Um, so I got a review off of an anonymous person. . . (I keep getting those, thank you :D) and they ended the message in RT, I don't know if that narrows it down. But either way, you mentioned something about me writing original stuff, and yes I do write it and I'm always looking for opinions on it and if you're interested (or anyone is interested actually) I posted something earlier on my tumblr, or just drop me an email. Both links are on my profile here (: anyway. . . hope you enjoy this and thank you so much for all the support you guys have been giving me. I'm going to shut up now!
Stiles didn't even hesitate for a second. He just launched himself at Lee, wrapping himself up in the familiarly comforting scent of Pack and family and home. Lee laughed right before they collided and he carried on laughing, his head tipped back and his brilliantly blue eyes ringed with amber slightly. His leather jacket squeaked a little against Stiles' skin and they both crashed to the ground, Stiles' arms tangling around Lee's neck and pulling him in closer.
He licked a stripe up the side of Lee's neck, nuzzling into his skin in a way that was barely contained relief and happiness. It was understandable, because this was Lee, this was Pack and it had been too long since Stiles had last seen him. Since he had last seen any of his Pack. He'd barely been separate from them for eight years and it didn't quite hit Stiles how much he'd craved being near to them again until he saw Lee.
Lee nipped him under the jaw and then tipped his head back, baring his throat in a clear show of submission, but it was also a way of greeting. Stiles was a higher rank, he was head Beta but their Pack never really threw the titles around much. Not like other Packs did.
"Where are the others?" Stiles asked him once they'd dragged themselves back to their feet. He dusted off his jeans and then reached out to brush some dirt off the back of Lee's leather jacket.
"I've told you before, bikes make travelling better," Lee said, rolling his shoulders and looking behind Stiles at Derek's Pack, obviously a little nervous. But the fact Stiles wasn't nervous meant that it calmed his Pack mate down some. "You don't have to worry about traffic jams on a bike."
Stiles snorted and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but remember the conversation about us being a Pack, not a motorcycle gang?"
Lee just pulled a face at him and then bumped him lightly with his shoulder, transferring his scent in a not-so-subtle way. They both turned to face the rest of Derek's Pack and Stiles didn't miss the way that Lee's gaze instantly zeroed in on Isaac. He looked sideways at Stiles again as if asking permission.
"Isaac, come here a sec," Stiles said, his voice soft to make sure that he knew that it wasn't a command, it was just a request. Nevertheless, Isaac came scurrying over like the ground underneath his feet was on fire. "Isaac, this is Lee, Lee, this is Isaac."
Isaac rocked back on his heels a little awkwardly, obviously not understanding why he was being singled out at all. Normally it would be protocol for Stiles to introduce Lee to Derek first, but then they had never been ones for doing things by the book.
"On behalf of my Pack, I wanted to thank you," Lee said, which made Isaac's eyes widen a little bit and he glanced at Stiles as though checking that this was alright. He obviously wasn't sure if he was supposed to be talking to Lee or something.
Stiles had to resist the urge to laugh just as much as he had to resist the urge to hug the guy.
"You were Stiles' Pack when he needed one," Lee explained when he saw Isaac's frown, dropping the formal tone completely as he tucked his hands into his pockets, his arm still resting against Stiles', "That makes you family in all the ways that count, you ever need anything, just ask us."
And then Lee flashed Isaac a smile that was guaranteed to make hearts melt. To put it bluntly, Lee was gorgeous, tall and blonde with amazingly blue eyes. It was enough to make Stiles jealous if Lee hadn't genuinely been the nicest guy in the world.
"T-Thanks," Isaac stammered out and Stiles couldn't resist it then, he just had to hug the guy. He looked so nervous and panicked standing there that Stiles would rather ram pins into his eyes than spend another minute seeing him like that. Isaac relaxed almost immediately into his hold, nuzzling his face under Stiles' jaw as the tension slid out of his body.
"So I may have talked about our two man wolf Pack," Stiles muttered in his ear, smiling as Isaac's curls tickled his face.
Isaac laughed, his hands gripping Stiles closer a little bit and Stiles thought that maybe he'd always be Isaac's Pack mate. He'd always be Isaac's Alpha just a little bit. Because back before Stiles had left Beacon Hills, he hadn't been oblivious to the fact Isaac would call Stiles before Derek if there was ever a problem. Isaac would come to Stiles first, would always glance at Stiles before relaying information. It was like he'd been quietly seeking his approval and subtly treating him as a higher ranked wolf. It had always made something warm bloom inside Stiles' chest. What he didn't know was what the hell could have caused Stiles to become a surrogate Alpha for Isaac. He didn't know if maybe it had stemmed out of Derek not paying Isaac enough attention, or maybe Isaac had just responded better to calming touches and cradling arms rather than harsh training and violence.
In the end he'd just always decided that he was better off not knowing the answer to that question.
"How much longer to you think they're going to be?" he asked Lee, pulling away from Isaac a little bit and pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his skinny jeans.
"Well Jason was talking about wanting to stop for a McDonalds, so they may have done the drive-thru," Lee admitted, rubbing a hand through his hair, "But all three cars won't have pulled off to do that, so I should think at least Jay and Mona and Callum should be here soon."
"It was the normal seating arrangements then?" he asked, dropping down onto the floor where he'd previously been sitting, not surprised in the slightest when Derek's Pack made room for Lee to sit next to him, eyeing him warily. Isaac just happily plopped down on Stiles' other side, watching everything with wide, eager eyes.
Stiles didn't have the courage to look at Derek.
Normally they travelled in three cars with Lee on his motorbike. Rory, Lucy, Maggie, Martin and more often than not Jason – because the guy could simply be that annoying no matter how much they all loved him – took the van that was all kitted out with a mini fridge and a table in the back. Jay, Callum and Mona took Jay's Impala and then everybody else crammed into the Range Rover.
Of course, that was only for long trips, otherwise everyone just usually paired off and took their own cars. Stiles and Maggie were frequently getting into trouble for taking the truck and re-enacting the scene from Teen Wolf with Michael. which meant that one of them mucked around in the bed of the truck while the other drove. After Rory had told them off for it at least ten times, Stiles had pointed out that at least they weren't doing it on the roof of a van.
"Yeah," Lee nodded, pressing close against Stiles and trying to get his scent to weave in amongst all the other strange ones. Stiles had already decided he was going to do introductions when everyone was here so that he didn't have to do them more than once. "Although Jason was riding with Brady for a while, but then Sax started threatening to tear his head off and in the end Jason just got stuck back in with Rory."
He snorted, "Is he ever going to learn that Sax on long car journeys isn't someone you want to piss off?"
Lee shrugged, "Although I'm sure if you'd been there you could have found a way to calm him down."
Saying nothing, Stiles just flipped him off and definitely didn't look at Derek that time. He could practically feel the other Pack's Alpha tense up and Stiles wasn't even anywhere near him.
"Is Sax your boyfriend?" Lydia asked, nosey as ever and the glint in her eye obviously implied that she was thinking the incident with Mason earlier was a lot more risqué than it had been. Stiles was starting to wish he hadn't done that, he didn't even know why he had done that. Probably habit.
"Nah they just fuck sometimes," Lee said with zero tact whatsoever.
Stiles glared at him, "You know there are some things that you don't have to share."
"Wasn't it you who said that if you don't want it talked about, don't do it in the first place?" Lee asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"I said that to Jason after the damn dildo incident," Stiles said, feeling his cheek heat up a little, "Completely different situation and you know I was just looking for an excuse to let us all tease him about it some more."
Lee smirked, no doubt at the memory of that particular incident, which none of them wanted to re-live even if it had been hilarious.
"How many are in your Pack?" Jackson asked and Stiles could tell just by the look on his face that he was thinking more about how this could benefit them in the Pack War they were having against Mason and less about how many new people he was going to have to meet.
"Fourteen," Stiles said, "I already said that to Derek."
Jackson shrugged, "Yeah well I wasn't listening." And that didn't really surprise him in the slightest. Jackson hadn't really changed much he discovered, not in looks and not in personality. Not that Stiles had actually really spoken to him, but that one sentence just proved it all.
"Surprise, surprise," Lydia muttered for him, flashing him a grin that he had never had a hope in hell of getting off of her the last time he was in Beacon Hills. She kept looking at him differently now, was talking to him and it was weird because he didn't completely know how the hell that had happened. He wondered if it was maybe because he was a new shiny thing, or at least an old, reappeared shiny thing that she could play with.
Or maybe there was another reason. He didn't really know.
"So, Lee, what do you do?" Isaac asked when the silence started to settle. Stiles was sort of glad, because even if he didn't settle from ADHD anymore, silence still freaked him out. And he had to say he couldn't help the curl of pride in his stomach that Isaac was relaxing. "Like, as a job I mean?"
"I'm an investment banker," Lee replied, flashing Isaac another one of his killer smiles.
Scott frowned, "You don't look like an investment banker."
"And what the hell is an investment banker supposed to look like, Scott, seriously?" Stiles asked, laughing through his words and curling his hand possessively around Lee's wrist for a second. He didn't know why sometimes he felt the need to succumb to things like that. Why he felt the need to defend members of his Pack over things so stupid and meaningless, things that often weren't even insults or jibes in the first place.
In return, Lee's thumb swiped over his pulse point on his wrist casually and Stiles relaxed. He put it down to the nerves of having Derek Hale staring at him this entire freakin' time!
"They're here," Lee said suddenly, looking in the direction of the driveway and not five minutes later, the Impala was pulling in beside Lee's motorcycle and a small figure was jumping out, a wide nervous grin on his face.
Stiles honestly thought it was physically impossible not to grin back.