Peter couldn't stay for much longer, his phone was going crazy, but he did stay long enough for breakfast. Which they did have in bed.
"Erica is asking if she and Boyd can come over sometime today," Peter read out one of the messages. "She's still worried about you."
Stiles thought about it for a moment but eventually, he nodded. He couldn't avoid the pack forever and he got that Erica was worried. Last time she'd seen him, he had been unable to stand on his feet, bloody and beaten, and most likely on his way to die from internal bleeding. And then they had lost him in the water. Even with Peter's explanation, it was only natural that they wanted to make sure that he was okay.
"Looks like I'm going to meet your pack one by one." He might manage that way.
"Talia is thinking about inviting you for dinner." Peter killed that hope.
"One thing after the other." Stiles slowed him down. "Boyd and Erica are okay, they can come over this afternoon. I have to see John first."
They finished breakfast and then Peter had to leave but he promised to come by in the evening.
"You don't have to sleep alone."
"I can always go under overnight." Stiles shot back but he was pretty sure that Peter had caught the happy dance his heart had just done at his suggestion. With a knowing smile, Peter left.
Stiles was still lying naked in the blankets and he was not in the mood to change that just yet so he got his phone out and asked John if it was okay if he brought him lunch today. To which he got the prompt answer that lunch was fine but he should be prepared for Parrish who wanted his statement.
Check your emails, I sent you the statements from the others, John wrote. Make sure yours matches theirs
I'm pretty sure that's illegal, Stiles wrote back but reached for his laptop. Reading was better on the bigger screen.
He might ask about your parents, John ignored the illegal part.
Why would he ask about my parents?
He has a theory, was all John wrote to that and Stiles let it be for the moment. He would find out once he was at the station.
The statements were pretty straightforward. Boyd had managed to struggle free, then he'd freed Stiles and Erica and together they fled. They hadn't known where they were so they just ran. Stiles got separated from them but Boyd and Erica had stumbled over the cabin at the lake where they'd found a phone and had called Peter. When shown a picture of the dead man in the basement, they both had confirmed that he was one of the kidnappers but he'd been alive when they had left.
Pretty simple but those were the best stories. Stiles wouldn't have a problem, matching his statement to theirs. He deleted the email just in case before he shut down the laptop. He still had time until he would have to get the lunch he'd promised John so eventually Stiles rolled out of bed and went outside. He wanted to check on Derek before he left.
Sinking to the bottom of the lake felt nice, he had to be careful to not forget the time, but it was a great way to not think too much.
"Derek?" Stiles asked into the silence around him. He could feel Derek's presence but Derek's attention was elsewhere. Stiles felt the shift when Derek answered his call.
"Are you alright?" Derek asked.
"I was about to ask you the same question." Stiles let his mind float, this was nice. "I think I scared Peter with nightmares tonight but he's willing to come back to keep me company over the night."
"I don't think you can scare him off that easily."
"No." Stiles liked that about him. Most people would run once they knew more about him. But most people weren't werewolves and most people wouldn't drag dead bodies through the woods in the middle of the night. "He told his pack. About me. And you."
"Is that a bad thing?" Derek asked, his voice neutral.
"I don't know." Stiles let out a sigh. "He says they're okay with me but I don't know."
"Be careful."
"Aren't I always?"
"No."
"That was a rhetorical question."
They fell silent for a moment but it wasn't uncomfortable, it was familiar.
"I'm sorry you had to kill somebody," Stiles eventually spoke up. "You okay?"
"He hurt you." Derek's voice became dark. "He deserved it."
Stiles left the lake with the good feeling that Derek was not mulling over this one. Quite the opposite, Derek hadn't outright said it but Stiles got the feeling that Kate Argent was in for a surprise visit. Maybe her brother as well. Too bad they didn't have more names.
In the end, Stiles had to hurry to get to the station in time for John's lunch break. He brought sandwiches and coffee, the stuff they had at the station was undrinkable, but he almost spilled it when he saw the mugshots at the entrance. There were two new ones. One was the hunter Peter had on his radar for a while now, that one was expected. The other one was not.
"Why is there a mugshot of Derek hanging out?" Stiles asked once he'd made it past Nancy who had started crying when she spotted him.
"That's part of Parrish's theory." John made grabby hands at the coffee. "I think he takes it personally that Derek escaped custody right under his nose."
Stiles slumped down in the chair in front of John's desk. There was a sandwich for him in the bag as well but he was not particularly hungry.
"How are you holding up?" John eyed him from across the desk but it was more of a fatherly than a sheriffly look.
"Woke Peter with my nightmares at least once," Stiles admitted. "And he told his whole family about me, they're going to invite me for dinner."
"So you're at the meet-the-parents stage?" John let him get away with the change of topic.
"Neither of us has parents." Stiles let his head fall back to look at the ceiling.
They were interrupted by Parrish asking if Stiles could give his statement now. Apparently, it couldn't wait until they had finished lunch.
"Okay, let's get it over with." Stiles stood and followed the deputy to one of the interrogation rooms. To his surprise there even was a social worker or whatever she was waiting for them. He was a minor and his legal guardian was the sheriff who couldn't be present because of a conflict in interest, it made sense. Stiles barely acknowledged the woman, he just wanted to get this over with.
Turned out that Parrish was not that much interested in what happened yesterday, not that Stiles could tell him much anyway. His focus was on Derek, not that he knew him by name. Who was he? What was Stiles' relationship with him? Had he seen him lately?
Stiles told him that Derek was a hitchhiker he'd been stupid enough to pick up.
"I know I shouldn't do something like that but I felt sorry for him, he looked miserable." Stiles played it up. In the beam of Parrish's flashlight, Derek did have looked terrible, there was no denying that.
When that didn't get him anywhere, Parrish changed tactics and asked about Stiles' parents. Boyd and Erica were also not living with their parents so Stiles could see where he was coming from here. He kept it vague, just that he felt so much better living with John now, and eventually, Parrish let him go.
"Hope he didn't give you too much trouble," John said when Stiles fled back to his office.
"I just hope he doesn't try to find my parents." Stiles dropped back into his chair. He eyed the sandwich still waiting for him on the desk but he decided against it.
"Yeah," John made. If Parrish looked too closely at Stiles, things would get complicated.
"I should go before he comes up with more questions. We still good for dinner tomorrow?" Stiles hadn't asked about the still ongoing investigation but for once he didn't want to know. Maybe tomorrow over dinner, after he had some time to clear his head.
They talked for a little while longer, just the usual stuff, dancing around the topic, but it seemed enough to convince John that Stiles was okay. Not okay okay, they both knew that this had brought things back and had piled a new heap of crap on top, but okay enough.
So when John started to glance at the files on his desk, indicating that he had to go back to work eventually, Stiles left with the promise that they would have pizza and garlic bread both dripping with grease tomorrow. It was comfort food and for once Stiles didn't want to worry about John's arteries. John shooed him out of his office with a fond smile.
Back in the solitude of his cabin Stiles tried to dig into his book but his mind was too restless for that.
Stiles just needed to close his eyes and he was back in that basement. It was a fucked up mix, one second he remembered clearly his ribs cracking, the next one his mind insisted that he was drowning. As long as he was awake, he could keep the two things apart, mostly, but he remembered enough of his nightmares to fear the night.
It came as a relief when Boyd and Erica knocked at his door.
"Hey." Erica waved awkwardly at him but then she seemed to say fuck it and caught him in a tight hug. "We were worried about you. When you didn't come up …" She didn't finish the sentence and just hugged him more tightly.
"I can't drown and for sure not in this lake." Stiles wound himself out of Erica's arms and gestured for them to come in. "Heard Peter told you about that."
"He did." Boyd closed the door and had a look around. He had been here before, Stiles knew that, but then it had been just a cabin. Now they knew that it was his.
"So this is where you live?" Erica stepped farther into the room which only took a few steps, the cabin was small.
"It's small but it's mine," Stiles confirmed. His bed wasn't made and he was pretty sure that the scent of him and Peter was still heavy in the air but neither of the werewolves pointed it out. There were still dishes in the sink and he couldn't remember when he'd cleaned the last time but he would not let them talk down on his cabin. It was his.
"Most of the time I'm with Derek," Stiles added. "And lately I'm more at John's place. Since I'm supposed to be living there and all that." He wasn't sure if he should keep up with the farce, the hunters knew about him now, but he didn't know how much they knew. And he would most likely get John in trouble if he didn't show up at school. Stiles had not thought about how to get out of this once the hunters were gone. Which they weren't so he guessed he would just keep going.
"Where is Derek?" Erica peeked out of the window but there was only the lake outside.
"At the bottom of the lake."
"And you have to join him there?" Boyd asked.
"Yeah." Stiles made and gestured for them to take a seat. Looked like he still had some explaining to do. However, Boyd and Erica were both bitten werewolves, they could relate to the sudden change of nature and how hard it was to adjust. Their experiences were quite different but similar enough. To Stiles' surprise, they spent over two hours just talking and it felt good.
"Cora says that Kate Argent is still teaching as if nothing has happened." Erica brought them back to the initial topic.
"Can't wait to see her face when she sees me in class tomorrow." Stiles gave her a feral grin which she matched with an equal one but with a little more teeth.
"We're going back to school tomorrow, too," Boyd added and after a moment he asked if they should pick up Stiles, facing school together.
That's how Stiles ended up in a car with four werewolves the next morning. It was a tight fit and he found himself squished between Isaac and Cora. Stiles hadn't really met Isaac before but he didn't bug him with questions on the ride so Stiles decided that he kind of liked him. Cora was a bit annoying, talking to him as if they were old friends but Stiles stayed polite. Mostly.
Stiles still did have lunch with Scott, though. There was a limit to how much werewolf he could tolerate in a day.
