Human is Just a Word 45/?
Chapter 45
Stiles had been looking forward to the evening. They had been making out earlier and almost had missed dinner over it and Derek had dropped hints that he wanted to get back to fooling around later. Which wasn't unusual because most evenings they spent together on the couch, watching a movie or whatever was on TV, now just with a little more kissing involved.
However, Derek's hints pointed more in the direction of his bedroom and maybe, just maybe, there would be his dick in Stiles' butt later. If Stiles had his way they would have been back to full on knotting last week but he got that Derek needed a slower pace.
So probably no knot tonight. But Stiles would take his dick if that was what Derek was willing to offer. Hands and mouths were awesome and he was more than okay with that but he wouldn't mind more.
So here he was, purposefully driving Derek nuts with his way of eating spaghetti. Seriously his mate had an unhealthy fixation on his mouth.
And a serious biting kink. Which Stiles didn't mind at all, he loved seeing Derek's marks all over his body and he only wished that he could mark Derek the same way. It wasn't for the lack of trying, though, maybe they both had a little biting kink.
But then their plans went down the drain when suddenly Sean stood in the door, wide eyed and desperate, pleading to crash here for the night. He even addressed Derek with his plea, clearly prepared to get kicked out by the werewolf.
Stiles shared a look with his mate but there was no question what their answer would be. If Sean would rather spent the night in an alpha's den with the alpha in question still in said den than to sleep at home, things were bad.
"Of course." Stiles stepped aside to let him in. "Did you have dinner?"
Sean didn't answer the question, he just somewhat awkwardly shuffled past Stiles, but when Stiles turned around, Derek was already fixing a plate for their guest.
Stiles would have teased him for his tendency to feed strays but he feared that Sean would die from a heart attack if Stiles dared to speak up to his alpha.
Reluctantly Sean stepped closer and visibly relaxed when Stiles offered him a seat not next to Derek.
"Thank you, Mr. Hale." He accepted his plate but only started eating when Stiles reached for his fork as well.
"Do your parents know where you are?" Derek asked, looking more busy with his food than interrogating Sean, and Stiles could kiss him for not locking eyes with Sean and his non-threatening behavior in general. Stiles didn't want Sean to bolt. If he came here for help, he had literally nowhere else to go.
"I …" Sean cleared his throat. "I told them that I would stay over at a friend's place. They didn't ask who." The last part came out in a low voice. He was more poking his pasta with his fork than he was actually eating it.
At Stiles first day at school Sean had introduced him to his friends but lately Sean had hung out with Stiles most of the time. Stiles couldn't even recall when he had seen Sean with anybody else. If it was because he hadn't been close with the others to begin with or if he had sacrificed his friendship with them for Stiles, he didn't know. Either way it was probably his fault that Sean had nowhere else to go. Thinking of Sean's first reaction when the whole werewolf thing had come out … he'd come a long way.
"Like I said, you can come over any time." Derek reminded him.
"Thank you, Mr. Hale." He sounded like a broken record but given the circumstances Stiles didn't blame him. Sean was still terrified of Derek, that much was clear. And still he'd come here.
"And call me Derek, please." He gave him a shy smile. "I'm not that much older than you."
They finished their meal and when they put the dishes into the dish washer Derek used the chance to whisper to Stiles.
"Should I crash at Isaac's?" He asked in a low enough voice that Sean couldn't hear him.
He was still sitting at the table and since they had refused his offer to help clearing the table, he didn't know what to do and was fidgeting around while at the same time he tried to just melt into the background.
"We'll go up to my room." Stiles whispered back. "It'll be fine."
Derek nodded but Stiles knew that the offer still stood. If he asked him to Derek would go downstairs to crash at Isaac's place in the middle of the night.
"I don't want to cause any trouble." Sean said. Most likely he had noticed their hushed conversation even if Stiles was pretty sure that he hadn't actually heard what they were saying.
"It's okay." He assured him. "Let's go upstairs."
Stiles led the way and it was kind of cute how Sean breathed in relief when they were in his room with a door and a whole floor between them and the scary alpha werewolf.
"So." Stiles drew out the word while he flopped down on his bed. "What's up?"
Sean took the chair and then he sat there, hunched over and fiddling with his fingers.
"Sean?" Stiles said gently, already hating himself for the next question. His friend looked rattled but Stiles didn't see any injuries, not even a bruise or anything, and he was sure that Derek would have mentioned it if Sean smelled hurt. But he still needed to asked.
"Did somebody hurt you?"
"No!" Sean's head shot up. More defensive he added: "It's not like that."
Stiles wanted to ask more but he got that he couldn't push him. Living with Derek he'd learned a thing or two about that.
"They argue." Sean finally said. "They get along for a while, more or less, but it's only a matter of time until the next clash."
"That's what happened today?" Stiles felt the urge to go over and hug him but that would probably be weird. Sean wasn't a werewolf and he wasn't pack. Strange how being in a pack and more importantly being the alpha's mate had changed him over the last weeks. Stiles spared a second to marvel over that but then he put it to the back of his mind and focused on Sean.
"They're down to screaming." He said softly, curling more into himself. "And they're dragging me into that. They want me to pick a side and then they scream at me if I don't want to pick a side. And if I do, the other one is mad at me for days." He let out a sigh, visibly shaking. "I shouldn't even tell you that." He laughed but it was watery and Stiles had the suspicion that he was fighting the tears.
He wanted to ask if there were other relatives, if Sean had somebody to talk to about this but he was pretty sure that the answer would be that Stiles was the first and only person who had heard any of this.
Stiles had his own problems at school and now the whole mate thing was kind of clogging his mind but he did like to say that he still was a pretty observant guy and he hadn't noticed anything hinting that Sean had problems at home.
Suddenly Sean shot upright in alarm.
"Can he hear me?" He hissed with a glance at the door.
"He could." Stiles didn't bother to lower his voice. "But he wouldn't."
Sean didn't look convinced.
"We could turn on some music." Stiles suggested, already reaching for his laptop. "Or we can watch a movie. Whatever you want, man, this is your evening. We have ice cream or we can get drunk, Derek is totally clueless when it comes to humans and their tolerance level of alcohol."
"He would let us get drunk?" Sean stared at him in awe.
"I wouldn't say that he would let us." Stiles drew out the words. "But I have some stuff for cooking in the kitchen and I doubt that he would pay attention if I'd take a bottle along with some snacks." Stiles shrugged, it wasn't a big deal. He had tried out some new recipes lately and a lot of them required some kind of alcohol. It evaporated before the dish was ready to eat anyway. Derek had bought whatever Stiles had wanted and so far Stiles hadn't even felt the urge to use it for anything but cooking. But he was willing to make an exception if Sean needed that tonight. Derek would understand.
"Can we just watch a movie?" Sean asked.
"Sure."
Stiles set up the laptop on the bed and then left Sean to find them a movie while he went downstairs to get some snacks and coke.
Derek had set up his laptop at the kitchen table and was working but he looked up when Stiles entered the kitchen.
"Everything okay?" He asked.
"He just needed to get out of the house tonight." Stiles answered rather vague but Derek just nodded at that and didn't ask farther.
"I think Isaac has an inflatable mattress and we have more than enough pillows and blankets." He gestured over to the chest with their stuff for the den.
"The mattress would be great." Stiles agreed. "But our normal blanket and one or two of the throw pillows from the couch should be enough but thanks for the offer." Contaminating their den with the scent of a stranger was a big deal, Stiles knew that.
He took the chance for a quick kiss before he went back upstairs, hands full with glasses, the coke and a bowl of popcorn and a bag of chips between his teeth.
Back in his room Stiles set everything up for a movie evening. They made themselves comfortable on the bed, the laptop between their stretched out legs and popcorn and chips between their hips.
"You get crumbs on the sheets and you're going to sleep in the bed and I'll take the inflatable mattress." Stiles promised darkly and put a fistful of chips in his mouth, not caring about the crumbs falling out of his mouth. Like expected Sean laughed at that.
The tension between them eased off a bit and Stiles started the movie Sean had picked out. It was some stupid action movie with a lot of explosions and plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. Stiles pointed out every single one of them and after a few minutes they were screaming together at the people on screen.
"Even I know that's bullshit science." Stiles threw some popcorn at the screen. "And I'm still in high school."
By the time the movie was over Sean was completely relaxed. He didn't even freak out when Derek knocked and came in with the mattress. He even called him Derek when he thanked him once again for letting him stay for night.
Stiles and Derek shared a glance but didn't comment on it.
Derek left them alone and Sean and Stiles set up the bed and got ready for the night before they started the next movie. They took turns in the bathroom and Stiles used the moment Sean was gone to change into his sleepwear.
He didn't really think about it so he just made sure to have his sweatpants on when Sean came back in and didn't hurry to find a comfortable shirt.
"What?" Sean gasped. With a hurried glance over his shoulder he stepped into the room and shut the door.
Stiles raised a questioning eyebrow at him, shirt still dangling from his fingers.
"Dude." Sean's eyes were glued to his chest. "They bite you?"
Chapter 46
Masterpost