Human is Just a Word 47/?
Chapter 47
Sean stayed almost until noon before he decided that it was safe to go home. Stiles reinforced the offer that he could come by anytime and Sean promised that he would.
When he shut the door behind his friend Stiles let out a sigh before he turned around to face Derek who had been working at the kitchen table like usual all morning. Sean and Stiles had only been a few feet away but for once Sean hadn't been fazed by the alpha hovering in the background.
Progress, Stiles guessed and walked over to Derek who was watching him with worry on his face.
"You okay?" He asked and opened his arms for Stiles to step in. Since Derek was still sitting his head ended up against Stiles' chest while Stiles hugged him from the side. Stiles closed his eyes and just breathed in the scent of his mate. He wasn't a werewolf but there was something in Derek's scent he recognized, something that felt like home and safety.
"I'm fine." Stiles finally said. "That was kind of a rough night but it was fun, too."
He thought about the things Sean had told him in the quiet of the night. How his parents hadn't gotten along for a while now and how it had escalated lately.
"I wish they would finally say the word divorce." Sean had admitted with a haunted look in his eyes. Stiles hadn't known what to say to that. His mother had died when he had been only a child but as far as he could remember everything had been fine between his parents. Even in the end his father had still loved her despite the awful things she said to him. It hadn't been her talking, Stiles knew that now, it had been the illness.
The only other parents he knew well enough to actually know something about had been Scott's and his dad had been an asshole. Life in the McCall household had been hell back then and just like Sean tonight, Scott had spent quite a few nights at the Stilinski house when things had been really bad back home. But Melissa had kicked Scott's father out the second she'd noticed that he was actually hurting Scott. Life had been better for all of them after that.
Stiles doubted that Sean's parents were that bad. They didn't want to hurt him but they didn't really care that they did it anyway without realizing it either. At least that was the impression Stiles had gotten from his friend last night.
"Is he alright?" Derek asked.
"He just needed a time-out." Stiles sat down on the chair next to Derek but let his hand linger on his forearm. "Is it okay that I offered that he can come here any time he needs to escape for a little while?" He had just wanted to offer his friend a safe haven and only later he had realized that he was inviting a stranger into the den. Into Derek's den. Kate came to mind.
"Of course, I kind of offered him the same." Derek leaned in an brought their lips together in a tender kiss. "Besides, you're my mate, it's your job to look out for the pack with me. And it makes you second in command which gives you the right to make decisions for the pack in my name."
"Sean isn't pack." Stiles frowned at him.
"He's not bonded to me but he's important to you, that makes him kind of pack." Derek was searching for words and Stiles patiently waited for him to find the right ones. "Your dad is pack, too. Pack is more than the actual pack, pack is also the people who matter to us. The closer they are, the stronger is the urge to protect them. It's a werewolf thing." He said the last part as if he was ashamed of it.
Stiles' hand was still on his forearm so he used that to give him an assuring pat.
"It's not that much different from how humans see things." He said.
Derek was a born werewolf, a lot of human behavior was more or less an abstract concept to him. He had learned to navigate through human society but there were things he would never be able to fully understand, Stiles got that.
"There's your family." Stiles tried to explain. "And there are the people you chose to have in your life. Scott was like a brother to me. And his mother ... Dad cares a lot about her, that's why he visits her as often as he can. He made all the arrangements so that she can have all the care she needs." He paused for a moment. "I'm not that close with Sean but he is my friend. And at the moment he really needs a friend."
"That's why he's pack."
Over the next week Sean came over after school almost every day. On Thursday they studied for a chem test until late in the night and when Stiles got the feeling that Sean was drawing this out just so he didn't have to go home just yet, Stiles asked him if he wanted to stay over night.
"Mom has been yelling at him for hours." Sean admitted in a quiet voice. "That she had only agreed to marry him because she had been pregnant."
"Wow." Stiles sat back in his chair. "That's a low blow." He couldn't even start to imagine what it felt like to hear that your parents were only married because you were the inconvenience that got in the way.
"I don't think she realized that I could hear her." Sean sniffed but pretended that he was engrossed in his chemistry book.
Sean stayed the night.
Stiles woke in the middle of the night to a loud shriek and the shattering of glass. He almost fell down the stairs in his haste to get downstairs and he really wished for his baseball bat which was still in his childhood home in Beacon Hills but he was ready to face whatever was going on downstairs.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he froze, taking in the scene in front of him. Then he doubled over with laughter.
In the kitchen stood Sean barefoot in a puddle of water with shattered glass all around him and on the other side was Derek cowering on the couch in his wolf form.
Sean's expression had been of pure horror while Derek had been a picture of guilt but now they both turned to glare at Stiles. Which made the situation even more funny.
Once Stiles could breathe again, he realized that his friend was still standing in cold water with broken glass around his bare feet.
"Don't move." He told him and went to get some shoes for himself.
"I'm sorry about the glass." Sean said miserably while Stiles was cleaning up the mess with some paper towels.
"Don't worry about it." Stiles assured him and dropped the towels with the bigger shards in the trash. "I might have broken a glass or two as well since I got here." He glanced over to Derek who was still sitting on the couch but now on his hind legs and with his tongue lolled out in a dog laugh.
"Stop laughing. You scared the crap out of him." Stiles told him and Derek dropped his head in fake guilt but he wasn't fooling anyone. Stiles just rolled his eyes and got the broom to clean up the little bits of glass so that Sean could move again without being in danger of cutting his feet open.
"Is he …" Sean whispered to Stiles but it was still loud enough that Derek would have heard him even with human ears. "Is he going to stay like this?"
"He could shift." Stiles gave him a grin. "But are you ready to deal with a naked Derek?"
Sean's face went white and he gave a very good impression of a fish.
"Thought so." Stiles went over to the cupboard to get two fresh glasses out. "Sit down."
They both sat down with their glasses of water. Stiles wasn't really thirsty but he got that Sean just needed a moment to sit and process everything.
Derek hopped off the couch, walked over to Stiles and put his head in his lap. Stiles didn't even have to look down to find that spot behind his ear and Derek let out a content hum.
Sean choked on his water.
Stiles just laughed and Derek gave him a sloppy dog kiss across his face. Then he butted his head against Sean's leg. Sean's watched him with panicked eyes and didn't dare to move but Derek just playfully did it again before he sauntered back over to the couch.
Since they had school the next day, Sean and Stiles went back upstairs while Derek stayed downstairs. Stiles was pretty sure that he was only waiting for them to get back to Stiles' room so that he could shift and get up the stairs without accidentally flashing Sean.
"He let you pet him?" Sean hissed as soon as there was a shut door between them.
Stiles flopped down on his bed.
"You did notice the group hug the other day, right?" Stiles rolled to his side to face Sean who was still standing there without showing any intention to lay back down. His hand was on the spot here Derek had bumped his head against his leg. As if he couldn't quite believe that that had just happened.
"We're pack. We hug, we touch, we freaking nuzzle." Stiles' voice went up at the end here in his attempt to make Sean understand. "Okay, the nuzzling part is more of a they than a we thing because scent is not the same for me, but yeah, we do all that. It's normal."
Now Sean at least came down to sitting on his inflatable mattress.
"And you're his mate."
"And I'm his mate."
"With all the …" He made a vague gesture at Stiles without looking at the clearly visible bite mark on his neck. "I thought he would be more … I don't know."
"More alpha?" Stiles guessed. "More possessive? Less overgrown puppy?"
Sean snorted at that but nodded.
"Believe me, he can go all alpha on you and he can be really possessive but he's also what you've seen earlier." Stiles fell silent.
"You really love him, don't you?" Sean asked quietly.
"I do." There wasn't a second of hesitation. It was true, simple as that.
Stiles waited for the question if Derek loved him as well but Sean didn't ask.
In the morning Derek was in his human form again and was waiting with coffee and breakfast for them to come downstairs. However, there were used dishes in the sink and he was wearing his running clothes so Stiles figured that he and Sean would have breakfast alone.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Derek apologized and handed Sean a cup of coffee.
"I was just a little surprised." Sean accepted both with a shy smile. "I've never been this close … I didn't know ..."
"Most people go through their life without ever knowingly interacting with a werewolf." Derek was leaning at the counter, his empty mug loosely between his fingers. "We like to keep to ourselves."
"Is this were you tell me to not spill your secrets?" Sean joked but Stiles could tell that there was fear behind his words.
"No." Derek shook his head but his eyes were hard when he looked at Sean. "But I will protect my pack from any danger."
With that he set his mug aside, brushed shoulders with Stiles and then he was out of the door.
"Did he …" Sean shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Did he just threaten to kill me?"
"Yep." Stiles let the word pop. His mind was back on Kate. "But he also promised to kill for you."
Chapter 48
Masterpost