Human is Just a Word 72/85
Chapter 72
Stiles sat in the car and tried to not stare too openly at Sean and Isaac. They were sitting under a tree now, talking.
Stiles had his phone, he had reception and his battery was charged, he was content waiting until they were done talking. Which might take a while.
Stiles knew that Derek had felt Isaac's distress earlier so he used the time to update his mate and to warn him that there was a new pack member coming his way.
"You okay?" Stiles asked, when the love birds were finally ready to go home. He directed the question at both of them and both gave him a nod.
Sean looked a bit shell-shocked, but that was expected. In the last hour he had found out that he had a mate, what asexuality was and that he had basically joined a werewolf pack by accident.
Stiles used the ride to tell them that Derek wanted to see them before they dropped the mate bomb on the pack. And to educate Sean on the logistics of becoming pack.
At the word bite Sean cringed but Stiles hurried to emphasize the symbolic part. Sean spent more time with the pack than he was actually at home so Stiles had no doubt about his answer to the pack question.
Back home Sean and Isaac headed for Isaac's place while Stiles took the stairs up to the loft. He gave Derek a quick kiss in passing but didn't bother sticking around. This was Derek's part.
"What's up with Sean?" Lydia greeted him when he entered the loft.
"You'll find out soon." Stiles promised her. If he was right, everybody would know in a minute, at least about Sean being pack.
Lydia gave him an unimpressed look but he just grinned at her.
It was almost dinner time and everybody was in the loft. Since Stiles hadn't been home in time Ellen had taken over the kitchen with the help of the twins and Stephen. Jeremy and Gina were running around, Megan had a crying Stacy in her arms and there were at least three different conversations going on.
All that came to a halt the moment Stiles felt a new connection forming in his mind. Even Stacy stopped crying and stared with wide eyes into nothingness.
"Sean, right?" Erica broke the silence. "About time."
Then she carried on setting the table with Benny. And that was it. After a moment everybody was back to what they had been doing, except for Stacy who seemed to have for gotten why she had been crying in the first place, not that anybody was upset about that.
However, Lydia was still eyeing Stiles.
"That wasn't all, was it?" She asked in a low voice.
Before Stiles could say anything to that, the front door opened and Derek stepped into the loft. Followed by Isaac and Sean. They were holding hands.
"Awww." Lydia made, immediately catching on.
The trio stopped in the middle of the room and by then the attention was on them.
"As you've noticed." Derek raised his voice which wasn't really necessary with the whole pack forming a loose circle around him and the mated couple. "Our pack as become bigger. But that's not all." He stepped aside, leaving Sean and Isaac alone in the center. They shared a glance and blushed adorably and it wasn't really necessary to say more, it was obvious what they were.
"Sean is my mate." Isaac said with a steady voice and a challenging look around. Not that anybody would say anything against it. Mating bonds formed when the couple was ready for it. And Derek had already accepted Sean in his pack not that anybody objected about that either. Sean had been kind of pack longer than most of them.
The ring of people closed around the couple and suddenly they were in the middle of a group hug. Somehow Stiles wiggled his way close enough to Isaac that he could whisper in his ear.
"I'm happy for you." He said and he wasn't the only one saying something along those lines.
Sean stayed over night but he and Isaac retreated to Isaac's place later that evening. The loft had become a clothes optional zone a while ago so Sean had seen various pack members naked before, it had lost it's awkwardness around the seventh time, but he wasn't quite ready to join the pack pile for the night.
"That's totally okay." Stiles assured him. "Nothing you're not comfortable with." He emphasized the last part in hope Sean got the hint when it came to Isaac as well.
It was two days later, already late in the evening, when Sean stood in the door of the loft, eyes rimmed red, hair disheveled and fingers cramped around the handle of a bag.
Derek and Stiles were both on their feet to rush to him immediately but Isaac beat them to it.
"What happened?" He asked and led his mate into the loft. Stiles had sensed that something was going on with Sean but he hadn't expected to see him like this.
They sat down on the couch, Sean in the middle with Isaac and Stiles at his sides, while the rest of the pack tried to give them some space.
Only Derek hovered in the background and Jeremy, who only knew that a pack member was upset, climbed into Sean's lap and hugged him, his cheek squished into his chest.
"We argued." Sean answered Isaac's question with a delay. "Dad's moving out and he wants me to go with him." He paused to wipe his nose with the back of his hand. From somewhere a tissue appeared and he took a moment to blow his nose. "But Mom wants me to stay with her. They didn't even ask what I want. They're both convinced that I want to stay with them." He paused again, leaning into Isaac. "I exploded. I told them that I don't want to stay with either of them."
Stiles knew where this was heading. It wouldn't be a problem. Mark and Lydia had already agreed to become roommates so Isaac had a place waiting for his mate.
"Told them that I'd move in with my boyfriend." He gave Isaac a sheepish smile. "Kinda accidentally dropped the gay bomb and the werewolf bomb on them, dunno what shocked them more. Then I just packed a bag and here I am." He snuggled closer to Isaac but his eyes were searching for Derek.
"Can I stay?" He asked in a meek voice. "Please?"
"You're pack." Stiles hugged him from the side. "Of course you can stay."
He felt Sean relaxing in his arms. Jeremy gave him a wet kiss on the cheek and then he buried his nose in the crook of Sean's neck. Stiles and Isaac held on to him as long as he needed it.
That night Sean did sleep with them in the den.
Stiles woke up to Derek dashing out of the pack pile. He blinked his eyes open just in time to see Derek fluently shift from wolf to man, reaching for his jeans before he really had hands.
Alarmed Stiles sat up.
"What's going on?" He asked. Around him the wolves were up in alarm now too and even the humans startled awake.
"There are strangers in the house." Derek said with his head tilted, listening.
Stiles was on his feet and searching for his clothes along with everybody else. Through the pack bonds he felt the simmering panic. They were thinking of fire. They were thinking of Peter.
Everybody but Sean.
"My parents?" He asked, his eyes wide and he was clinging to Isaac. The bond in his mind was still forming and he was probably overwhelmed with the pack's reaction to strangers in the house.
Derek considered it, listening to the noises from outside and sniffing for a whiff of their scent, and Stiles wasn't the only one holding his breath.
"I think so." He finally said. "I'll see what they want."
The pack relaxed slightly but stayed alarmed.
When Derek stepped outside to meet their guests, Stiles was at his side and Isaac and Sean right behind him.
They found Sean's parents in front of Isaac's apartment.
"Sean." The women Stiles recognized as Sean's mother yelled at the sight of her son. "Thank god."
"Who are you and what do you want?" Derek stepped in her way when she tried to rush to her son. She stopped short and took a step back when she realized who was standing in her way.
Sean's dad, however, came right up into Derek's face.
"You can't do that. That's kidnapping." He told Derek, letting anger taking over his fear. "You're lucky we haven't called the police yet."
"Sean, baby, are you okay?" While the men were glaring each other, Sean's mom tried to wiggle her way past Derek.
"Okay, stop!" Stiles snapped. "Can we not do this in the stairways? And just for the record, nobody kidnapped anybody."
He ushered all of them into Isaac's place. A minute later the Fishers were sitting on Isaac's small couch, Sean in the chair with Isaac standing next to him while Stiles dragged the two chairs from the kitchen over.
"I'm eighteen." Sean told his parents. "I can do whatever I want."
"Not if you hang out with werewolves just to piss us off." His dad looked uncomfortably around the room and then lowered his voice as if it was possible that the werewolves didn't hear his next words. Even Stiles with his human ears heard them loud and clear. He didn't need to be a werewolf to smell his fear either.
"They won't just let you leave." His dad whispered.
"Sean, please." His mom pleaded. "Come home with us. You can stay with your father if you want to. Just …"
"I don't want to stay with Dad." Sean said, leaning into Isaac who stood at his side. "And I don't want to stay with you either." He added.
"You can't just impose on Mr Hale." His mother tried to reason without looking at Derek.
"He's not imposing." Derek said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Despite the chair waiting for him he remained standing, glaring down on the Fishers. "He's pack."
"You can't do that." Mr Fisher was on his feet and for a second it looked like he wanted to punch Derek. "I watch the news, I know what you did to your sister's pack. My son is not going to be part of your power trip."
"Enough!" Stiles was between them in an instant. He saw Derek's jaw twitching and he knew that his mate was fighting for control.
Mrs Fisher seemed to have some common sense as well because she grabbed her husband's arm and dragged him back.
"This is all your fault." She hissed at him but plastered a smile on her face a second later. Mr Fisher wanted to say something but his wife cut him off.
"I apologize." She said with that fake smile firmly in place. "For my husband and my son. We have our problems and Sean might have been caught in the middle of it. He's in his rebellious phase, I'm sorry he chose you to get back to us. He won't bother you any longer." She gave Derek a nod and then turned to her son. "You are coming home with us, young man."
Sean threw a glance at Derek and at the same time he reached for Isaac who took his hand without even looking. Isaac's eyes were on his mate's parents, watching and wary.
"No." Sean said. He stood up, still holding on to Isaac. His father gave their joined hands a disapproving look but before anybody could say something, he continued. "I don't think you've been introduced. Mom, Dad, this is Isaac, my mate. You know my alpha Derek and that is his mate Stiles, I'm going to stay with them."
His parents just gaped at them.
"You can't do that." Mr Fisher yelled but Stiles wasn't sure who he was yelling at.
"I'm eighteen, I can."
Chapter 73
Masterpost