"Let's do this," Stiles said but when Derek parked the car, they felt like throwing up. They wanted this and a part of them was all giddily with excitement, they were joining a pack of werewolves today, but another part of them was anxious. This was life-altering but they didn't exactly know how their life would alter. They were not about to become a werewolf but it did not sound as if this was just a pro forma kind of thing either.

"Relax." Derek opened the door for them when they failed to get out of the car. "Mainly it's just dinner with Laura and me."

"Mainly," Stiles repeated but got out of the car and followed Derek towards the building.

"We don't bite," Derek assured them.

"You're enjoying this way too much."

Laura had destroyed the kitchen. Again.

Seeing her in the middle of the chaos with a flour handprint on her hip and batter in her hair did help Stiles to breathe easier.

"Something I can help with?" They had a look around while Laura checked on the pie in the oven.

"You can set the table." She didn't even look at them, too busy dragging a boiling-over pot off the heat. "Dinner should be ready in five." She paused to check on another pot. "Make it ten."

Glad to have something to do, Stiles went in search of plates and glasses while Derek got the cutlery.

"You werewolves have a feeding kink." Stiles just sat there while Laura and Derek brought out the food. And they brought out even more. "Seriously. I thought Derek was bad with the feeding. You're going to live on leftovers for a week."

They had to move their glass to make room for Derek to set down a bowl of salad and a basket of bread. Then he went to get the butter.

Laura had made a roast with mashed potatoes, a gratin, and gravy. Four different kinds of vegetables coming with their own sauce.

There was at least one pie waiting in the kitchen for dessert.

"Other people don't have this much food for Thanksgiving," Stiles said while Laura started to fill a plate for them. They narrowed their eyes on her. "Are you wooing me?"

"You're the first addition to our pack." Laura put the plate in front of them. "I want to make a good first impression. More gravy?"

"We're way past first impressions," Stiles said but nodded to the gravy question. Laura was nervous too, they realized.

"Today I'm not Derek's sister." She filled a plate for Derek as well. "Today I'm the alpha."

"You can provide for your pack, I can see that," Stiles hurried to say when she drowned Derek's food in gravy. "We're all nervous, I get that. I'm a bundle of nerves right now because holy shit but can we just sit down and have dinner?" They looked over to Derek for help. "Please?"

"You're right." Laura brushed the hair out of her face with her fingertips and took a breath. "Let's have dinner."

"Heard you had a LAN party with Erica and Kira," Stiles said, desperate to change the topic. Next to them, Derek rolled his eyes but it did the trick. A little hesitant at first but warming up to the topic Laura told them about her weekend. Stiles grew more jealous by the minute.

"You can hardly call it a party with three people," they pointed out. "I can talk to Coach, we can take over the office for a weekend and have a real party. I know that Isaac would love to join us and I doubt that Boyd would say no. We'll just bully the cute gamer into coming as well." They grinned at Derek who tried to murder them with his eyes.

For dessert, they had the still-warm pie with ice cream. With their belly full, they had slumped down in their chair but they were determined to finish the pie. It was too delicious to pass up on.

"This is tactic," Stiles said between two spoons of warm goodness. "You put me in a food coma and when I wake up I got assimilated into the pack."

"That's not how it works." Laura licked her spoon clean. "It's a decision you have to make consciously and you can change your mind at any time. You can leave the pack whenever you want."

Stiles nodded to that, Derek had said something similar before.

After dinner all three of them cleared the table and quickly brought the kitchen back in order before they met again in the living room. Derek stood next to them while they were facing Laura. Now it was obvious that she was the alpha. Stiles was not a werewolf so they couldn't smell the authority on her like Derek doubtlessly could but it was in her posture, in the way she held her head, in how she was looking at them.

"Okay, how do we do this?" It still felt like they were about to join a cult. Nervously they bounced on the balls of their feet. They were doing this.

"Stiles Stilinski," Laura said and now a hint of red bled into her eyes. "I'm Laura Hale, alpha of the Hale pack."

Stiles swallowed dryly. This was happening. Blindly they searched for Derek's hand, they needed something to hold on to.

"As Derek's partner and as my friend, I'm offering you a place in my pack." She made a dramatic pause. Stiles did not deal well with dramatic pauses. They most likely crushed Derek's hand in an attempt to release some of the stress.

"Do you accept?" Laura finished with her eyes glowing red.

"I accept." Stiles tried to give the words the gravity they deserved but they came out high-pitched.

"Step forward," Laura ordered to which Derek pried his hand out of Stiles' and gave them an encouraging push.

Stiles stumbled forward.

"With this symbolic bite I take you in as a member of the Hale pack," Laura said and Stiles only had a moment to freak out over the bite part, nobody had said anything about bites, before her lips brushed over the skin of their neck. They felt a hint of teeth but it tickled more than anything else and it was over in just a second.

Stiles opened their mouth to tell her how not cool it was to ambush people like this when something strange happened.

"Woah," they made and stumbled backward. They would have landed on their ass if Derek hadn't been ready to catch them.

"It's normal if you feel a bit dizzy," Derek told them and guided them over to the couch. "Just sit down and take a breath."

"That's not what I expected," Stiles admitted with their elbows on their knees and breathing shallowly. Now they understood why Laura had bought them dinner first, so to speak. On an empty stomach, they might have passed out from this. Whatever this was, they weren't exactly sure what was happening here.

However, the dizziness abated after just a few deep breaths and Stiles lifted their head to glare at Laura.

"You could have warned me," they said but then they got distracted by something changing in their mind. They could feel their mind shifting to make room for something new.

It was not that they suddenly felt the presence of the alpha in their mind, it was more a feeling. A deep-seated reassurance that they weren't alone. They knew without a doubt that there was somebody there for them, looking out for them. Stiles guessed that it was mainly Laura as the alpha but it was more. They felt loved and cared for, it felt like home and family. Pack.

With wide eyes, they looked from Laura to Derek

"Welcome." Derek slung his arms around their middle and ran his nose along Stiles' neck. Stiles leaned into him and tilted their head to give him better access. Derek didn't have to be asked twice, he peppered their skin with little licks and kisses.

"Derek." Stiles couldn't help a moan.

"You can celebrate tomorrow, today is pack night." Laura cut in. Right, she was standing right in front of them.

"We …" Stiles cleared their throat and hurried to bring some distance between Derek and them. "We don't really do that."

Laura just raised her eyebrow at them and Stiles didn't want to know what she was reading in their scent right now.

"Actually." Derek tightened his hold on them and kissed their neck again. "We do it on occasion."

"You mean?" Stiles twisted around to look at him.

"I think this counts as a special occasion." Derek used the chance to kiss them on the mouth.

"I don't want to know." Laura raised her hands in defense. "But whatever you're planning, you can jump each other's bones tomorrow. Tonight is for the pack."

"The alpha has spoken," Stiles mocked but they wormed their way out of Derek's arms. Laura was right, tomorrow they could celebrate their own way but tonight was for the pack.

"Okay, tomorrow." Stiles sealed it with a kiss. "Hope you'll make it worth the wait."

"Planning to." Derek gave them a look that sent shivers down their spine and they felt their cock hardening in their pants, a fact that was not lost on Laura.

"Cut it out you two." Laura caught them both by the collar to get them farther apart. "I do not want to hear about your sex life."

Stiles had to bite their tongue to not blurt out that they were not having much of a sex life with Derek. Which was completely fine with them, they would go without for the rest of their life if that made Derek happy but he was offering an occasion here and Stiles couldn't help but wonder what he had in mind. However, they couldn't tell Laura about that. Stiles was not sure if Derek was out to her so they kept their mouth shut just in case.

With the official part over, they settled in on the couch. Derek and Laura started to argue over which movie best fit the occasion. Stiles was still trying to wrap their mind around that they were pack now. Quite literally wrapping their mind around it, there was something in their mind now that took up space and they would need some time to get used to that.

Laura and Derek had taken them in the middle, Stiles sat sandwiched between them on the couch. They liked to get physical with Derek, even more since they knew that werewolves were tactile creatures, so they snuggled up with him without thinking.

However, Laura was a werewolf too. She also was a tactile creature, Stiles found out. To their surprise they didn't mind when Laura sat close enough for their bodies to touch and when she draped an arm over their shoulders, Stiles let their head rest on her arm.

Somehow Stiles had missed that they had settled for a movie but if they were honest, they didn't care much about that. They sat warm and comfortable between the two werewolves and now they got what Derek had tried to tell them about pack.

After the food and with what was going on in their mind, Stiles dozed off just minutes into the movie.

"Stiles." Somebody shook them. "Wake up."

They didn't want to wake up. Instead, they rubbed their face against Derek's chest to find a good position to go back to sleep.

"C'mon." Derek didn't let them be. "You can sleep in bed."

That did sound tempting but Stiles was not sure if it was worth waking up enough to get there. In the end, the promise of a bed where they could stretch out and sleep more comfortably won and they even rose enough to brush their teeth first.

From the bathroom, they headed for Derek's bedroom but Derek turned them around and guided them over to another bed. Stiles blamed it on that thing that had happened in their mind which had left them mentally drained and exhausted that they just went with it without questioning.

Only when they were in bed and two wolves joined them, they did realize that this was Laura's bed and that they were about to fall asleep in a pack pile. They were surprisingly okay with that. They slung their arms around Derek's neck while Laura was a solid warmth in their back. Snuggling into Derek's fur they went to sleep.