Rest and Recovery

by Takara Phoenix

Stiles isn't dealing well after the Nogitsune and him and his dad find a rehab center that specializes in the supernatural with an actually good reputation. Stiles hoped to find rest there, maybe heal. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love with two other patients there, Deucalion and his mate Peter. Deucalion/Peter/Stiles slash

Teen Wolf || Stetalion || Teen Wolf || Rest and Recovery || Teen Wolf || Stetalion || Teen Wolf

Title: Rest and Recovery – It Gets Better

TW Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Jeff Davis and MTV. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m/m, polyamory, Spark Stiles, Nogitsune Stiles, post-Nogitsune, PTSD, hurt/comfort, fluff

Main Pairing: Deucalion/Peter/Stiles

Side Pairings: Boyd/Erica, Ennis/Kali, Braeden/Marin

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Peter Hale, Deucalion Blackwood, Marin Morrell, Braeden Morrell. Sheriff Noah Stilinski, Laura Hale, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Ethan Steiner, Aiden Steiner, Kali, Ennis

Summary: Stiles isn't dealing well after the Nogitsune and him and his dad find a rehab center that specializes in the supernatural with an actually good reputation. Stiles hoped to find rest there, maybe heal. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love with two other patients there. Deucalion, who has been there since Gerard's attack on him and who has formed a pack among the other werewolf patients at the facility. And Deucalion's mate Peter, the only survivor of the Hale Fire who had actually been in the fire.

Rest and Recovery

It Gets Better

Stiles was grabbing the strap of his bag tightly as he watched the car drive off, back to Beacon Hills. He may have insisted on this, but he couldn't help the tight feeling in the pit of his stomach as his dad left. Noah had spent an hour saying goodbye to him, with so many hugs and tears. Just like in Eichen House, Noah had been ready to drag his son back into the car, leave this place again. Maybe even more so, because of Eichen House.

But the Lakeside Recovery Center wasn't Eichen House. It was a rehab center specifically for the supernatural. He'd gone to Eichen House as a mental facility, when he thought his problem was human, was physical. This was different now. He'd been possessed by a chaos demon and it had torn through his mind and wrecked his body. He needed to recover from this, somehow.

Derek had recommended the place. Him and Laura had put their uncle here, after the Hale Fire. The only member of the family who'd been in the fire and survived it. He'd been in a coma for six years though, according to Derek. Peter waking up and Lakeside calling them was what had brought Derek and Laura back to Beacon Hills and, arguably, what had dragged Stiles into this mess. If Laura had never bitten Scott, Stiles may have never ended up exposed to the Nogitsune.

He didn't blame her for the bite. Scott didn't either. Kate Argent had been hunting her, nearly killed her. She'd been so close to death, she'd acted on pure instinct turning Scott, knowing that more betas would strengthen her as an Alpha. Scott had freaked out, the two boys had dragged her to the vet clinic Scott worked at and, with the help of Deaton, gotten the bullet out and healed the wolfsbane poisoning. Still, that was how all of this had started, how Stiles and Scott ended up part of the Hale Pack, fighting against the Argents with Laura, Derek, Jackson, Lydia, Allison and later on Isaac when Laura turned her second beta. And Stiles didn't regret it, even with the suffering he was currently enduring. The friends he'd made, the pack he was a part of now.

"Are you ready, Stiles?"

Stiles turned toward the kind looking woman who'd welcomed him. Doctor Marin Morrell. She was the head of the facility and Stiles and Noah had done all their talking and questioning with her. She'd shown endless patience for his dad's concerns. Taking a slow, deep breath, Stiles nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready, doc," Stiles took a step forward that felt somehow very metaphorical.

/break\

Marin – as Doctor Morrell insisted on being called – reassured Stiles once more that his first day was all for him settling in. She encouraged him to explore the facility and the grounds, maybe get to know some of the other patients. His program would only start tomorrow. So Stiles did as he was told, he put the few belongings he had brought away. His roommate was a big and quiet guy. His roommate's girlfriend was the exact opposite of that. He'd been there for two hours when a blonde girl came bouncing into the room, jumping onto his roommate's bed and kissing him.

"Uhm," Stiles cleared his throat when hands started wandering.

She groaned. "No—o. You have a roommate. Urgh. There goes our privacy."

She heaved a sigh and draped herself all over her partner. And then she perked up in interest. Stiles started fidgeting a little under her intense look. With a grin, she offered him a hand.

"Hi, I'm Erica, I'm Boyd's mate. What are you in for?"

"Erica," Boyd reprimanded with a sigh. "You know you're not supposed to say that."

Stiles quirked his lips and shook her hand. "I'm Stiles and I'm here because I survived being possessed by a thousand year old chaos spirit and have to live with the aftermath now. You?"

Her perky attitude died a little as she stared at him with wide, surprised eyes. "Well, shit. Okay. That's a new one. I'm a werewolf with epilepsy. My parents were already overbearing when I was human and then I accepted the bite in hopes it'll cure me, but it kind of didn't really and my parents were uh let's say not equipped to take care of a teen wolf, so they conveniently put me here."

Stiles frowned at that, unsure what to say to that. "Well that sucks."

Erica snorted at that. "Yeah, it does. Babe, wanna share too?"

Boyd shifted a little on the bed and in the end sighed. "My little sister drowned when I was twelve and I should have… saved her. Never got over that. My parents didn't either. They blame me for it as much as I blame myself, so they took the easy out of putting me here for 'my own recovery'. In the end, they just don't have to look at the son who killed their daughter anymore."

"Wow," Stiles blinked repeatedly, staring at the couple. "Okay."

"I wasn't a were when I got here," Boyd added after a moment. "But after Erica joined the pack and we got together, she coaxed her Alpha into offering me the bite. Marin was not a fan."

"Yeah, Deuc's not supposed to turn other patients," Erica rolled her eyes. "But it was like totally consensual. And I think Boyd's been doing better since then."

"What, the bite heals survivor's guilt?" Stiles quirked an eyebrow, earning a snort from them.

"No, but pack-bonds are… special," Erica shrugged. "Especially when your family dumps you in this place because they can't look at you anymore, finding your own family helps a lot."

Support. Community. Help. Stiles nodded in understanding. He knew half the things they'd all suffered through would have been so much worse if they didn't have each other. Stiles sat down on his bed and stared at them both. Wait. There was an actual pack here?

"There's a whole pack here?" Stiles asked curiously. "I mean, I figured there were wolves here…"

"Ye—ep. And since we are trying to avoid the whole 'feral' bit, we kinda… band together," Erica shrugged. "Why? You in business for a pack too?"

"No," Stiles grinned and shook his head. "I got a good pack waiting for me outside. I just… I know of a wolf who's here and I've been kinda wondering about him. Never met the guy though."

Erica hopped off the bed and gave Stiles a look. "Well then, come on, new kid. Meet the gang."

Why not? Marin had said he was supposed to explore and get to know people. Boyd heaved a sigh but in the end obeyed his mate's demand too. Stiles' eyes wandered curiously as he was led through the facility. Sure, he'd gotten the tour together with his family when they started considering this as an option, but damn. Without a rush and without his dad's anxiety right next to him, he could take it in much better. It was very open, wide, with a lot of windows that let in natural lights. They walked through a whole hall that was all windows, leading through a garden section.

Stiles pulled his hooded jacket closer around himself, even as he felt the warm sun on his skin. What he missed most was the warmth. He hadn't felt warm ever since he'd gotten this body. Wearing a t-shirt, a flannel shirt and a hoodie on top of it all, he was still freezing.

"Ah, there they are!" Erica exclaimed as they reached the end of the hall.

She opened a door that led out of the facility. Stiles had to guess that she was following her nose, finding her pack's scent. There was a park outside, like a small forest that was private property, which was probably great for the wolves. There were stone tables with chess boards. Two men sat opposite each other, playing. One an absolute mountain of a man, bald and intimidating, the other a brunette and handsome man with a thick neck and burn scars on half his face, a charming smirk pulling on his lips showing that he was clearly about to win the game. Next to the brunette man sat a sandy-blonde haired man with thick, black glasses, holding a book and running his fingers slowly over the page. There was a pretty lady without shoes absolutely beating the shit out of two identical twins, who may be around Stiles, Boyd and Erica's age.

"Boyd got a new roommate," Erica announced as they stepped up. "This is Stiles. He was possessed by a demon. Stiles, this is the pack. Our Alpha Deucalion, but we only call him Deuc, our esteemed Alpha Mate Peter, and these are Ennis, his mate Kali, and the twins are Ethan and Aiden."

Stiles let his eyes wander over the group to take them all in, but in the end his eyes settled on the brunette man again, staring at Peter with barely contained curiosity. "Uhm, hi, everyone."

"Fresh meat," Ethan announced with a grin. "I hope you'll be entertaining. Things here are dull."

"I'm having fun," Kali argued with a smirk, her foot on his chest.

Aiden rolled his eyes and flipped her off as he got off the ground and then helped his twin up too. Deucalion reached a hand out, waiting for Stiles to shake it. Stiles couldn't help but stare in awe at the man. That was a real Alpha, he oozed authority, seemed near regal. Nothing like Laura, who was barely in her mid-twenties and fully winging this best as she could with no guidance.

"Welcome to our territory, Stiles," Deucalion offered with a sharp smile.

"I'd like to apologize in advance for all the inappropriate things Erica and Boyd are going to force you to see on account of sharing a room with Boyd," Peter added, winking. "There isn't exactly too much to do around here, so mated pairs tend to… spend their time together."

"Duly noted," Stiles cleared his throat awkwardly. "Guess I'll survive. They can absolutely not be worse than the mated pairs in my pack."

"Your pack?" Deucalion asked intrigued, inhaling. "You don't smell like wolf."

"Nah. I used to be human," Stiles shrugged. "The boy who ran with wolves. Now I'm… well."

His face twisted and his gaze dropped down to the chessboard instead. Another reason why he was here, wasn't it? So he'd learn to adjust to all of this new body. The fox included. He furrowed his brows curiously and moved one of Ennis' pieces.

"Check," Stiles announced, looking at Peter.

Ennis' immediate protests died down at that as he looked at the board. "Oh. Oh, I've never had Peter in check. I like you, pup. You're my new favorite. Sit down and help me beat this smug ass."

Ennis patted the spot next to him on the bench. For a moment, Stiles remained unsure, watching Peter's reaction. Not everyone liked others meddling like that, challenging the Alpha Mate. Peter's grin was razor-sharp and delighted, his eyebrows raised high at Stiles.

"Go on. Sit down, clever boy," Peter urged. "I've been dying for a challenge."

A small grin spread over Stiles' lips as he sat down to join the chess game.

/break\

On day three, Stiles got his first visitors. Especially after the way Eichen House had forbidden visitors at first, Noah had insisted he'd come as soon as he had his first day off. Stiles was outside in the sun with the Blackwood Pack again, sitting with his legs sprawled out in front of himself next to Deucalion on a blanket, the both of them reading. Peter was with them on the blanket, his head in Deucalion's lap as he was napping, Deucalion's fingers running through his mate's hair. Ennis and Kali were training the younger betas, Kali working with Erica to teach her how to throw Ennis despite the man being taller and bigger than her.

He'd only been here for two full days now, didn't really know them all that well, but Boyd and Erica kept dragging him along, making him sit with their pack during the meals too. He was slowly getting closer to them and so far, he enjoyed their company.

So he was sitting with the pack when his dad came rushing out to the garden. Stiles got up as soon as he saw his dad, opening his arms wide. The sheriff wrapped him up and pulled him close.

"Stiles," Noah sounded out of breath and relieved. "You weren't in your room and I got worried, I thought they… they put you in isolation or… or something else. Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Have they given you any drugs outside the ones we agreed on? Have you been eating?"

"Dad," Stiles grinned. "Slow down. Give me a chance to answer between questions, mh?"

Noah flushed embarrassed but didn't let go of his son. Stiles pulled him into another hug.

"I wasn't in my room because we're allowed to walk around," Stiles offered a small smile. "I haven't been put into isolation, I haven't been drugged, starved, restrained, tasered or otherwise abused. I have a nice room, food is good. I started physical therapy yesterday and group therapy this morning. Staff is being pretty nice so far, my physical therapist is Braeden, Doctor Morrell's wife."

"You're okay?" Noah asked, cupping Stiles' face with both hands.

Stiles smiled and covered his dad's hands with his own. "I'm okay. Mischief's honor."

Noah searched his face for another moment before taking a deep, relieved breath and nodding. Mischief's honor was their code to made sure Stiles wasn't saying something under duress. As the sheriff's son, his dad had taught him various codes to say what he really meant if he couldn't speak freely. In this case, he needed to reassure his dad that he was really okay, that he wasn't being mistreated and now forced to lie. Pressing a kiss to Stiles' forehead, Noah let go of his son.

"How are you settling in?" Noah asked next, looking him up and down.

"Good. I'm good," Stiles nodded awkwardly. "I mean, it's… it's a lot? Everything's new and different. Braeden's kinda… getting me acquainted with my body? Before we really do anything. But she's being patient. I thought it'd be more awkward, but she's kinda treating it like I'm a freshly turned wolf. Gotta get used to my new body, relearn things."

"If anyone pushes you here or does something you're not comfortable with, you'll call me," Noah gave his son an intense look. "We will not let a second Eichen House happen to you, okay?"

Stiles offered the smallest smile, nodding against his grip. "I promise. But so far, it's really good. I think… I think the distance alone is really… It helps, being away from home. Not having to stress about the pack and how everyone is doing and what I need to do to help. I… I get to focus on me. I think that's going to be good for me. I think this can help me."

"The whole pack's sending their best, but we thought we shouldn't overwhelm you with like a dozen visitors in the first week," Noah grinned thinly. "We'll space them out between us, okay?"

Stiles rolled his eyes fondly and relaxed a little. "Okay. C'mon, let me show you around."

/break\

The newest patient at Lakeside was quite interesting. A teen who was something but hadn't yet disclosed what exactly. He smelt like fox and danger, lightning and death. It was very captivating and Deucalion already found himself seeking the scent when possible.

He was clever too, having bested Peter at chess on his first day here, much to Deucalion's amusement and Peter's delight. His mate had been looking for a real challenge and though Deucalion entertained him from time to time, it wasn't necessarily his favorite pastime. Over the past three days, Peter had already coaxed two more games out of the boy.

Boyd and Erica were getting along splendidly with the boy too and Aiden and Ethan were quickly warming up to him too. It was nice, having a new person around. Always brought entertainment and a mystery to be figured out. There was so much about him that Deucalion wanted to learn.

Beyond what exactly the boy was, most questions had been brought forth by the boy's family. His parents and brother had stayed for three hours before leaving again and Deucalion could feel his pack buzzing with curiosity too when Stiles returned to them.

"So—o, your parents are like… kinda paranoid, huh?" Erica asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Stiles sounded confused as he settled back down on the blanket.

Peter next to Deucalion shifted, clearly trying to get closer to Stiles. It made Deucalion smile just a little. The boy's scent was not just intriguing to Deucalion. There was something powerful to Stiles' scent and Peter had always found power appealing.

"Well, he made this place sound like we're stuck in a horror movie," Aiden offered.

"Ah," Stiles chuckled softly. "Mh, I don't know. Is it really paranoia if it happened?"

The small smile slipped from Deucalion's lips as he turned toward Stiles. "What does that mean?"

Stiles' scent soured a little, tension rolling off of him. "Well, when I was possessed, the demon kind of made us believe that the symptoms of my possession were actually symptoms of a deteriorating brain disease. I checked myself into a mental hospital and… Yeah, everything my dad was afraid of is something that actually happened to me at Eichen House."

There was an awkward, tense silence. Deucalion breathed deeply as he recalled what the boy's father had been worried about. Isolation? Hurt him? Drugged him against his will? Denied him food? Deucalion reached out, following his instincts, to comfort the boy.

"A… And you still decided to come here?" Ethan asked, voice stunned.

"I need help," Stiles said simply, but there was clear pain in his voice. "And so far, this place is far better than Eichen House and seems to actually… want to help its patients instead of torture them."

"You are something else, darling," Peter noted.

"You have no idea," Stiles chuckled amused. "C'mon. Dinner should be ready soon."

/break\

Peter was quickly growing obsessed with Stiles. The boy was clever, snarky and stunningly beautiful on top of all of that. He smelt like power and freedom, sweet as honey, sharp as lightning, and Peter wouldn't mind rolling around in that scent. He didn't talk too much about himself, having shared that he had been abused in a mental health facility back home. They'd briefly met his parents and brother. The three group therapy sessions he'd participated in so far, Stiles hadn't shared too much just yet. Mostly about the early times of his possession, when he'd thought he was sick. Apparently, the demon hadn't just made him think he was sick, it had made him think he was dying of the same disease that his mother had died of when he was a child.

"This boy has been through too much trauma," Peter muttered after their last group therapy.

He had found his mate and allowed himself to collapse half on top of Deucalion. The Alpha chuckled and put his book aside so he could wrap one arm around Peter's waist to pull him closer. Deucalion wasn't really doing group therapy. The man had worked through most of his issues at this point, he still went to one on one sessions with Marin though.

"Do you need a nap, before your visitors arrive?" Deucalion asked softly.

He brushed his lips against Peter's temple, making Peter sigh softly. "Maybe…"

Peter himself was working through the fire and the coma. He'd only woken up from his coma a year ago, there were still many feelings to be dealt with. His mind had been a messy place when he had first woken up, frayed and scattered. Deucalion had been the first presence he'd really felt, his Alpha gently soothing him, calming him. They'd known each other for years, Deucalion had been a close friend of Talia's, before the man was blinded and went to Lakeside.

Laura and Derek had brought Peter here, his best chance at recovery. Deucalion had accepted Peter into his pack, allowing Laura and Derek to get away and recover themselves. He'd been angry at first, that they had abandoned him, but he had a new pack now, and the kids had gotten the chance to heal too. After over a year, with therapy – physical and psychological – Peter was in a better place. Laura had barely been an adult, she had been overwhelmed. Now, she was older, had managed to establish a pack of her own. The two regularly visited Peter too and Laura had offered him that when he got discharged, he could join the new Hale Pack. He didn't. Though Peter wasn't entirely sure when or if he would ever leave Lakeside, he knew that he belonged with Deuc.

"Darling," Deucalion whispered gently. "Time to get up, mh?"

Already? Peter blinked sleepily and sat up. He may have dozed off there. Stretching, he gathered himself and his mate up to go outside. Though they were family and though they had rekindled a kind of relationship in recent months, Peter still didn't want the pups in his and Deuc's den.

He always met the pups in the family room. Public but comfortable and usually relatively private. With Deucalion's arm hooked with his, Peter headed there. They were halfway down the hall when he already saw his niece and nephew already. At first, he had felt so abandoned, had resented them and refused their visits the first couple of times. He was glad that he was in a better place now, that he had learned to forgive them and to reconcile with them. They were the only family he had left.

"Sourwolf!"

Peter startled a little at the sudden, loud yelp and at the excited boy running past him and Deuc. Stiles jumped straight into Derek's arms, legs wrapped around his waist and whirling around.

"What just happened, dear?" Deucalion asked slowly.

"Stiles just ran past us and jumped into my nephew's arms and is currently being scent-marked by Derek while clinging onto him with his legs," Peter muttered with mild judgment.

"Stiles," Laura smiled and reached out to squeeze the boy's neck. "We would have come to see you later too, but we wanted to see our uncle first."

She ran her hand down his spine, scent-marking the boy. Peter tilted his head curiously. And then his eyes widened when the pieces fell together. Stiles had always said he was part of a pack, close by but not in Silver Lake. He had simply neglected to mention it was Laura's pack.

"Ye—eah, I figured," Stiles laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. I just kinda got excited. I miss you guys."

"We miss you too, Little Red," Derek muttered, ruffling Stiles' hair. "Nobody is breaking Jackson and Scott's fights up anymore. We just let them go at it until they tire themselves out."

Stiles snickered at that, bouncing on the balls of his feet now that he was put down again. Peter furrowed his brows as him and Deucalion approached.

"I see you know each other," Peter drawled, keeping his voice neutral.

Stiles tensed and looked at him. "Uhm, yeah. I… Honestly, I had no idea how to tell you that I'm in your niece's pack? I… kinda wanted to get a chance to seize what your relationship is like from your standpoint? I mean, I know Laura and Der visit you regularly, but…"

He made a vague little motion and Peter supposed he understood where the boy was coming from. Sighing, Peter nodded. He knew Laura and Derek had a pack out there. A proper pack. No longer just the Hale family. Laura had gathered betas in Beacon Hills, just like Peter had gained a pack here. Their lives had grown apart and that was… okay. For the most part. Peter didn't know exactly how he felt about Stiles wrapped around Derek like that. Somehow, Peter's wolf had grown very possessive of the boy in the ten days he'd been at Lakeside now.

"Alpha Blackwood," Laura bowed just a little at Deucalion. "Thank you for watching over my pack member while he is staying in your territory."

Deucalion offered a charming and pleased smile at that. "Thank you for sending him here. He's been an utter delight. If you leave him here too long, I might just keep him too."

He was being so pleasant and polite, but there was a light jab there. About how she had left Peter here, left him in Deucalion's pack, had given up a pack-member before. And how Deucalion was not going to miss the opportunity if it arose with Stiles. Laura met him with her head held high and a polite, calm expression of her own, not showing if this got to her.

"Don't worry, Stiles will only be here shortly," Laura assured him with sharp eyes. "And then he will return home to his family and his pack."

"Well, shortly may be a bit too optimistic," Stiles muttered beneath his breath.

He was rubbing his upper arms again. He did that a lot. Always looking like he was cold, even when they were out in the sun together. Peter hadn't figured out what that was about yet, but he was determined to. With a concerned frown on his face did Derek reach out to rest a hand in Stiles' neck. Black veins ran up his arm as he drained pain from the boy. Peter was startled by just how much pain Derek was drawing from Stiles though. Why was Stiles in so much pain…? Shouldn't Lakeside have him on medication to ease his pain? Peter frowned, angry with the staff.

"You'll get better," Laura spoke with certainty, offering a reassuring smile to Stiles. "You are the strongest person I know, Stiles. You always bounce back. You'll get through this."

"Thanks, Alpha," Stiles offered a thin smile in return before clearing his throat. "Well, I don't wanna disturb the family visit. Come find me at my room later?"

"You could accompany me out to the garden, if you aren't otherwise busy, sweet boy?"

Deucalion held out his arm to Stiles and, with a sweet little blush on his cheeks, Stiles accepted the arm. The two of them headed away, leaving the Hales alone. Peter took a slow, deep breath to relax himself before he followed Laura and Derek into the family room.

/break\

Boyd groaned and rolled over, staring at Stiles with a frown. "...You don't sleep a lot, do you?"

Stiles, who had been awake for four hours already, looked up from his book and quirked his lips in a twisted version of a smile. He put his bookmark in and put the book aside. "No—ope."

Boyd snorted amused and went ahead to get dressed. Stiles hopped off his bed and followed Boyd to the dining room, where he ate approximately as much as the other teens, listening to their conversations. He didn't feel like talking much today. It just… wasn't a good day. Maybe the others could sense it, because nobody tried to force him into the conversation, they just let him sit by.

After breakfast, Stiles went to physical therapy with Braeden. They were in the pool today, because he always got too frustrated and she thought maybe the change of scenery would help. Maybe he would have an easier time in the water. He did not have an easier time in the water.

"You're being too hard on yourself, Stiles," Braeden pointed out. "You've only been here for two weeks, nobody expected you to make a miraculous recovery. Healing takes time."

Stiles ground his teeth together and glared into the water. He'd meant to swim, but coordinating his arms and legs at the same time wasn't fully working yet all the time. It was one of the things they were working on. She was right, it had only been two weeks, but… but Stiles wanted to recover. Needed to move on. The fact that his body refused to move the way he wanted it sometime was frustrating, it held him back, it made him feel like the Nogitsune still had a grip on him.

"How about we call it a day early today?" Braeden sighed. "You're clearly not in the right mindset today. Maybe take some fresh air. You have group with Marin later, right? Maybe that'll help."

Huffing out, Stiles climbed out of the pool again. He went to the shower, scrubbing himself under scolding hot water, maybe longer than he should, but hot water made him sometimes feel a little warm. He rested his forearms against the tiles and leaned his head against his hands, trying to breath deeply. Today wasn't a good day. Most days, his body did what it was supposed to, more or less. Not all days. Not today. Inhaling shakily, Stiles pushed off the wall to dry up.

He wandered the premises aimlessly, stumbling every now and again when his feet didn't move the way he wanted to. In the end, he gave up and just went to the room where the group was meeting, waiting there for half an hour until more people started trickling in. The Body Horror Picture Show, as Erica liked to call it. Marin would always give her a disapproving stare at that name. The group was for those who experienced a sense of dysphoria or betrayal toward their bodies.

Peter was in this group, because of his burn scars. These kind of scars were already traumatizing enough for a human, but a born werewolf who in over thirty years of life had never experienced a scar before? The fact that his body had betrayed him and wasn't healing the way it should made it even worse. Add to that the six years locked into his body in the coma.

Deucalion had some harsh scarring around his eyes, or so Stiles had heard. The man never took his sunglasses off. His trauma was similar to Peter's in that both wolves didn't heal the way they should, but Deucalion was dealing with another additional loss. His sight.

Ethan and Aiden had some body-merge form? Stiles hadn't seen it yet, but apparently it was traumatizing for the both of them, to share a body. A loss of autonomy and self.

Erica was dealing with her epilepsy with the group. How things were better now, as a wolf, because whatever happened to her during the seizure would heal again, so she could live a little freer than she used to as a human. Always shielded, protected from herself. Now, she lived riskier because she was done hiding from life. But she still hated the fear of her seizures.

That was what Stiles had learned about them during group, at least. He hadn't shared yet, just sat by and listened to the others. Listened to their stories and pain and the way they dealt with it.

Oh, there were others too, who weren't part of the pack. Stiles listened to them too. But so far, he had kind of grown attached to the Blackwood Pack and kept gravitating toward them more. Cared.

"Does anyone else want to share something today?" Marin asked gently.

Time wise, they were close to the finish, so she always asked one last time. Stiles sat hunched over on his chair, between Erica and Peter. His forearms were resting on his knee, hands hanging between them, shaking. His breath rattled in his lungs like it didn't belong there.

"I hate this body," Stiles whispered, without really meaning to.

"What makes you feel that way, Stiles?" Marin wanted to know.

Stiles sneered, staring down at the floor. "It doesn't sleep enough. It doesn't know how much sleep a normal human requires, so I sleep for like three hours before laying wide-awake. It doesn't know how much food it should need. Back in Beacon Hills, I needed to set myself timers to remember how to eat. The dining times here actually help with that, because someone else will drag me to dinner and then I'll just eat roughly as much as the others."

Taking a shaky breath, he rubbed his face in the silence of the room. "It doesn't move the way it's supposed to either! I've always been clumsy but that was different, now I stumble because my feet don't respond the way they're supposed to, like it's not properly wired to my brain."

A shudder wrecked him and anger brought tears to the corners of his eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around himself, raising his voice. "And it's always so fucking cold. I can sit in the sun and still feel chilly. I used to take such hot showers that I actually got burned badly enough that dad had to bring me to the hospital. That's why dad agreed to this whole thing in the first place! Because it scared him that I had accidentally hurt myself by not knowing how to deal with this body."

He breathed, slow and deep. Rubbing at his cheeks to get rid of the tears, he tried to calm himself down. Everyone was staring at him with varying expressions. He crossed his arms defensively.

"Would you care to explain why you feel this way about your body?"

"Because it's not my body," Stiles glared at Marin, tears still stinging in his eyes. "The demon didn't just hijack my body, he kept it. When Laura and Derek went into my mind trying to break the possession, the demon spat me out into a new body and it kept my real body. This? This is something he created with his magic and my magic. Something… artificial. Something that's not working properly. Something that isn't mine."

He gasped for breath, eyes wide. He'd never said any of that out loud before, not even to his dad. Erica reached out and linked their fingers, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Is this the first time you're… confronting that?" Erica asked softly.

"I… I… Yeah…" Stiles nodded slowly. "I just. They all worked so hard to bring me back. They spent so long trying to figure out how to break the possession, even when killing me would have been the quicker and easier solution. They went through all of that to save me. They're so… They're so grateful to have saved me and I… I don't feel saved and it feels so ungrateful."

"That's why you're really here, isn't it, dear boy?" Deucalion asked gently.

"What…?" Stiles looked up at the Alpha in confusion.

"You haven't been allowed to actually deal with your own emotions about your own situation yet, have you?" Deucalion tilted his head. "You have been dealing with everyone else's feelings about it. Their joy, their happiness, their relief. But now your own feelings."

Stiles stared at Deuc for a long moment, blinking. "I mean… I… I should be happy and relieved…"

"Nonsense," Peter grunted, his brows furrowed. "When I first woke up, I didn't want to be awake. There's a hole in my soul where my family was. A literal hole. The torn pack-bonds from the people I lost and I didn't want to be alive. I should have been grateful to have survived? I am now, most of the time, but not always either. You went through something horrifying and traumatic and you are allowed to feel about it however you feel. You're allowed to be angry, disappointed, confused, frustrated, wrathful, resentful. There's no wrong way to feel about this, because… what happened to you didn't come with a clear manual, darling."

Stiles wrapped his arms tightly around his waist, hunching in a little. "I just… It is so exhausting to keep smiling at everyone because they're smiling at you and expect you to be happy and to move on. Everyone else is moving on. Life is just… just continuing. The pack has a new member and Scott took on teaching her to be a wolf – which in itself is kind of ridiculous, he is the least in tune with his wolf. And he wanted me to help him teach her, because I helped teach him, but I'm trying to learn how to be human again? I don't have… I can't… And everyone is worrying about school, senior year is looming just around the corner and they're planning on where to go for college. I spent the majority of this school year literally out of my mind, the only reason I'm not failing all classes is that even out of my mind I'm a fucking genius. But I can't even begin to think about college. Everyone is miles ahead and I'm struggling to follow and I'm just so tired."

Peter lifted his hand and rested it in Stiles' neck, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "Then rest."

"I can't," Stiles growled out, eyes shut tightly. "I can't sleep, this body won't let me."

"Then what do you think would help?" Deucalion asked gently. "What do you need?"

Looking at the Alpha, Stiles wondered. What did he need? What did he want? What would help?

"I just wanna scream and cry," Stiles admitted after a long moment.

"Then do that," Deucalion offered an encouraging smile.

Stiles just stared blankly at the Alpha, which was probably rude since Deuc couldn't see his expression so he should articulate the thoughts on his face somehow, but he really couldn't. Erica reached out for him again, patting his knee and gaining his attention.

"If you want to, we could scream with you?"

"What," Stiles managed to articulate at least part of it.

"Sometimes it helps to not do it alone, darling," Peter explained with a kind smile. "Makes you feel less self-conscious and less… well, less alone. I think Erica's suggestion isn't bad. Would you like to try?"

Looking around the room of strangers and kind of acquaintances, he was only met with open looks. Nobody seemed weirded out by it or put out or annoyed with him. Then again, they'd probably all been at some version of what he was feeling right now themselves.

"Yeah," Stiles whispered softly. "I think I'd like to try that."

And then he jumped in his seat because Erica right next to him was the first to start screaming. Some of the others laughed before joining her. Everything around him got incredibly loud as everyone in the room started screaming at the top of their longs and only when it seemed to drown out everything else – not just other sounds, but somehow even the feelings and frustrations Stiles felt, like the only thing that existed was the vibration of everyone's collective scream – did Stiles take a deep breath and scream too.

It was a long, anguished sound that broke at the end when he had no more air in his lungs to give and then he inhaled again and screamed even louder and again and again, until his lungs burned and his throat ached. He'd collapsed forward, landed on his knees on the ground, heaving harshly.

"How do you feel now, darling?" Peter asked, resting a hand on Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles lifted his head and looked up at the wolf, blinking away the last of his tears. How did he feel?

"Settled," Stiles decided after some thought, then yawned. "And tired."

He blinked, eyelids too heavy to keep open, and found himself leaning toward Peter, until his cheek was resting against the wolf's knee. His eyes closed as a sense of calm overcame him.

"Honestly, I think we should end every session like this, doc," Erica declared cheekily, the last thing Stiles heard before he drifted off.

/break\

Stiles was watching Marin and Braeden. Not in a creepy way. He was just sitting outside and so were they and he kind of found them a fascinating couple. They weren't as overly affectionate as Boyd and Erica, who needed to be pried apart with a crow-bar, or as filthily inappropriate as Ennis and Kali (Stiles had walked in on them having some variety of sex at least seven times at this point. Maybe eight. He wasn't entirely sure if that had been a sex-act or a fight move, could have been both).

For the most part, the wives acted just like professional coworkers with each other around the facility. Stiles couldn't relate. If he had a wife, or a husband, he'd be working with, he would totally be all over that. So much office fun time and sneaking all of the kisses he could. Though Braeden did know how to sneak kisses from her wife too. She was subtle about it, but there always were some lingering touches, soft looks and the occasional kiss when Marin couldn't resist her.

"Why are you looking at our good doctors like that, sweetheart?"

Stiles turned some to find Peter standing next to him. "No particular reason. It just gets boring sometimes and I like to people watch. I think they're cute."

"There's a soft porn on in the lounge, if you want something with more action," Peter drawled.

"Kali and Ennis?" Stiles guessed with a snicker.

Peter joined his laughter and leaned a little closer. With a sigh did Stiles relax against the wolf, tilting his head so it was resting against Peter's shoulder.

"Maybe I'm a little envious of them," Stiles admitted after a moment.

"How come?" Peter asked, wrapping one arm around Stiles' waist.

"I don't exactly have a stellar track-record when it comes to relationship-stuff," Stiles snorted but he relaxed more into Peter's arms. "I was kind of dating my long-time crush for a while, but it was more of a rebound situation for her and then her and the ex got back together again and have continued being in obnoxious, highly toxic and epic love since then. I don't think anyone should be exposed to either of them romantically so it's honestly for the best."

Peter made a curious noise but didn't comment otherwise, allowing Stiles to just ramble on. "And then there was this girl I met in Eichen House. We, I dunno, we made out? But that was it. Maybe if I hadn't been possessed by a demon that actively tried to kill everyone I loved I could have considered going out with her or something. She's part of the pack now, but, well, I'm here and not with the pack. So there's that."

When Stiles didn't continue, Peter regarded him in surprise. "And that's it?"

"Well," Stiles shrugged with a frown. "Most people find the rambling and flailing to be an acquired taste."

"Nonsense," Peter huffed, sounding oddly offended on Stiles' behalf. "You are gorgeous, funny, clever, you should have your classmates lining up and battling for the chance to date you."

That startled a laugh out of Stiles and he felt himself relax a little more into the wolf. "Wouldn't know about that. But it would be nice… I don't know. Part of me thinks I should 'focus on me' and heal and recover and all that stuff. The other part of me sees the happy couples around and thinks that this kind of easy intimacy would be nice. Comforting. Helping."

Peter hummed his understanding and pressed a kiss to the top of Stiles' head, the boy still tucked into his side. The wolf was warm. So comfortably warm. Stiles never wanted to move away from the press of their bodies. It was like the constant chill he felt eased off, chased away by the naturally heightened body heat of the wolf and it felt so nice.

/break\

"Is there something I can help you with, dear boy?"

He could hear Stiles' heart jump in surprise at being caught. Deucalion smiled bemused. Just because he was blind didn't mean he didn't notice when he was being stared at. His wolf growled in the back of his mind when someone was paying too close attention to him, feeling threatened. It didn't with Stiles though, curiously enough. Despite the fact that Deucalion could smell the magic and danger on the boy, knowing Stiles was something powerful and a potential predator, his wolf was purring pleased whenever they had Stiles' attention.

"Sorry," Stiles sounded sheepish. "You just… uhm…"

"Well, spit it out, dear," Deucalion urged, putting his book aside.

"Peter's at rehab and I was just…" Stiles seemed unusually unsure. "You look comfy."

Well, Deucalion had no idea what to do with that. "Yes, I'm quite comfortable right now. I can feel the sun on my face, I enjoy the soft sounds of the leafs rustling in the wind, the sweet scents."

No need to point out that the most pleasant sweet scent was Stiles'. Though Deucalion didn't know what that had to do with Peter. Peter had voiced the other day that Stiles seemed to be watching the couples among them a lot. Was this related? Did Stiles wonder how comfortable Deucalion was without Peter around…? Like most wolves, the two were always seeking each other physically, relishing in each other's scents and in scenting each other.

"That… That's good. That's also not what I meant."

"I am fairly sure Stiles wants to climb in your lab, Deuc," Erica supplied helpfully.

Tilting his head, Deucalion turned toward Stiles more. "Do you now, sweet boy?"

"I wouldn't have put it that way," Stiles growled embarrassed. "I just… I recently realized that you wolves run really hot and long-time exposure to you guys… kinda helps me feel warmer? Peter made me realize and has been like my personal space-heater and Boyd kinda cuddles me too in our room, but he's at therapy right now and…"

"I can stop sparring with Kali and come snuggle you, Batman," Erica offered.

"We are not done here, pup," Kali argued, much to Deucalion's relief.

This explained why Peter smelt so excessively of Stiles lately. Deucalion had been wondering about that. He'd considered that his mate might be stealing the boy's clothes. This was a much more delightful explanation though. Smiling at Stiles, Deucalion opened his arms.

"Are you sure it's okay?" Stiles asked softly, sounding nervous and unsure. "I just. I dunno. I mean, you're the Alpha. Isn't that weird? I don't…"

"I'm unsure what you're trying to say, but let me assure you that I would not offer it if I wasn't okay with it. I am the Alpha, nobody makes me do things, not even you, sweet boy."

"Oh, Peter makes you do ple—enty of things," Erica piped up with a cackle.

"Kali, I do believe you are too lenient in training her if she still has enough energy to tease her Alpha," Deucalion furrowed his brows into the general direction of the two she-wolves.

Much to Deucalion's surprise did Stiles actually climb into his lap. The boy wrapped his legs around Deucalion's waist and leaned his chest against the Alpha's, face tucked into Deucalion's neck. For a few breaths, Deucalion simply sat there, too stunned to move. Stiles laid his arms against Deucalion's chest, hands sprawled out. Maximum body-contact. Only then did the boy heave a deeply relieved sigh and seemed to fully melt against the Alpha. And with him, Deucalion's heart also melted. He was quick to wrap his arms around Stiles' waist, pull him even closer.

"Is this good, dear boy?" Deucalion asked, trying to keep his voice even.

Trying to keep his excitement contained. This up close, he felt like he was drowning in Stiles' unique scent. Tilting his head just a little, he could bury his nose in soft hair. He inhaled deeply, the wolf inside him wagging its tail in excitement, an endless chant of mine, mine, mine going through his mind. Mh, that hadn't been planned. He never meant to grow attached to the clever boy, but then Peter had gone ahead and gotten attached first and Deucalion was in the habit of following his mate.

/break\

So Stiles hadn't meant to make Peter and Deuc his personal space-heaters. It had kind of just happened. First with Peter, because Peter was who made him realize that if he exposed himself to a wolf's body-heat for longer than a hug, it helped actually warm his body. And then he kind of asked Deuc too. His reasoning had been solid! The two wolves were a mated pair and he wouldn't want Deuc to think that Stiles was coming onto the Alpha's man or anything, so if he showed Deuc that this was totally platonic, not meaning anything, just warming Stiles up, then he could ease the stupid guilt in his own chest. Instead, he might have accidentally fallen for them both.

It wasn't like Deuc and Peter were his only werewolfly space-heaters. Boyd had lifted his blanket and let Stiles sleep in his roommate's bed when Stiles couldn't sleep because he was shaking too badly. Erica loved every opportunity to cuddle him. Even the twins would press up against him to warm him up when he huddled together too obviously. Ennis might have adopted him anyway, the man kept calling him pup, making sure that Stiles was eating enough and keeping an eye on him. The only one who wasn't very physically affectionate anyway was Kali and Stiles accepted that.

He knew why Kali and Ennis were here, after all. The two used to be pack Alphas and then they fell in love. They wanted to merge their packs into one, as the Alpha Pair. But Kali's Emissary had been in love with Kali and grew jealous, revengeful. She attacked, slaughtering both packs and leaving Ennis and Kali for death too. They had practically been dead, the only reason they survived were their Alpha sparks that dissolved to save their lives, leaving them packless betas. They were brought to Lakeside to recover physically, which took months, but the mental scarring of losing all of their pack-mates, of the betrayal, that took much longer. They became Deuc's betas and never left.

"You've been lighter lately," Braeden commented. "It shows in how you approach the exercises."

Stiles blinked repeatedly and stared at her in surprise. "I guess. The pack's been helping me settle a little more in my body. Now that I'm not constantly freezing anymore, things feel… a little easier? Including the exercises. It's still not… it still doesn't wholly feel like my body, but it's better."

"When I deal with a newly bitten wolf who still has to learn to accept the wolf as a part of them, I usually recommend them to follow the wolf's instincts and embrace it. You're not a wolf, but you do see your body as a separate entity from yourself and you need to learn to embrace it," Braeden said. "What do you think would help you settle more in your body?"

Stiles heaved a sigh and went through a couple more exercises while mulling her words over. He didn't know. What had made this work…? He was listening to what this body wanted. It wanted warmth, so he went and sought his wolves. The warmth stayed with him even after. Maybe he needed to listen to what this body wanted? Maybe it would listen to him then?

"I guess I'll try," Stiles sighed. "I'm just generally not good at listening to myself, even before."

Braeden chuckled at him, eyes soft. "You say the pack has been helping you with this, maybe they can help you with other aspects too. Just try not to over think it and follow your instincts."

Right. Don't overthink. Stiles was great at not overthinking things. Hah.

/break\

It was a couple days later when Stiles jolted out of his sleep suddenly, sitting upright. It took him a moment to realize what had woken him up. Lightning. For a few seconds, the whole room had been daylight bright. Thunder roared in the distance. Blinking, Stiles got up and walked over to the window. The sky was completely dark, not just night dark, but the moon and stars were covered by dark storm-clouds too. There was a buzzing in his chest.

"Stiles?" Boyd asked, sounding tired. "You okay?"

Usually, he'd just go back to bed. But there was a feeling of unrest. Mh. Braeden had said he should follow his body's calling. Tilting his head, Stiles headed out of the bedroom. Boyd sat up.

"Babe," Boyd whispered, gently shaking Erica awake. "Stiles is… behaving weird, even for Stiles standards. I think we should follow him to make sure he's alright."

The words made Stiles smile a little. Within moments had he two worried werewolves trailing after him. Thunder rolled in the distance, vibrating in Stiles' rib-cage. Ever since he'd been dumped into this body, he felt like his Spark was rattling loose in his ribs like a bird in a cage. Right now there was a fluttering, like the bird wanted to fly somewhere. Stiles decided to follow the call.

"Stiles? Where are we going?" Erica asked in a hushed whisper.

Technically, patients weren't supposed to be out at night. Stiles shrugged, honestly unsure.

"I think I need to be in the storm," Stiles answered ultimately.

"Okay. I think I'm going to get the pack?" Erica suggested, looking from Stiles to Boyd.

Boyd leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Good plan. I'll stay with Stiles."

The small smile on Stiles' lips broadened at that. He loved that he had people here who worried about him. Loved that this place had become like home in the past two months he'd been here. He missed his dad and his pack, but they regularly visited him. His dad was over every three days if he could manage with his shifts and every weekend, Stiles had a rotation of the pack coming over. Laura and Derek, Scott and Isaac, Jackson and Lydia, even Kira and Malia had visited him already, though the two were the newest members of their pack. They took shifts, alternating so two pack members would be visiting him each weekend day. It was nice, but it was also a little disconnecting.

They had their inside jokes that Stiles had missed. Shared missions and battles that Stiles had now missed. Kira and Malia were integrating into the pack, forming deeper bonds with everyone, and Stiles was missing it. Things at school? Stiles had missed what was going on there too. Maybe the real problem was that Stiles seemed to mind that disconnect less and less. Because they were missing as much. When he told them stories about the Blackwood Pack, about what was going on here, they were just as on the outside. He had his own thing too, his life didn't feel like it was stagnating while everyone else was moving on anymore. His life was just going in a different direction than theirs. And unlike back in Beacon Hills, he didn't mind it anymore.

"Darling boy, can you tell us why we're heading out in the rain?"

Stiles turned and smiled at Deuc. The Alpha Pair had joined them, Kali, Ennis, Ethan and Aiden were also trailing after him. They'd reached the backdoor of the facility that led out to the park.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's where I'm supposed to be," Stiles replied and opened the door.

The rain was barely there, a mild and irregular pitter-patter. The majority of the storm was still in Beacon Hills, the thunder and lightning in the distance. It was coming here, but it wasn't fully here yet. Stiles stepped into the rain, lifting his hand up to let it hit his palm. It was cold, but for once, the cold didn't bother him. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. Spreading his arms, he waited, letting the rain completely soak him. He could hear the displeased growl from Ennis.

"You're going to catch a cold, sweetheart," Peter called out. "Please come back here."

They stood under the roof of the facility, watching him. Stiles turned around to face them, opening his eyes again. Lightning lit up the night sky again and Stiles could feel the echo of it under his skin. Oh. That was what he needed. He turned back skyward and focused on his Spark. The rain got stronger and so did the wind, pulling on him. When he opened his eyes again, the pack gasped. And then he summoned the lightning down. It hit him, but there was no pain, it felt more like he was charging himself up. Like the kickstart that this body had needed, the electric shock igniting his Spark again and allowing it to grow again, flickering back alive. For the first time, it fully filled this body, every nerve-end and muscle. Stiles gasped out, like he could take a breath again for the first time in months as his Spark – his soul – and this body finally became one.

"Stiles! Stiles, are you alright?" Ethan asked loudly, panicked.

Peter was pulling Stiles into a hug, carefully patting him down. "What just happened?"

"We need to get him to a doctor," Ennis growled.

"What did your eyes just do?" Erica wanted to know. "They glowed turquoise?!"

"Turquoise," Deucalion repeated intrigued. "Sweet boy, you never did disclose what you are."

"I'm a Spark," Stiles replied, laughter bubbling in his chest. "I'm finally a Spark again."

He allowed himself to collapse against Peter and Deuc, the wolves easily catching him, holding him close. The storm raged on around them, wild and victorious, celebrating Stiles' Spark.

"You're causing this storm, aren't you?" Deucalion asked softly.

"Mh," Stiles sighed contently, nuzzling him. "It's listening to me again."

"It…?" Kali asked, watching him curiously.

"My Spark. My magic," Stiles grinned. "I haven't been able to use it since I got this body, because it wasn't really connected to it. I think it needed the jump start?"

"But if you could perhaps warn us before you let yourself be hit by lightning, darling," Peter sighed.

The wolf had his face buried in Stiles' neck, clinging onto him tightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this was going to happen? I just knew that something was calling me out here."

"Can we all go back inside where it's dry now?" Aiden requested.

"Yeah, I wanna sleep," Stiles yawned widely. "I'm exhausted."

/break\

His body was listening better to him now, it no longer lagged behind. It also regulated temperature better now. He still ran colder than the average human, but nothing a comfortable hoodie couldn't fix, though much to the pack's (and especially Peter and Deucalion's) joy did he still seek out the wolves for extra warmth. Overall, Stiles had improved drastically over the past month since that storm. Not just physically, because his physical improvements also elevated his mental state.

"You're going to leave soon, aren't you, sweet boy?"

Deucalion and Stiles were on a stroll through the park together, Deucalion holding onto the boy's arm. Stiles' steps faltered ever so slightly at the Alpha's statement, his heart tumbling.

"I… yes," Stiles admitted after a moment. "I already signed up for summer school so I can catch up with everyone and join them in our final grade so we can graduate together."

"I'm happy for you, dear," Deucalion turned to smile at the boy. "You're still so young, you deserve to get back to your life and move on. You already lost enough to the demon."

Stiles' grip on Deucalion tightened a little and he hesitated before speaking. "You know that you deserve to move on and build a life of your own too, right?"

"Whatever do you mean," Deucalion raised one eyebrow. "I do have a life."

"You're hiding," Stiles argued, bold and defiant, two of his most charming features wielded against Deucalion. "You're physically healed, as much as you ever will, and you adjusted to your disability. You can navigate all on your own and if not, you have someone in your pack at your side to aid you. You may have needed this place in the beginning, but then you grew comfortable here and started hiding from the real world, started building a life here. That's not what this place is for."

"Not many people would dare speak to me like that," Deucalion chuckled.

"I know. And the few who do wouldn't say this to you, because they have grown as comfortable hiding here as you have," Stiles pointed out. "Kali and Ennis. Peter… well, Peter still has his physical therapy too, but if your pack lived in Silver Lake, he could still come here for his appointments. Ethan, Aiden, Boyd and Erica all don't have any other place. You guys are the adults in their lives, their family. They'll stay where you are."

Now it was Deucalion's turn to falter a little. Stiles wasn't wrong about the betas. The four teenagers in Deucalion's pack, they were just as young as Stiles, deserved a chance for a real life, for the experiences that teenagers should make. Not to be locked away here. Perhaps his boy was even right about him. Deucalion had made this his territory, his fort and he had long-since stopped considering a life outside of Lakeside. After all, what else was out there?

"I know why," Stiles whispered softly, giving Deucalion's arm a squeeze. "Because you lost everything. Not just your sight, you lost your pack. Half of them were taken from you, the other half betrayed you. Here is safe, here is comfortable and reliable."

Deucalion remained quiet at that. He'd once been a respected Alpha in the community, and then he lost everything, as Stiles had just rightfully pointed out. What he had now, the love, the pack and the territory, he had worked so hard to gain, to build, and it was right here. What would happen outside? Everything could be taken away from him again, he would have to start over again, in a way.

"You helped me a lot, I can't thank you enough for that," Stiles whispered gently. "I guess I just want to help you too, in a way? I think you and your pack… I think there is a lot waiting out there for you guys to claim as your own. Don't you want to run in the woods again? The real woods, not the park. Don't you want to be able to… cook your own food, or enjoy your mate's cooking? Eat whenever you want, instead of someone else's time-table? Go out to the grocery store yourself again and just get whatever you want? Hell, wander around your home at night without feeling like you're sneaking around because you're breaking the rules?"

He had to admit, Stiles was making some excellent points there.

/break\

There had been a whole lot of hugging and Stiles now had the phone numbers of all members of the Blackwood Pack, he was even part of a group chat with them all. They texted daily after Stiles' release. He came visit them every weekend for the first month, then every second weekend during the second and third month. They assured him that he didn't have to always be there, that he should focus on his life 'out there'. School, his father, his pack. Most of all school, because he had to catch up for the three months he had spent in rehab.

Summer was over and their senior year started and it was just so much. He only got to visit them once during that first month of school, because essays and stuff got in the way. The next month, he didn't manage to make time to see them at all and though they assured him that it was fine, that they didn't blame him for things getting in the way, for 'living his life', as Deucalion liked to call it.

It was just that… Stiles was miserable whenever he had to cancel. He spent all week looking forward to Saturday, to seeing them again, and then something happened – an attack on Beacon Hills, an exam to study for, hell, his body giving out on him had gotten in the way too before. It left him sulking and pouting for the following week, to the point that his pack picked up on it.

Six months after Stiles left Lakeside, he got the biggest surprise. It was his birthday and he just walked down the stairs, expecting his dad and breakfast, as was tradition. When he reached the last step on the stairs, he froze in spot, hand on his stomach, scratching. Ennis and Kali were making out on his couch. He stared at them, making a confused noise. That noise drew four teen wolves out of the kitchen, Erica violently shoving Aiden and Ethan aside to reach Stiles first, with Boyd following at a more leisure pace. While the four were hugging Stiles, Noah, Peter and Deucalion exited the kitchen too. Stiles' heart was racing as he looked at the whole Blackwood Pack.

And then dread set in, because Stiles was only wearing sweat-pants and Deucalion's shirt. His cheeks turned dark-red and he tried to hide the shirt by excessively hugging the teen wolves. And hey, he'd had this shirt for half a year now, so all of Deuc's scent had long since faded anyway so the Alpha wouldn't even notice, right? Maybe the rest of the pack had mercy on Stiles and wouldn't tell Deucalion what shirt Stiles was wearing? Or maybe they wouldn't even notice.

The broad, wicked smirk on Peter's lips told Stiles that nope, Peter very much did recognize his mate's shirt. And Peter was absolutely going to snitch on him. Stiles hid in Erica's curls.

"Happy birthday, darling," Peter smiled as he took Stiles from Erica, his voice dropping once he was closer to Stiles' ear. "You know, me and Deuc have been wondering where that shirt went."

"Shut up," Stiles hissed back, slapping Peter on the arm. "Shut u—up."

Peter laughed, his hands running down Stiles' back. "You little clothes thief. I do understand, this was always my favorite shirt of Deuc's to steal too."

Deucalion made a curious noise at that, even though he stood on the other side of the room. Urgh. Stupid werewolf hearing. Stiles buried his face in Peter's shoulder, trying to hide from the Alpha a little longer (and also relishing in Peter's scent and warmth and the feeling of his arms around Stiles' waist like that and oh how much he'd missed the wolf).

"Happy birthday, sweet boy," Deucalion smiled and pulled Stiles into a hug, his voice also dropping once he had Stiles close. "What is this I hear about my missing shirt…?"

"I might have maybe... borrowed... some shirts from you guys before I left Lakeside," Stiles admitted softly, flustered and embarrassed. "They're comfy and they used to smell like you…"

"Who's 'you guys'?" Peter asked curiously, before pausing. "Hold on, my shirts have been missing too. I thought that was an attack on my wardrobe from Erica."

"Rude," Erica huffed. "And I only borrow and actually return the clothes, you know."

Stiles grumbled and hit his forehead against Deuc's shoulder. The Alpha chuckled and patted him.

"It's gonna be crowded, but how about breakfast?" Noah asked. "Ennis and Peter cooked."

Stiles raised his head at that curiously, looking at the two wolves in question. It was a tight fit, Ennis, Kali, Ethan and Aiden ate leaning against the counters, holding their plates, because the table was already overcrowded with Noah, Stiles, Deuc, Peter, Boyd and Erica. But it was the happiest meal he'd eaten in months. He couldn't stop grinning the entire time.

"What are you guys doing here though."

"Don't ask stupid questions, Stiles," Aiden rolled his eyes.

"We're here for your birthday," Ethan tagged on with a smile.

"You were talking so excitedly about that party Lydia was planning for you," Erica explained.

Ennis had the broadest grin on his lips. "But we thought we'd get some alone time with you first."

Oh. Oh, they were really actually here extra for him. It made Stiles feel much warmer than it should. The grin on his lips grew and he bounced his leg a little in excitement. Stuffing the last of his pancakes into his mouth as his mind raced away from him.

"Okay, okay, okay. You gotta eat up!" Stiles urged them, mouth still full.

"What's the rush?" Kali raised one eyebrow at him. "The party isn't until six, is it?"

"That means we only have like six hours until we have to get ready for the party!" Stiles exclaimed, jumping up. "I wanna show you Beacon Hills! My school, the library, oh we have to go to the preserve, and we have to go shopping! Peter and Erica have been threatening me with that, but you guys never have so far. Come on, there is so much I wanna do with you now that I got you here."

Stiles offered them the brightest smile he had to offer. It got him a curious reaction from his dad though, who turned contemplative, like he was going into sheriff mode. But Stiles had no mind to focus on that now, because he had his pack here!

/break\

"You have been wearing the shirt for nearly a week now," Peter accused his mate with a smile.

Deucalion, in the middle of getting ready for bed, paused. The shirt was half-way over his torso, still showing off his impressive abs. Peter's eyes darkened as he drank in the sight. For the past week, Deucalion had been wearing the same shirt for bed. The very shirt they had found Stiles in when surprising him for his birthday. Stiles had been so embarrassed by being caught red-handed, he had given back all shirts that he had 'borrowed' from Deucalion and Peter.

"Don't think I can't smell Stiles on you either, dear," Deucalion countered, righting his shirt. "You are wearing one of the shirts he returned to you too."

Sighing, Peter let himself fall back onto the mattress. "We have a serious problem, don't we?"

"If you mean that a certain Spark has us wrapped around his little fingers then yes, we have a serious problem," Deucalion chuckled and sat down next to his mate, patting the mattress until he found Peter's hand to take. "He was so happy to see us. And he… stole our clothes."

"He isn't a wolf," Peter countered. "It doesn't mean the same."

"I'd say that makes it mean even more, doesn't it?" Deucalion wondered. "For a wolf, it's instinctual. But Stiles… Stiles just wants. He seems to want our scent."

That gave Peter pause. He valued wolf instincts a lot, but Deucalion wasn't wrong. There was something special about the boy doing this without following any instincts. He grinned a little.

"You know, it was Stiles' eighteenth birthday," Peter drawled slowly. "We could court him…"

"What for, dear?" Deucalion sighed and wrapped an arm around Peter to pull him close. "He is doing well in Beacon Hills, working toward his graduation. Do you want to court him so he can move back to Lakeside with us?"

Sighing, Peter leaned against Deucalion, kissing his Alpha's neck. "The thing you talked about, when Stiles was discharged… You said he made you think about… leaving."

"It's not a decision I would ever do without our entire pack agreeing," Deucalion pointed out. "And in the end… I seem to be not the only one hiding here."

Peter's lips twisted into the mockery of a smile at that. They had talked about it. Boyd and Erica were still minors, they had been admitted by their parents. They had no say in the matter. Ethan and Aiden were wards of the state and couldn't make this decision at the time either. Though Boyd, Ethan and Aiden had all turned eighteen by now and Erica was going to turn eighteen in four months too. Peter hummed softly, dragging his lips along Deucalion's collarbone.

"Maybe it's worth revisiting," Peter whispered. "Visiting Stiles, cooking with Ennis for our pack and sharing a meal together like that, not in the cafeteria, it was… new. Good. It reminded me of how things used to be in the old Hale Pack, before the… I missed this. And the shopping trip? Even Ethan and Aiden were having fun halfway through."

"The preserve felt good," Deucalion admitted after a moment. "The woods feel wilder than the park. It was… good, to run with our pack like that, for the first time. Unrestrained."

"Maybe it's time for us to start looking into a place for our pack, outside of Lakeside. Take our time to make this decision and find something, together," Peter suggested softly. "And once we have a place of our own, maybe… we could talk about Stiles again…"

"Maybe," Deucalion whispered, pressing a kiss to Peter's temple.

/break\

Stiles was surprised when the pack was waiting for him outside of Lakeside, with varying degrees of grins on their faces. Were they that eager for his visit? It put a grin on his own lips. He was swept into hugs by each of them, scent-marked by them all.

"What's going on, guys?" Stiles laughed while Ennis lifted him up and whirled him around. "Did you guys piss off Marin and are hiding from her?"

"Offended by the suggestion," Peter huffed. "That's only the twins."

"Guilty," Aiden shrugged. "But not this time."

"We are abducting you," Erica declared with a broad grin. "We have something to show you."

"Oka—ay…?" Stiles blinked curiously, but allowed himself to be pulled along.

They walked for nearly an hour, which Stiles was not really a fan of, but the Jeep didn't fit nine people so there was that. They walked through Silver Lake to the outskirts of town, where they reached a beautiful large modern house with a large garden out front.

"Damn, that's gorgeous," Stiles hummed, looking around. "Where are we?"

"We're at the new Blackwood Pack's pack house," Deucalion declared proudly.

"The what," Stiles turned to look at the Alpha in surprise.

"We have spent weeks discussing this among ourselves and making plans," Deucalion confirmed. "And then spent even longer to find the perfect place that suits all of our needs."

"You…" Stiles trailed off and turned to look at all the pack.

"I'm about to turn eighteen too and then I can release myself," Erica shrugged. "Everyone else can already start renovating and doing all the work."

"You're helping too, pup. Lakeside isn't a prison," Ennis snorted and put Erica in a headlock.

"Come on, dear," Peter smiled at Stiles and rested a hand on his lower back. "Let us show you around. There is a garden out back for herbs and other things that might be useful in potions and the like, you said you were currently learning more potion and spell-work?"

"There is a two story-spanning library too," Deucalion added. "We plan on filling it not just with literature but with bestiaries and spell-books too."

Stiles tried very hard not to salivate at the house and to act normal about this. It was great progress for his friends, that they wanted to get out of Lakeside and that they had bought this house. He didn't need greedy, itchy fingers for things that weren't his. A mantra he'd been practicing for over half a year now, in regards to Peter and Deucalion. Not his, they belonged to each other.

"We even got ceiling windows, to let in the sun," Erica added excitedly. "So much sun."

"That did warm you second best," Boyd smirked a little. "Right after our Alpha Pair, of course."

Stiles flushed furiously and glared at his former roommate. Absolute traitor. And he was doing great on the warmth-front! Well. For the most part. Some days, the disconnect to his body was very prominent and he'd be freezing and stumbling around. But the majority of the time, it really did feel like this was his body, like it belonged to him.

"Oh, it has ladders with wheels," Stiles whispered, biting his lips as he stared longingly around the library. "I wanna Beauty and the Beast these so badly."

They'd made their way through the entrance and the large living room with the lowered couch area and the fireplace, down the hall and into the library. There was an extra staircase and a hole in the ceiling that allowed the two story library to feel more open and connected and there were, indeed, wheeled ladders in front of the tall shelves.

"Well, arguably, you are the Beauty to our Beasts," Ethan joked and wrapped an arm around Stiles' neck. "So as long as you don't start singing, go wild."

"Oh god, you actually are Belle, aren't you?" Erica asked baffled, staring at Stiles.

Stiles snorted at her and Ethan and flipped them both off. "Sure. Just missing the crucial bit of the Beast lover. I'm just the boy who runs with wolves."

Kali heaved an exasperated sigh that Stiles didn't know how to interpret, before Peter quickly ushered everyone along to the next room.

/break\

Graduation was coming closer and closer. Everyone kept talking about their post-graduation plans. College, gap-year, work. And Stiles was just sitting there, staring blankly. Once upon a time, he'd had a plan. And then he got dragged into the supernatural and things got messy and complicated and traumatic. He wasn't that person anymore, he didn't want the same things out of life as he once did.

"Hey, Stiles. Your dad let me in."

Stiles looked up from the array of college pamphlets in front of him to stare at his Alpha in surprise. Laura wore a kind smile, her red lips matching the Alpha eyes she wasn't currently showing, her dark hair put up in a casual ponytail. She really looked a lot like Derek. The same sharp-cut cheekbones, dark hair and bright hazel-eyes. These siblings fully could not deny each other.

Stiles swirled on his chair to fully face her. "He—ey, what can I do for you?"

Her eyes landed on the pamphlets on the table and her smile turned somewhat… different. Maybe mournful? Laura must be thinking about them all going off to college a lot. Her old pack was all family, all living together and all different ages so even when someone would have left for college, it'd only be one person. Not the vast majority of the pack at the same time.

"Lydia brought it to my attention that you still haven't chosen a college," Laura pursed her lips. "She was very displeased about your indecisiveness."

Stiles huffed amused and nodded a little. Lydia, the genius she was, had gotten accepted into the whole collection of Ivy League, of course. She was going to attend Harvard Law. Everyone in the pack had already made their decisions, some of them were even already looking for places to live.

"I'm just kind of… lost," Stiles admitted softly.

"About what to do, or where to go?" Laura asked, perching on his desk now to take a closer look.

"All my life, I thought I'd go into law enforcement in some way, you know?" Stiles ran his fingers through his hair with a heavy sigh. "But our lives have been enough life or death already. I don't… I'm not… It's just not really something I'm passionate about anymore."

"What are you passionate about, then? Enough to want to pursue it as a career?"

"Research. Books. Researching things for the pack, tracking down the right sources. I just…"

"You know exactly what you want, you're just afraid to disappoint your dad with your choice," Laura offered amused. "You want to become a librarian. It's… been very plain to see in the past year, really. But you're afraid you'd let your dad down if you don't go into law enforcement."

A stretch of silence, then a very quiet. "Maybe."

"You know that man loves you more than life itself. I don't think you could do anything to disappoint him," Laura reached out and rested a hand on his head. "Or me, for that matter. You have been an invaluable asset to my pack and saved all of us more often than I care to remember, because I don't like remembering how often I came close to losing someone from this pack."

"Oka—ay…" Stiles stared at Laura doubtfully, unsure where she was going with this.

"The others," Laura's voice softened. "I made arrangements with local packs, so they would be watched over. And when they finish college, they will return here. They'll stay Hale Pack."

"Why does it sound more and more like you're kicking me out of the pack…?" Stiles frowned confused. "I have been an asset. Not am. The others will return. Not me."

"I'm not kicking you out of the pack, Stilinski," Laura rolled her eyes and kicked him lightly, before she put a pamphlet down on his table. "I'm telling you that I won't be disappointed in you if you choose to leave the pack."

Silver Lake University. She'd folded it so it was open on the school's librarian program. Stiles frowned confused. Silver Lake was only three hours away, he'd been making the drive a lot in the past months. He would even be able to come back home every weekend. Why did she make it sound like going there might make him leave the pack? Not even Lydia, who was going to the other end of the US, was considering it, after all.

"Stiles," Laura sighed and rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's been pretty obvious since you got back from Lakeside that you… I'm telling you that it's okay if you want to join the Blackwood Pack. We all love you and we would miss you, but we've seen how miserable you were every week that you couldn't see them and just how much you light up whenever you come back from a visit with them. You formed strong bonds with them while you were in Lakeside, you temporarily joined their pack during your recovery, but you have been struggling with the readjustment of rejoining our pack. You're trying to hide it from everyone because you don't want to worry us, but I'm your Alpha. I can feel the shifting allegiance. And I'm telling you that it's okay."

Stiles looked from the pamphlet over at Laura. "How can you say that. You're my Alpha."

"And I like being your Alpha. This is not about getting rid of you. But being pack isn't always a life-long commitment, Stiles," Laura frowned at him. "Peter… Peter chose to stay in the Blackwood Pack and I don't hold it against him, I know I failed him. I was too young, too overwhelmed by the responsibility, loss and grief. But it's generally not unusual to change packs. My aunt Fiona was a wolf and when she fell in love with uncle Aaron, she left her pack and joined ours. There doesn't have to be resentment about these things. Sometimes, our needs and wants change and we find a different place that… fills them for us better."

Stiles gripped the pamphlet tightly, crumbling it a little. They had a pack house now. A beautiful, gorgeous pack house. They had already moved in too, on the day of Erica's eighteenth birthday. Stiles had been there to celebrate and help them move, together with Laura and Derek. Ennis and Boyd had started the garden, Boyd planting mostly spices and herbs for cooking, while Ennis had discovered a surprising passion for flowers. They got the furniture and were slowly filling the house with personal belongings, making it a proper home.

"You will always be welcome with us and the Hale Pack will always be your family, even if you found a different family you want to be a part of now," Laura promised, patting his shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that and that this wasn't what kept you from making a decision."

Getting up, Stiles pulled Laura into a bone-crushing hug. "Thanks, Bigwolf."

She wrapped her arms around him and rubbed her chin against his neck. "Any time, Little Red."

/break\

Peter heaved a sigh and buried his face in Deucalion's chest. The only thing stopping him from total despair was his mate. They'd all attended Stiles' high school graduation, Peter and Deuc had even brought him flowers. Their boy hadn't told them where he was going for college yet though. He kept grinning and telling them that it would be a surprise.

"Dear, I am trying to read. Your dramatic sighs are wildly distracting."

Peter growled and nipped Deucalion's ear. "Stiles is going away to college and you read your stupid books. How can you. He might soon be at the other end of the state. Or another country altogether."

"And we will not lose contact with him," Deucalion spoke gently, putting the book away to give Peter his undivided attention. "After he was released from Lakeside, we only saw him once a week, then only every two weeks. There was a time when weeks passed with us not seeing him at all. But we texted with him, called him. Our bond with him didn't weaken in the fifteen months that we have known him now. Do you truly think it will, just because he'll go to college?"

Grumbling, Peter relaxed more against his mate, rolling over so the sun was hitting his face through the large sky-light they had installed in the living room – the stairs led up left and right to the second floor, but there was room right above the living room so they could have this. So the sunken in couch would always be hit by direct light, because they knew Stiles still enjoyed the sun.

"It'll be different," Peter whispered. "He left to return to his pack, to the family he knew and had been forced to leave. Now, he will go to a new place, meet new people, make new experiences..."

Deucalion smiled, running a hand down Peter's spine. "You're afraid he'll fall in love at college."

At that, Peter tensed. It was selfish, wasn't it? They had no claim on the boy, after all. Peter and Deucalion were happily mated too. But a part of Peter had really thought that now that Stiles was eighteen and they had the pack house and had moved out of Lakeside, they could try to court their boy. And then graduation loomed and they didn't want to influence Stiles' decision on college with their feelings for him. He was so brilliant, he shouldn't build his future around the two smitten wolves who kept pining for him. Not that they knew he would accept their courting if they offered.

At college, Stiles could meet someone his own age, who would also match his wit. And Peter shouldn't begrudge their boy that. Yet Peter Hale had always been inherently selfish. Stiles should be his – theirs. He fit so perfectly with both Peter and Deucalion, like he was meant to be theirs.

"I am a patient man, Peter," Deucalion hummed softly and pressed a kiss behind Peter's ear. "I waited six years for you to wake up. I can wait for our boy to finish college. Four years and he'll come back. Maybe he'll fall in love in college, maybe he will just have flings, but either way he will gain new experiences and not hold himself back. I wouldn't want him to hold himself back and you know that selfless boy, if we were to tell him that we want to court him, he'd bend over backward trying to make it work long-distance and it'll distract him from his studies and most likely affect his social life, because instead of living in the now, with his fellow students, he'll try to be with us. Do you truly want that for him? To sit holed up in his dorm room, only having us in his phone?"

"No," Peter admitted displeased, making a face.

"I'd rather have him kiss or even sleep with someone else, knowing he's making real connections and making the best of college. I want him happy. Even if that would mean temporary happiness with someone else. In the end, he will come back. And we will court him then. Patience, my love."

This time, Deuc pressed a proper kiss to Peter's mouth and Peter found himself melting into it.

"Ew. Gross. This is the shared couch, do not do anything nasty on it," Erica complained as she came thundering down the stairs. "Please restrict the making out to your bedroom."

"I walked in on you and Boyd fucking in the library last week," Peter pointed out.

"This is different. We're teenagers, we're meant to sneak around and be wild. You're like… dads. Nobody wants to see their dads make out on the living room couch."

"Brat," Peter growled and threw a pillow after her.

"Stiles is coming," Erica announced. "I saw his Jeep down the road from my window."

More steps came running down the stairs and the balcony door opened as Kali and Ennis came back inside from the garden. Peter and Deucalion sat up, though Peter had a pit in his stomach. Stiles was most likely dropping by to say goodbye in person before he'd leave for college. As good as Deuc's arguments were, Peter still hated to see their boy leave.

By the time the Jeep pulled up in the driveway, the entire pack was already gathered in front of the house. Stiles stared at them a little surprised when he climbed out of the car.

"Erica saw you drive up," Aiden supplied at Stiles' look.

"Spoiling my surprise, Catwoman," Stiles rolled his eyes, but then he straightened up with a grin. "Oh well, might as well use all that free werewolf muscle while you're here."

He opened the back door of the Jeep and motioned inside. The pack approached, finding the Jeep absolutely packed with boxes and bags, the backseat and the passenger seat stuffed full and some even in the truck of the car.

"So… You're here to say goodbye, then," Peter cleared his throat to get rid of the pesky vulnerability that had a hold of his voice. "Will you finally tell us where you're going?"

"Can't be that far away if you're taking the Jeep," Ethan mused.

Stiles turned toward them with a broad grin and then held up a piece of paper, before turning toward Deucalion. "I am holding up my acceptance letter and full scholarship for Silver Lake University. SLU actually has one of the state's best librarian programs."

"You're…" Peter trailed off, unable to comprehend what Stiles had just said.

"Wait, does that mean you're moving to Silver Lake?" Erica positively screeched before she jumped Stiles in the tightest hug. "The dorms are like right around the corner, like, an hour walk, I could see you every day if I wanted to."

"I mean…" Stiles wavered, his heart racing and the scent of nervousness thickening in the air. "Or you could just walk down the hall and knock on my bedroom door. If… you guys will have me."

Everything got very quiet as the pack stared at Stiles in surprise. The boy started shifting nervously.

"I just, I mean, I know there's a suspiciously empty bedroom in the house and I have been trying not to read too much into it but I had hoped that maybe-"

"Of course it's for you," Boyd huffed and rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be for."

Stiles perked up but he still looked at Deuc intensely and unsure. Peter gave his mate a gentle nudge to let him know that Stiles was waiting for the Alpha's approval.

"Dear boy, I have told you repeatedly in the past that you will always be welcome with us," Deucalion smiled and reached out for Stiles, with the boy stepping up to meet him halfway. "So will you be temporarily joining our pack again, while you're at college?"

"I was… uhm… I was thinking maybe less temporarily? If you'll… have me?"

Deucalion's face did a thing that Peter had never seen before. Surprise looked good on his mate.

"Are you… sure?" Deucalion asked, once he composed himself. "Did you talk to Alpha Hale about this? I would have for there to be bad blood between our packs."

Stiles snorted softly, even as he leaned more against Deucalion, cheek plastered against the Alpha's chest. "Laura was the one to bring it up with me a couple months ago. Apparently I have done a great job at very obviously missing you guys whenever I don't get to see you. She… talked to me about college and wanted to know if my indecisiveness came from wanting to be here, with you guys, but not wanting to disappoint her and the Hale Pack."

The Hale Pack. Not my pack. Peter tilted his head and swallowed hard, hope warming his chest.

Stiles cleared his throat and pushed off Deuc. "Alpha Blackwood, I formally ask to join your pack."

He'd barely finished the sentence before Deucalion pulled him in again and sank his teeth into the nape of Stiles' neck. A more symbolic bite than anything, to seal the commitment. Peter wasn't the only one to gasp when a new pack-bond snapped into place. It felt electrifying, like lightning.

"I would be a fool not to have you when you offer yourself like that, sweet boy."

Peter bit his lips amused at the way his mate just phrased that. Stiles' cheeks were a charming red.

"Okay," Stiles' voice. "Well then, werewolf muscle. All of that needs to go into my new bedroom."

"That how it's gonna be?" Ennis asked amused, ruffling Stiles' hair. "Bossy much, pup?"

"You will come to realize that I do keep my wolves on a short leash," Stiles snickered.

"Dog jokes," Aiden heaved a sigh. "Is it too late to return him to the Hales?"

"Yes," Peter growled and wrapped an arm around Stiles' waist. "Ours."

"Says the only Hale present," Stiles snorted amused, but he smelt pleased and content.

Peter hid his large smile in Stiles' neck while he watched the twins and Ennis start to unload the Jeep. Their boy was here. Here for college, here to join their pack, here to live in their home.

/break\

Deucalion tilted his head as he entered the library. "Dear boy, you do realize that you have a bedroom in this house too, yes? That you don't live in the library?"

Stiles yelped and there was the sound of something falling over. Most likely the chair with Stiles on it. Sighing fondly, Deucalion approached the boy, listening to him scrambling off the floor.

"Don't sneak up on me, Demon Wolf. You're gonna give me a heart-attack."

"Pardon me," Deucalion smiled. "I just felt like reminding you of your bed. It's three AM."

"...Huh?" Stiles made a startled noise. "That can't… Oh, it is. Damn. Oops."

The smile turned more smitten as Deucalion reached out for the boy. As always, Stiles met him halfway, not letting him pat around in search. A pleased noise escaped Deucalion when he realized the boy was nuzzling his cheek into Deucalion's hand. Stiles' ADHD sometimes had the boy fall into rabbit holes, they all knew that, had witnessed it at Lakeside already. So the pack made sure to remind Stiles of the time of day when it got past midnight, or to bring him meals when he didn't leave the library for too long. They made a point of eating dinner together, as a pack, but everyone more or less ate breakfast and lunch whenever they were hunger and whatever they wanted, though rarely did anyone have to eat all alone.

Though breakfast had become a bit torturous for Peter as of late, much to Deucalion's amusement. Apparently, Stiles liked to come to breakfast only in boxers and a shirt that tended to rile up too. Other pack members came to breakfast in their sleep clothes too, so Deucalion was glad the boy was this comfortable with them. But the view was killing Peter. New moles had been discovered and described to Deucalion in great detail. The Alpha was itching to discover them himself, trace them with his fingers and his tongue, map them all out.

"Off to bed you go, dearest," Deucalion prompted, guiding Stiles up.

Stiles grumbled in protest. "It's your fault, you know. All these shiny, old books that you got, how am I supposed to put them down and go to sleep…?"

"Yes," Deucalion smiled fondly. "Of course it's my fault. That reminds me… This is for you."

He reached into his pocket to get the small, old, leather-bound book out that he had ordered for Stiles and that had arrived today. Many of the books in this library had been bought with Stiles in mind, but ever since Stiles had moved in with them, Peter and Deucalion made sure to hand him these books and let him know that they had bought this one for him specifically.

"De—euc," Stiles groaned as he took the book. "You can't keep buying old, expensive books for me. And don't think I don't know how valuable these antiques are. You know you don't have to bribe me, right? I already joined your pack. I'm not going to leave again."

Deucalion simply smiled at their boy. Him and Peter were slowly courting him, to see how receptive he was for this, before they would tell him and officially ask for his hand in courting. So far, their gifts were mostly on the practical and useful side. But Stiles was still getting settled in and he was buzzing with so much excitement about college.

"It is our joy and pleasure to spoil you, dearest," Deucalion assured their boy.

When they reached the boy's room, Deucalion gently steered him into it. Stiles gave him one last tight hug, rubbing his cheek against Deucalion's to scent-mark the wolf (and the boy had no idea what it did to Deucalion and Peter whenever he scent-marked them).

"Good night, Deuc," Stiles yawned widely. "Thanks for prying me off my book."

"Anytime, darling," Deucalion smiled at their boy. "Sleep well."

/break\

Stiles entered the kitchen to the mouth-watering scent of Peter's carbonara. It might be Stiles' Kryptonite. It was also highly confusing, because today was Ennis' turn to make dinner.

"Hello, darling," Peter smiled as he turned toward Stiles. "You emerged on your own."

"The scent of the carbonara compelled me," Stiles licked his lips. "It is also confusing me though. Isn't it Ennis' turn to cook today? I thought he wanted to barbecue, what with the weather?"

"Yes," Peter nodded. "The rest of the pack is preparing everything outside for barbecue, but I wanted to cook for you. And you did groan when he said barbecue."

Stiles wiggled his nose embarrassed. "Listen, he is a great pitmaster and all, but holy shit, I've spent the past ten years of my life eating healthy because of my dad, I can not eat that much red meat."

"And that is why I am making my carbonara for you, darling," Peter smiled again.

Stiles' heart jumped a little a he tried very hard not to read too much into the fact that a wolf was cooking specifically for him. Peter was just being a considerate pack-mate. He was just being nice. Everyone was being so nice to him since he joined the pack a month ago.

"Mh, that smells divine, my love," Deucalion sniffed and hummed pleased as he entered.

And then he followed his noise to stand right beside Stiles. He laid an arm around Stiles to pull him closer so he could bury his nose in Stiles' hair. It was so easy to be affectionate with them, Stiles found himself happily leaning against Deuc's chest, just standing there and watching Peter cook.

"You did miss the divine food, Deuc," Stiles commented teasingly.

"Oh, he was neither talking to me nor about the food," Peter chuckled and regarded them both with warm eyes. "Would you be a dear and set the table for three, Stiles?"

Of course was Deuc not missing out on his mate's carbonara either. Stiles bit his lips, trying hard not to think about how domestic – in a romantic sense – this felt. Not like when it was just the whole pack, then it had a familial domestic feeling. But just with the two men he liked…?

"You look fancy, Deuc," Stiles noted, looking at Deuc. "Makes me feel underdressed for dinner."

The Alpha was wearing black slacks and one of his fancier dark-red button-down shirt. Stiles had seen him wear that for date-night with Peter before. Stiles paused, with the plates in hand. Wait. Was he crashing date-night? Was Peter cooking for Deuc and feeling bad for Stiles…?

"Whatever you are thinking, stop it," Deucalion frowned and pulled Stiles close again, burrowing his nose in the Spark's neck. "I don't like when you smell of anxiety, dearest. Please worry not, you are certainly not underdressed, whatever you wear. According to Peter, you look stunning even in that oversized Batman shirt that Erica gave you for your birthday."

That was his main sleep shirt, now that he was living with Peter and Deuc and had no more excuse to steal their clothes for sleeping anymore. He mourned that, but at least he got to see them every day again and be near them. Stiles sighed and leaned against Deuc again, just to have Peter approach him and hold a spoon up for Stiles. Opening wide, Stiles tried the sauce, moaning softly.

"Oh, this is so good, how is this so good," Stiles licked his lips.

Peter didn't step away though, leaving Stiles caged between Deuc and Peter, with the Alpha's arms around his waist, holding him in place. Actually, Peter stepped closer, between Stiles' legs, crowding him more against Deucalion's chest and making Stiles' heart beat faster.

"I'm cooking for you, Stiles," Peter spoke slow and deliberate. "I am providing for you. We would like for this to be a date, darling. I would like this to be the first step in officially courting you."

Oh. So the date-vibes were real but he was also… included in that? They wanted to date him? Stiles bit his lips hard and turned so he could look at Deucalion too. The Alpha was smiling, but it was a little strained, there was a certain tenseness to Deucalion when he let go of Stiles.

"We also need you to understand that there is no pressure on you here. You are a cherished member of this pack, even if you decline our courting advances. We've been… trying to get a feel for whether you would be… open to being courted, by offering you more… practical gifts."

The books and other magical things they had been giving him, specifically. Oh. Stiles blinked.

"Deuc is right," Peter sighed and also stepped away from Stiles. "It's okay if you say that you don't want us like that, we just want you close, whether that is as a mate or as a pack-mate…"

Stiles frowned, disliking how his wolves had stepped away from him. He reached out, taking their hands and pulling them closer again. They wanted to court him. Wanted him as their mate.

"I have been stealing your clothes for a year and I've been using the both of you as my personal heat blankets since we were all still in Lakeside, you two, rarely ever any of he others. I want you both so badly, I just thought… I mean, you're mated and you're both older than me, what would you want with a brat like me, right?" Stiles was chewing his lips.

"Oh, I would know a few things I'd like to do with a brat like you, dearest," Deucalion whispered in a foreboding, dark voice that made Stiles flush brightly.

The Alpha reached his free hand around Stiles' waist to hold him close again. Stiles took a shaky breath and leaned forward against the two wolves. He could really have them? He'd come to join their pack to be close to them, to be with them – granted, not just the two of them, he loved the entire pack, but there was that special draw to them.

"So, does that mean you accept our courting?" Peter asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yes," Stiles laughed softly. "Yes, yes, I accept your courting."

He wrapped his arms around their necks and pulled them closer, both their arms around him, holding him close to them. His wolves – his wolves – nuzzled his neck from either side. And then there were lips, kissing his neck, kissing up to his cheek. Peter curled his fingers under Stiles' chin to turn his head so he could steal the first proper kiss. It was much softer than Stiles had expected from the cheeky, teasing beta. Stiles was smiling happily when they parted.

"Might I have one of those too, dearest?" Deucalion requested.

Stiles turned toward him, smile growing even brighter as he pulled the Alpha into a kiss of their own. Deucalion was much more demanding, dominating the kiss from the get go and making Stiles shudder a little. Peter stepped away from them to make sure their dinner didn't burn.

"Oh, I am definitely underdressed," Stiles muttered when their kiss broke. "Hold on."

"Sweet boy, did you not hear me?" Deucalion sighed amused. "You-"

"I am not wearing dad's worn-out Queen concert shirt and the sweat-pants with the hole in the knee on our first date!" Stiles exclaimed firmly. "I'm getting changed, shut up."

Both his wolves snorted amused at that, but they let him run off to his bedroom to get changed. He put on the dress pants that Erica claimed made his ass look really hot and the button-down shirt that Deucalion had commented felt particularly pleasant. Since the Alpha couldn't see him, he wanted Deuc to get something out of this too. When he returned to the kitchen, the table was already set and Deuc and Peter were waiting for him with smiles. His heart was absolutely racing as he ran up to them and quickly pecked them both on the lips before sitting down.

When he'd gone to Lakeside over a half years ago, he had hoped to get some rest and to get better. He was better, he was so good, and he was happy. He couldn't believe that he could have all of this.

~*~ The End ~*~

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Author's note: Ngl, this is not how I imagined writing Laura Hale for the first time. Neither the setting, nor the characterization xD But I really liked the idea of playing with her as Alpha in a world where Peter got to recover in a proper, appropriate setting, and to maybe acknowledge how complicated and not easy the situation was. This was definitely fun to write, I hope you feel the same about reading it and if you do, let me know in the comments ;)