At first, Stiles thought that he might be able to keep up with the werewolves. They did play rather slow with Boyd and Erica needing a moment, or several minutes, to shift when they became it but then the game gained speed. Stiles had to admit that there was no way for him to compete with the werewolves when Laura jumped on the roof of the cabin.
Accepting his role as a spectator Stiles just watched in awe how the werewolves casually took the game off the ground. Erica got the hang of playing three-dimensional quicker than Boyd but it didn't take long for them to chase after Laura or Derek through the branches of the trees.
Naturally, Stiles was on Derek's side. He cheered him on and booed at the others when they went after him. The game was quick-paced now and at some moves, Stiles just sat there with his mouth hanging open. The way Derek, and Laura as well, moved around, dodging the catcher with impossible leaps and jumps, made it clear that this was not their first time playing werewolf tag.
Stiles had the suspicion that he was watching something the Hale siblings had done a lot when they had been kids. The Hale pack had been big and Stiles could easily picture the whole family coming together for a gathering with BBQ and tables full of food and while the adults were doing their adult stuff, the kids would play tag. Or just Derek and his sisters, Stiles could picture just the three of them as well.
However, Derek was too engrossed in the game for bittersweet thoughts like that. Stiles could tell because he was laughing. Never before had he seen Derek laughing. Not like this. Open and carefree, fully enjoying the moment. Stiles wanted him to never stop. He wanted to treasure this moment because way too soon Derek would return to his brooding self. He'd gotten better over the last few weeks but after seeing this side of him Stiles wanted him to laugh more often.
Eventually, the game died down, exhaustion even caught up with werewolves. At least with Boyd and Erica, the Hales looked as if they could go on with the game for hours.
"Don't worry about that." Laura waved them off. "Your body is still changing."
She went inside to get the homemade lemonade she'd put in the fridge earlier while Boyd and Erica dropped into the chairs. They both were panting and sticky with sweat. They accepted the offered lemonade greedily and Boyd chucked his down in a few gulps.
"I haven't felt this good in ages," Erica said with a happy smile. "Yesterday I got exhausted from taking the stairs and now …" With the glass in her hand she gestured around the play area.
Boyd took her free hand in his. He didn't have to say anything, Stiles could see how happy and relieved he was.
"To you." Stiles raised his glass in a toast. "To both of you."
They drank to that and for a moment they all just enjoyed the closeness of the pack. Derek brought his chair closer to Stiles' so that he could easily put a hand on Stiles' knee.
"Hope you didn't feel left out." He rubbed a worried thumb over Stiles' knee. "If you've changed your mind …"
"No." Stiles leaned over until their shoulders touched. "I'm just fine the way I am. Just because I can't play with you doesn't mean that I'm not part of the pack. I had fun watching you but just FYI I expect a massive pack pile for compensation tonight."
"That can be arranged." Derek kissed his temple. Stiles felt him smiling against his skin.
"What's a pack pile?" Erica asked. She narrowed her eyes on Laura, probably trying to figure out what kind of nefarious secrets she was keeping from them.
"Pack piles are the best," Stiles blurted out. "I get to cuddle up with full-on wolves. Derek alone is awesome, don't get me wrong, but human little me in the middle of two wolves? And four! Can't wait to sleep with all four of you."
"Don't mind him, he has some weird kinks." Derek nudged his shoulder against Stiles'. "It's not as disturbing as he makes it sound."
"Hey!" Stiles nudged right back but with more force behind it while Laura hissed: "Derek!"
"The knot question was for science!" Stiles yelled but stopped when he noticed that everybody was staring, which okay, he'd just brought up Derek's knot some staring might be justified but then he noticed that the others weren't staring at him.
"What?" Stiles looked from one to the other and settled for Derek in search of an answer.
"I'm sorry, usually Derek knows better," Laura said while she tried to glare her brother to death.
"He … what?"
"He called you he," Erica finally bothered to clarify. "You were too busy defending your kinks to notice."
"I don't have a thing for his knot," Stiles said still louder than necessary. "Which he only has as a wolf and just no. As for the he thing, he's actually right."
"What?" Now it was Laura who blinked in confusion.
"I did explain the fluid part of gender-fluid to you, didn't I?" Stiles furrowed his brow while he tried to remember if he had that conversation with her. He was pretty sure he had. "You did meet me as a woman."
"That's what you meant when you said that Derek can tell." Erica's face lit up with that realization. She wrinkled her nose when she sniffed the air. "How can you tell? How do you even tell the scents apart? With all of you right here it's just one smelly cloud."
It took the focus off Stiles and his kinks which he didn't even have in the first place but it put Derek on the spot.
"It takes some time and practice," Laura said. "But you'll be able to make sense out of that smelly cloud." A little smile played on her lips. "How Derek can tell that Stiles is different now, I have no clue either."
"It's in his scent." Derek threw a helpless glance at Stiles. "In the way he holds himself, his gestures, the way he talks. It's just obvious." Derek shrugged.
Of course, all eyes were on Stiles again, trying to figure him out.
"It's not," Boyd said after he'd stared down Stiles for a solid minute. It felt like a minute, maybe five, long enough for Stiles to start squirming under his gaze but it probably was not that long.
"Can we just agree on they and leave it at that?" Stiles pleaded. "I don't expect you to keep track of my swings. They is just fine. Okay?"
"Sure." Laura agreed easily. A hint of red fleshed in her eyes but it was what Stiles felt in his mind that caught his breath. Across from him, Erica sucked in a breath as well and Boyd's eyes widened almost comically so it wasn't just him.
"Did you just use your alpha powers to make that a pack order?" Stiles managed to ask. It had just been a second, more a feeling than actual words and already fleeting, but it did leave an impression.
"You're not a werewolf, you couldn't play with us earlier and there are things you'll never be able to fully understand but you are pack," Laura said, clearly speaking as the alpha. "You're a member of my pack just like the others and I want to make sure that you're treated right." The aura of authority left her and suddenly self-conscious she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You worry too much," Stiles assured her. She was still new to the role as the alpha and she'd just added three people to her pack in less than a week. For sure last night was still fresh on her mind too.
"You're a good alpha." Stiles felt the need to add before he addressed all three of them: "As I said, you don't have to try and decipher my scent or whatever Derek is constantly analyzing of me. It's awesome that he can tell, you have no idea how much I love him for that, but I don't expect anybody to do the same. Just don't jump down Derek's throat when he uses other pronouns, okay?"
He got a round of "Okay" and with that, they were done with the topic.
Stiles reached for his lemonade and leaned into Derek's shoulder again while the conversation carried on. Scents and how to read them were still the topic and Laura did her best to explain it to the new werewolves. It condensed down to learning from experience but it was still an interesting topic. It didn't take long for Stiles to chime in again. For science, of course, this wasn't something he could experience first hand but that didn't mean that he didn't want to know everything about it. And Laura was more forthcoming with explanations than Derek.
After the break, the werewolves went back to getting used to their new abilities. Laura wanted them to train the full shift. If they wanted to have a real pack pile tonight they had to learn to turn into a wolf. She winked at Stiles at that but this was about more than just humoring the human. For one, it was about another level of control and second, Stiles had seen how much a pack pile had helped Derek. It was about reassurance and connecting with the other pack members.
Erica was on board with the idea immediately because hey, wolves, while Boyd was more hesitant.
He was the one who realized first that they had to get naked for this exercise.
Derek was the first to throw off his clothes but for him, the shift was a fluent thing, over in the blink of an eye. He stood there stark naked but Stiles only had half a second to appreciate his fine ass before he fell forward and landed on four paws.
"Okay, I want that." Erica pulled off her shirt. Stiles was about to offer to wait inside, it felt wrong to watch while he wasn't part of the exercise but then Erica was already naked. Stiles hurried to look somewhere else.
Laura stripped as well but she stayed in her human form to give instructions which left Boyd the only one clothed. Well, except for Stiles but everybody seemed to have forgotten that he was there. Not that Laura or Derek cared about things like dignity.
A moment later Boyd stripped as well but he turned a bit to the side and cupped himself to not fully flash Laura. She didn't comment on it and just explained what they had to do.
Stiles had to bite back a laugh when not much later Boyd and Erica were crouching on all fours on the ground, trying to will their body into the wolf form.
"I want to see you with your naked ass in the air," Erica growled at him. She was shifted, claws digging into the grass and eyes flashing yellow but that was as far as she got.
"Thanks, I'm good." Stiles raised his glass at her and took a sip.
This was way harder than it looked. Derek made it look so easy but half an hour later they were still crouching naked on the ground, now sweating and panting but still more human than wolf.
Derek had trotted over to him and was now watching the others with his head on Stiles' thigh while Stiles scratched him behind the ear.
"Maybe we should try another time," Stiles suggested, this was getting ridiculous.
"I almost got it," Erica answered through gritted teeth.
Boyd got it first. It wasn't as swift as Derek's shift, this looked more like something Stiles had seen in a horror movie with cracking bones and popping joints while the whole structure of the body rearranged itself but in the end, Boyd turned into a wolf.
He puffed his chest and had a triumphant look around.
"Show-off." Erica glared at him.
Boyd lolled his tongue out at her but when he made his first step, he tangled his feet and tumbled over.
"Serves you right," Erica told him. While Boyd still tried to figure out how to walk on four legs, she managed the shift as well. It did look smoother than Boyd's, Stiles had to give her that. However, she too had to get used to walking around on four paws.
A minute later four wolves were romping around the fireplace.
It was Laura who brought over a branch to Stiles.
"You sure?" Stiles asked when he carefully took the branch from her mouth. She had some impressive teeth.
As an answer, Laura butted her head against Stiles' leg which was enough to get him going. He threw the branch as hard as he could and all four wolves went after it.
"I'm playing fetch with wolves," Stiles said in awe when Erica proudly brought the branch back to him. It did help them to figure out the whole movement thing, he guessed, so he threw it again.
That night Stiles did sleep in a pile with four grown-ass wolves.