Phoe's Friday Ficlets Chapter 18: Steter: Lost Memories and Gained Trust, a teen wolf fanfic

Teen Wolf || Steter || Teen Wolf || Lost Memories and Gained Trust || Teen Wolf || Steter || Teen Wolf

Title: Lost Memories and Gained Trust – Friday Ficlets Series

Tags: m/m, amnesia, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Jackson Doesn't Leave, Pack Feels, fluff

Main Pairing: Peter/Stiles

Side Pairings: Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia, Scott/Allison

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Peter Hale, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Cora Hale, Scott McCall, Allison Argent

Summary: The pack is hit with a curse that leaves everyone without memories. They have to figure out who they are and who they are to each other. Stiles may not remember any of these people, but he knows instinctively that he trusts them, especially Peter.

Lost Memories and Gained Trust

Friday Ficlets Series

When Stiles woke up, he didn't remember anything aside from his own name. The comforting and concerning thing was that everybody else seemed to be suffering from the same thing. There were a bunch of people around him and at first he had freaked out, understandably enough, since he didn't know any of them. But they also didn't know him, or each other.

It took them ten minutes of freaking out and yelling to figure that bit out. Part of Stiles wished they'd gotten there earlier, because eleven people yelling and growling at each other was not fun. In the end, they came to the conclusion that whatever had happened to them had happened to them all. In the middle of the forest. Took them another half hour to figure out that they all must know each other, because the redhead suggested to check their phones. Brilliant woman, Stiles wanted to kiss her. When he'd voiced that, Jackson had growled at him in warning.

Checking their message history and the pictures on their phones quickly confirmed that Jackson and Lydia were a couple. Which clued them in that while they may not remember facts, apparently emotions and instincts still shone through. That was good to know.

"Oh, oh I wonder if we're in a throuple," Erica stated curiously as she saw her lockscreen.

She held it under Stiles' nose and okay yeah. She was in the middle between Stiles and the big guy whose name was Boyd, kissing Boyd's cheek in the picture. Tilting his head, Stiles tried to check his emotions. He did feel strongly but he wouldn't label it romantic or sexual.

"Well, my contacts aren't very helpful," Erica's face screwed up. "BF, BWFF, BBFF."

"BF, boyfriend?" Stiles guessed. "Can't help you with the others."

Erica hummed and dialed BF, just to have Boyd's phone ring. Boyd, sitting with Cora and Derek, looked up at her in awe. Like he couldn't believe he was actually dating Erica. Totally smitten and sweet. Stiles grinned broadly at them, feeling a comfortable warmth for them both. He definitely cared about them, though he wasn't entirely sure what it meant.

When she dialed BBFF, Stiles' phone rang with the Batman theme song. Why did he remember that that was the Batman theme song but he couldn't remember the names of his parents. The contact flashing up on his phone said Catwoman though. Stiles tilted his head.

"BBFF. Best Batman Friend Forever," Stiles dissected with a small grin.

He held up his phone, showing the name she was saved under. She squealed and wrapped her arms around him. That felt good. That felt really good. Without remembering anything, clues to what these people meant to him eased the anxiety a little.

"Scott and Allison are definitely dating," Isaac declared with a snicker. "Scott has like a thousand photos of Allison, and of Allison and him. And there are ten hearts behind her name in his contacts."

"Shut up," Scott groaned flustered, elbowing Isaac a little.

Stiles instinctively smiled at Scott warmly, feeling happy for the other. Okay, so Scott also meant something to him, to be determined what. But seeing Scott happy and even more so seeing him flustered when Allison offered him a dimpled smile, he definitely cared.

"Okay, let's figure out who everyone is to me, I guess," Stiles muttered softly.

When he dialed his contact Brother From Another Mother, Scott's phone rang. So they were half-brothers. When he shared this information with Scott, the other boy gave him the brightest grin and hugged him tightly. Lydia was saved under Genius Goddess. Which got him a pleased smile from Lydia and led to the realization that Lydia was the only person among them to properly save her contacts. Stiles' name was apparently Stiles Stilinski, everyone snickered at them.

"Stiles obviously is a nickname," Lydia rolled her eyes.

Three of them shared the same last name. Peter, Derek and Cora. The three looked at each other curiously, like they were trying to seize each other up, something guarded and wary to them all.

"I feel resentment, frustration and love," Derek narrowed his eyes. "Father?"

Peter made an offended noise at that. "Irritation and love. A lot of irritation right now. How dare you suggest I'm old enough to be your father, you brat. Older brother, if anything."

"Siblings," Cora hummed and nodded. "That… feels right. I feel like I have two older siblings."

While the Hales bickered, Stiles dialed Jackass on his phone and then snickered when Jackson picked up his phone. The other boy glared at him from across the room, one arm around Lydia. That checked out. There was definitely some animosity between them. But Stiles still cared about the other and that also figured, because why would he have Jackson's number saved otherwise.

"Huh. Okay, so the group chat we are in is called the Hale Pack. And I have a contact called Alpha Sourwolf. Are we… like… fantasy LARPers? Playing a pack of werewolves maybe…?"

"LARP," Allison echoed with big eyes. "What's that?"

"Nerds without a real life playing pretend," Jackson supplied dryly.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the other boy and dialed the Alpha contact. Derek's phone rang. Kind of surprising. Out of their group, both Peter and Derek stood out as being several years older than the others. Somehow, Stiles assumed the teenagers were in a group and the two men were here in support of Cora. The fact that they were all in the woods also made Stiles believe his LARPing theory. Maybe they had been in the middle of playing when… something… had happened.

"The last thing in our group chat is that we wanted to meet at 'the loft' about the 'pixies," Boyd read aloud, a curious frown on his face. "...Maybe Stiles is right about the LARPing."

Stiles perked up pleased by that before returning his attention to his own phone, searching for clues. Allison was saved as Legolass, which only convinced him further that they were LARPing and she was playing an elf. He wondered what he was? Maybe a powerful mage. He'd like being a mage.

He paused when one name in particular caught his attention. Zombiewolf. Well, that was a really badass pitch for a character. Eagerly, he dialed the number and watched… Peter pick up. Their eyes met across the room and Stiles tilted his head at the strange emotions swirling in him, fear, fondness, pride, love, anger, hurt, safety. Frowning confused, Stiles clutched his head, feeling dizzy.

"Are you okay, darling?" Peter's voice was concerned and pleasant.

Stiles wasn't sure how Peter had crossed the room that quickly, but suddenly he was there, resting a gentle hand on Stiles' arm. Blinking, Stiles looked up into Peter's worried eyes. They were blue, really blue. Blue was his favorite color, Stiles realized in that moment.

"Darling?" Cora echoed. "What, are you two also dating?"

Peter paused and tilted his head. "Darling felt like the right term. I do feel… strongly. Perhaps?"

He turned to look at Stiles inquisitively. Stiles also tilted his head and then scrolled through his phone. He might actually have the most messages with Zombiewolf. A lot of 'I'll be over soon' and 'coming by after school', while Peter had sent back things like 'restocked your favorite energy drink, you heathen' or 'making chicken Parmesan then'. A lot of banter and back and forth.

"Yeah," Stiles decided after a long moment. "I think we might be?"

He blushed at the sweet smile Peter aimed at him. "Very well. I think we need to figure out what exactly happened to us. We should split up, investigate the surrounding area and this… loft, that's mentioned in the group chat. Look for clues."

"How are we supposed to find it?" Scott frowned where he was leaning against Allison.

The two seemed to move without conscious effort, easy and comfortable in each other's space. Muscle memory and emotion, all that remained. Stiles tilted his head as he watched them. A twig snapped behind them, loud in the silence of the clearing, and everyone immediately tensed. Some of them did more than tensing. Their eyes started flashing unnatural colors – golden, electric blue and blood red – and they seemed to grow facial hair and fangs.

"Holy shit I don't think we're LARPing I think we're actual supernatural beings," Stiles yelped.

He also noted the way Peter had put himself between Stiles and the noise, a hand on Stiles' arm, protecting him. Stiles blinked, feeling much more certain about the dating thing all of a sudden. The noise turned out to be a fox who was more startled than them.

/break\

After the fox, they obeyed the Alpha's orders and split up. Boyd and Erica, Isaac and Cora, Derek and Scott went to canvas the area. Stiles took Peter, Jackson, Lydia and Allison to 'the loft'. With the locations on their phones, they managed to figure out which places overlapped the most for them all. Beyond the high school, there was one place in particular that they seemed to frequent. It indeed turned out to be a loft, lived in. It felt familiar to Stiles, like he'd been here before.

"Okay," Stiles stood bent over the table in front of the windows, hands spread out on it, surveying the books and papers laid out. "The texts said we were meeting about pixies. All of this is about pixies. The map is marked approximately were we woke up. We need more clues. Jackson, Lydia, Allison, you try to figure out more context clues from our background? Our other contacts. Maybe our parents or something know, but be cautious, we don't know who knows about the… werewolf… situation. Peter and I will go through our research here, work backward."

"And I thought Derek was the Alpha," Lydia noted with one raised eyebrow before waving a hand. "It's a good plan, we'll do it. We'll regroup with the others in the preserve. Text in the group chat if you find out anything, we'll do the same."

She linked hands with Jackson and pecked his cheek before also taking Allison's hand and walking out. Peter was looking at Stiles with such a soft, wondrous look that it made Stiles blush. Following the feeling, he grabbed Peter by the collar and pulled him down into the briefest, most chaste kiss. The other couples were being all affectionate too, after all. Even without the memory of their past, they remembered how they felt and followed their guts. Why shouldn't he. Peter smiled so blindingly at him when they parted and wrapped an arm around Stiles' waist.

"Why did you send everyone else away, darling?" Peter asked. "It's a lot to go through, we could have used another set of eyes or three."

Stiles paused at that and blinked. "I… don't know. Just feels right that you and I do research together? Like, that's our thing?"

"Mh," Peter tilted his head. "Yes. You're right. That does feel right. I trust your judgment and mind, but I don't have that same sense about the others."

"My guess is that you just hang out with us because of me and your siblings," Stiles tilted his head. "Derek is our Alpha, we seem to be a pack. Maybe you have like… your own pack?"

"Perhaps," Peter looked thoughtful. "I do seem to only care about you and my siblings. The others wake varying degrees of annoyance and exasperation."

Stiles snickered at that and kissed his cheek. "It's sweet of you to help us out, then."

"Anything for you, darling," Peter said with absolute certainty.

Stiles smiled warmly at his boyfriend (who was a hot older werewolf, so, yay him), before returning his attention to the papers in front of him. Peter ran a gentle hand down Stiles' spine and then grabbed one of the open books to get to work. Yes. This felt right. Research with Peter. That was their thing. He wasn't a werewolf, so he wasn't a fighter probably. This might be his role in the pack and maybe Peter was helping him with it. That was sweet of the older wolf, who probably had better things to do than to deal with his little brother's pack. He wondered how old Derek was. Sure, he looked older than them. But Stiles himself and most others could be around seventeen or eighteen. Maybe Derek was nineteen or twenty? Had been held back and was in their class? Oh well, they were going to remember all of that once they figured out what happened to them.

/break\

Stiles was freaking out. He'd been pacing his bedroom for two hours now. After him and Peter figured out how to track the pixies and what to watch out for, the pack regrouped, cornered the mischief makers and forced them to undo the spell that made them forget everything. Stiles had stared wide eyed at Peter, who he had kissed and in whose lap he'd fallen asleep during the pixie research. Before the older wolf could say anything to him did Stiles flee.

"Running away is a coward's move, darling," Peter commented as he climbed through the window.

Glowering at the wolf, Stiles straightened up and raised his chin. "I'm regrouping."

Peter chuckled fondly, but there was something near sad to his expression. "Can we talk?"

"What. No. Definitely not. Nope. Never talking about this again," Stiles shook his head widely.

"You kissed me. Multiple times," Peter pointed out, voice too kind and too gentle. "You sought me out. You decided we should work together because you trust me."

"Don't turn this all on me!" Stiles yelped, pointing a finger. "You kissed me too! And you protected me when everyone freaked out about the noise! And when we cornered the pixies!"

"Yes," Peter was too calm and too patient as he looked at Stiles. "None of that should be a surprise, darling. I always stay with you, to make sure you're safe. I always follow your lead."

Stiles faltered, confused. Why wasn't Peter having the same freak out as Stiles? He had assumed the wolf would be disgusted and infuriated and agree to never speak of this again, giving Stiles the privacy to freak out about the deep sense of trust he felt for Peter and then never bring it up again.

"You are the only one aside from my family who even knows where my den is located and you are the only one I let inside. The only one who is allowed to read my rare, valuable books. The only one for whom I cook," Peter looked exasperated. "You know enough about werewolves that you should know what this means. I just assumed… these feelings were… unrequited. Until today."

Stiles swallowed hard, because yes. Yes, he theoretically knew what all of this meant, but he had never put it into perspective with his relationship with Peter. Then again, he had also never looked at his own… feelings. He was desperately clinging onto the memory of the feral Alpha they had killed, trying to ignore the easy banter, the comfort, the protection, the sense of being someone's equal that he got whenever they did research. Until everything else was stripped away and he was left with only his raw, honest emotions. He bit his lip and stared at the wolf.

"I might have… complicated feelings for you," Stiles admitted flustered. "And they might not be all negative. And I might… perhaps… consider… exploring them. With you. If you-"

He got cut off by gentle lips on his. Okay, he could definitely get used to the kissing.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: This fic was brought to you by; Buffy's episode "Tabula Rasa". I really love that, third favorite episode of that show after "Once More With Feeling" and "The Body". I thought it'd be fun to strip away the pack's memories and make them deal with only feelings and to use that for Stiles to realize he MIGHT HAVE feelings for Peter :D