wrapped his legs around his waist. He climbed the stairs with Stiles without the slightest difficulty while Stiles continued to abuse his neck. The boy could feel the tips of his claws where he was holding him, and he felt proud. It wasn't usual for the wolf to lose control, but Stiles was making him lose it with just a few kisses.
He let out a cry when Peter tossed him onto the bed and felt a chill when he saw the bright blue eyes staring at him. He wasn't a guy with a lot of weird kinks, but he had a thing for werewolves, all that strength and that wild and dangerous side. Peter was already fulfilling his fantasies.
He had to get up extra early to have time to go change clothes at home. He could not show up at work in the same clothes as the day before, he was surrounded by deputies who would soon deduce that he had spent the night with someone. He didn't care who knew, but he preferred to avoid the insinuations and jokes. Some of his coworkers were too familiar with him for having known him since he was a brat.
Peter woke up briefly when he got out of his bear hug, but he fell asleep again with his head buried in the pillow Stiles had used. So cute.
When he got home, Noah was in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. He tried to sneak up the stairs, but it didn't work.
"Are you coming back now?" his father asked without even looking at him, but he cut him off before Stiles spoke. "No. I don't want to know what my son does with a man twice his age."
"He's not twice my age anymore!" he complained.
"Just let me know if a body needs to be disposed of."
Stiles sighed. At least he didn't have to tell his father anymore, and he had taken it better than he expected.
That afternoon he returned to the mansion, but this time he found Peter in the room that would be the baby's room. The crib and changing table were already set up in the other room, and he was now putting masking tape on the window frame of the empty room.
"Are we going to paint?" he asked.
He greeted Peter with a kiss that was meant to be brief, but he couldn't help but cling to his lips now that he was there. He sighed contently when they pulled away.
"You'll have to choose the color first," he said, nuzzling his cheek.
Peter handed him some color swatch cards and Stiles began to study them all. It was difficult because he liked all of them, he could only rule out the range of grays and browns. Peter had already finished putting on all the tape, and Stiles hadn't made up his mind yet. Normally this would take him days, but he didn't want to waste Peter's time.
"I have no idea which one to choose. Any suggestions?" he asked when Peter sat down next to him.
"Don't think too much about what the baby will like, choose what you like. Just avoid strong colors and the range between reds and bright yellows. Soft yellow is fine, but a bright yellow will make him cry. What's your favorite color?"
"Well, most of my closet is red and blue. But painting it blue is so... stereotype."
"So if when he grows up he asks you to paint it blue, will you tell him it's too stereotyped?"
"No, of course... Okay, I get it." He spread the palette of blues, and it was still not easy to choose one because he really liked that color in all its shades.
"Derek?" Peter called without raising his voice much, and Derek appeared a moment later, peering cautiously at the door. "Would you like to paint a mural?"
Stiles raised his head and looked at the wolf, who was scowling.
"Could you?" he asked, surprised.
Derek sighed and nodded.
"How do you want it?"
"A forest! There," he answered immediately, pointing to the wall of the window.
"Do you want a forest on the wall with a window that looks out to the forest?" he asked with a frown.
"Exactly, so he can always see it even at night. He won't be a werewolf, but he'll live surrounded by them and if he's anything like me..."
"He'll behave more like a wolf than the wolves themselves," Peter continued with a smile.
Stiles shrugged, he was right.
"Okay, I'll go get the paint. For the rest of the room?"
"Sky blue, take whatever tone you want, I like them all."
Derek grunted in agreement and left.
"You have to choose one for your room too. You can have the room where the boxes are or the one in front of this one, whichever you prefer," Peter told him.
Stiles leaned against him and rested his head on his shoulder.
"Does that mean I'm not going to sleep with you?"
"Every day if you want, you and the baby. My room is next one, consider it yours, but it's always nice to have your own space."
The layout of the two upper floors of the mansion was simple. A hallway ran from right to left of the stairs with bedrooms and bathrooms on either side. At each end was a double room that looked out on three sides of the house. One of those rooms had been converted into the library, the other three had an attached bathroom and windows on three of the four walls. The two on the first floor were for the Hales, the third was reserved for the alpha (not that Peter wanted to give it to Scott, but it was a tradition). The baby's room would be next to Peter's and Stiles decided to keep the one on the other side of it to better hear the baby.
He texted Derek telling him to buy enough blue paint for his room as well. With the same tone the baby would not notice the difference when he took him to sleep there.
They started painting that afternoon as soon as Derek returned. Between the three of them, it was not long before they gave the first layer of blue to the baby's room.