The next day, Stiles was sitting at the breakfast table, when Derek appeared in the chair beside him.

"Hey." Stiles said, grinning. "Do you want cereal?" He asked, getting a bowl and spoon for Derek. He was pouring the milk over the lucky charms when Claudia, Stiles' mom, walked in. She smiled at her son.

"Is that for me? Thanks, sweetheart!" Claudia said, about to sit down.

"No, Mom! That's Derek's seat!" Stiles said, anxiously pulling her away.

"Who's Derek?" She asked him, interested.

"My new friend." Stiles said, sitting in his seat. "He's a wolf, sometimes."

"What is he the rest of the time?" She asked, laughing.

"An old guy." Stiles said. "He's like, I dunno. Thirty?"

"That's not old, sweetie." Claudia said, snickering.

"I'm twenty-four." Derek said, picking up a marshmallow.

"He says he's twenty-four." Stiles said, picking up his spoon and shovelling cereal into his mouth.

"Aren't you a bit old to have an imaginary friend?" Claudia asked, looking a bit concerned. Stiles shrugged his shoulders, and kept eating.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Derek." Claudia said courteously, addressing the empty chair.

"You can see him?!" Stiles said, his mouth falling open. He was shocked and elated that finally, someone else was able to see the man.

"She can't. She's only pretending for your sake." Derek explained.

"Can I take him to school? I want to show him to Scott." Stiles asked.

"Sure, as long as your little wolf buddy doesn't interfere with your learning." Claudia said.

"Wanna go to school?" Stiles asked, turning to look imploringly at the werewolf. "Pleeeease?" He asked, clutching his hands in front of him.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Oh my god." He said. "Fine. But I'm not doing any of your schoolwork for you." He said.

As soon as Claudia dropped Stiles off, he ran to find Scott so he could show him Derek. He found his best friend on the swings.

"Scotty! I want you to meet someone!" Stiles said, barely able to contain his excitement as he hopped from one foot to the other.

Scott walked over, and quickly stared up at Derek. "Whoa. Who are you?" He asked, hesitant.

"He's a werewolf." Stiles said, proudly. "He's imaginary. Grown-ups can't see him." Stiles said, beaming.

"I can see him." Scott said. "Why?" He asked, curious.

"Kids can see me, if they want to." Derek said. "But i'm literally a figment of Stiles' imagination. His sub-conscious created me." Derek explained, transforming into his wolf shape.

"Huh?" Scott asked, not really understanding Derek's explanation.

"Umm . . . My brain made him up. But you can see him, cause we're best friends." Stiles said.

In the middle of math class, Stiles asked Derek about being a wolf. He wanted to hear him howl.

"You know, one of the reasons wolves howl, is to signal other wolves in their wolfpack to their location. But i'm an omega wolf – I don't have a pack, cause you only created one imaginary werewolf." Derek said.

"Can we hear it?" Scott asked, turning around in his seat to talk to Derek, who was perched on the windowsill beside the potted plants. Derek threw back his head, and howled a long, mournful sound.

"The omega's howl is the loneliest sound in the world." Derek told them. "Do you want to be in my wolfpack?" He asked.

Stiles and Scott nodded furtively. "We do." They said in unison.

"Let's howl." Stiles suggested, throwing his head back and trying to imitate Derek. AWOOOOOOOOOOO! He howled. The students around Stiles jumped in surprise at the noise, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Do it, Scotty." Stiles whispered, grinning. Scott started to howl as well.

"BOYS! You're interrupting the entire class with that noise!" Mrs. Martin shouted over the sound of two wolf cubs howling. "You can do that outside, at recess. We use our indoor voices in the classroom."

Scott gave the teacher a dimple smile. "Sorry, Mrs. Martin." He apologized, picking up his pencil.