Don't You Worry (Stiles)

[roguemariel]

Title: Don't You Worry (Stiles)
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Characters/Pairing: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, The Hale Family, Allison Argent
Prompt: Scott is bitten by a rogue werewolf when he is 16 and is promptly adopted into the Hale Pack. In order to include his best friend, Stiles, in his new life, Scott and Stiles pretend to be dating. This is fine until they go off to uni and Scott meets Allison, with whom he instantly falls in love, forcing Scott and Stiles to "break up." The Hale Pack had grown to view Stiles as family during the 2+ years since Scott had been bitten, and in a desperate bid to keep him from drifting away from the Pack, they decide to set him up with any/all of the eligible Hales. Enter Derek, who'd lived in New York attending uni for the past four years.




They were in the first class of summer term when it happen. Stiles was sitting next to Scott when the girl behind them asked for a pen. When Scott turned around, pen in hand, and froze before handing it to her, Stiles knew exactly what was about to happen.

Scott and Stiles were about to break up.

* * *

Scott flipped onto the bed as Stiles closed the door. “Dude, did you see her? Isn’t she beautiful? She has this smile…” Scott clutched his pillow to his chest, sighing happily. “I think I’m in love.”

Stiles laughed as he sat at his desk. “Yeah, buddy, I saw her.”

“I want to take her home. You know, introduce her to Mom and the pack.” Scott sat up. “She said she would go on a date with me, did you hear? Allison…”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I think introducing her to the family before the first date is a little soon, Scotty. But more importantly, I think you might be forgetting something here.”

Scott blinked. “What? I mean, yeah, date first, family later, but I really think they’d like her. But dude, of course we’ll date first. The pack is definitely hard to spring on someone without, you know…” Scott shrugged.

Stiles shook his head. Apparently, he’d have to spell it out. “Bro. We’re going to have to break up.”

Scott nodded, his dazed smile not fading. As he processed the words, however, his expression quickly fell. Dropping the pillow in horror, he said, “But then you won’t be pack anymore!”

“Scott. You can’t date two people at once. Even if we aren’t dating, they think we are. Do you want Allison -- or whoever -- to be cast as the other woman?”

Groaning in realization, Scott deflated. “Well, we’ll see how the date goes. And hey, it’s been three years since I joined the Hale pack, since you’ve been there with me. Maybe they’ll let you be part of the pack? Humans can be pack.”

“Yeah, when they’re dating a member of the pack or were born into it.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But!” Stiles smiled. He didn’t like seeing his best friend look this upset, particularly when not two minutes ago Scott had been vibrating out of his skin in happiness. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. So, where are you planning on taking Allison tomorrow?”

* * *

Scott and Stiles spent a few hours talking about Allison and potential date ideas until Scott suddenly jerked up and ran from the room, babbling about how he was going to be late for work.

Stiles was fine for a while after Scott left. He grabbed a textbook and a highlighter and began to study because he was going to ace his classes if it killed him. He was a quarter of the way through before it hit him.

He was going to lose his pack. It didn’t even matter that Allison and Scott hadn’t had their first date yet. If it wasn’t Allison, it would be someone else someday. When Scott and Stiles had begun their faux relationship, he’d known it wouldn’t last forever, that he wouldn’t be pack forever, but back then he hadn’t really known the difference between pack-adjacent and pack.

Intellectually, he knew the whys about pack law, but knowing and feeling were two separate things. He had been part of the Hale pack for three years, and they were his friends and family. They were pack. After Scott was bitten, Stiles had spent almost more time at the Hale house than at his own home. They had shared secrets and full moons and now everything was going to change. Stiles was going to lose all of them. They would all still be there, but he would never be allowed to spend another full moon there. As a non-affiliated human, there would be rules and limits on how long he could stay, when he could show up, what he could do… He wouldn’t be family anymore.

He wouldn’t be allowed to live with Scott anymore.

He couldn’t breathe. Distantly, he heard his phone ring. He reached out, slowly, so slowly, and picked it up. He knew that ringtone.

Stiles wasn’t really aware of answering the phone, but suddenly someone was speaking. The words were unclear for a moment, before there was a pause and a very sharp, “Stiles! Breathe!”

Stiles was trying, and, as the voice on the other line kept dictating when to breathe in and when to breathe out, he eventually managed a gasp of air. Then another, and another, and finally, after an unknown length of time, he could breathe normally.

“H-hi. Thanks. Sorry about that,” he said, grabbing some tissues to clean up his face.

“Stiles,” the man on the other side said, “what’s wrong?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. It was nothing?” Stiles winced as he spoke. Not only was it incredibly obvious that he was lying -- hello, panic attack -- but he was talking to a werewolf. “Seriously, Derek--”

“No, you don’t get to do that. We’ve talked about this.”

“Derek--” Stiles tried again, only to be interrupted.

“I can fly down there tomorrow,” Derek threatened. Stiles could hear faint clicking in the background. “There is a flight at 6:05 for five hundred and fifty one dollars. I could be in Berkeley by noon. Am I buying the ticket, Stiles?”

Some people thought Derek was very nice. Others found him to be an asshole. As it happened, Stiles thought Derek was a mixture of both, and that he was at his worst when he was trying to be nice.

Stiles groaned. “No. No, Jesus.”

“Then tell me.” That was not a request. The growl in Derek’s voice sent a shiver down Stiles’ spine.

“I think I have to leave the pack,” Stiles whispered. He scrubbed at his face as the tears started up again.

“What.”

“Scott… he really likes this girl, okay, and you know the rules. I can’t be pack, not without… And you know the laws don’t cover ‘former significant other who still wants to be pack,’ because that usually isn’t how it goes. Derek, I can’t do this.”

Stiles’ breathing sped up as his panic returned, After Derek had calmed him down again, Stiles started to explain about Scott and Allison and their date the next day. Derek, as he was under the impression that Scott and Stiles were an item, was reasonably upset on Stiles’ behalf. Stiles had to talk Derek out of coming to Berkeley to kill Scott three and a half times. It would have been four, but Stiles was pretty sure Derek wasn’t nearly as serious that last time.

After they finally hung up, Stiles took a few more deep breaths. If nothing else, he would still be able to call Derek -- and the other Hales, of course -- and there was Skype and other such things. Derek, at least, would still call. Stiles had never even met Derek in person (why Derek had decided to go to NYU, Stiles would never know), so not much would change there.

Stiles put his phone down and decided it was time for a nap. Studying could wait.

Across the country, Derek stared at his phone. He had things to think about.

* * *

Scott’s first date with Allison went well. So did the next one, and the one after that. They went to dinners and the movies and, once, to a bowling alley. Stiles was really happy for his friend, mostly, but there was a point where he was ready to grab his earbuds any time Scott went to open his mouth.

Really, Stiles did not need to know those details.

Not even a little.

It was getting increasingly difficult to talk to Scott about anything that wasn’t Allison, which meant the conversation about talking to the pack took a very long time to happen. It wasn’t until right before the full moon that Stiles managed to sit him down to discuss it.

“Dude. You’re going to smell like Allison. Now, I’m not a werewolf, but I imagine that the Hales will be able to tell that you aren’t just friends.”

“Yeah, no, you’re right,” Scott said. “But how do I even talk to them about it?”

“Just say that we broke up, we’re still friends, and that I think that Allison is a great match for you. Just, whatever you do, Scott, do not tell them that we’re in some sort of ménage à trois. Do you understand me?” Stiles asked.

Scott sighed. “But then I could date Allison and you would be pack! It’s a win-win!”

“Did you tell Allison about this?”

“No…”

“Then no ménage à trois. Also, I’m not sure I want to fake-date your girlfriend. In case you were wondering.”

Scott glared at the wall. “Fine.”

“Good. Glad we have that settled. Call of Duty?”

“Nah, man, I’m getting dinner with Allison since I’ll be gone this weekend. Hey, do you mind if we use the room tonight? You could probably go stay over at the library or something. Or with that guy down the hall? Please?”

Stiles had gotten used to the puppy eyes Scott sent his way, but he still caved. He wasn’t happy about it, but… “Yeah, sure. No worries. When you get back though, yeah?”

“Sure. Just, uh, tell me when, ‘cause Allison and I have a trip planned for next weekend, and there’s this couples’ event on Thursday, so…”

If Stiles’ smile grew a bit tight, Scott didn’t notice. Grabbing his laptop and backpack, Stiles said, “Yeah, no problem. Well, have fun tonight. I’ve got that paper to finish, anyway. See you Sunday. Be safe!”

Closing the door behind him, he shook his head. At least there was always Wikipedia.

* * *

Stiles spent the night in the library researching all sorts of completely random things. He clicked from link to link, went from page to page, and was actually quite startled when people started to come in at a reasonable time of morning. He packed his things up and went to his dorm. Allison and Scott had cleared out by then, which made Stiles happy -- and then he felt guilty when he realized he was glad to be alone.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Allison. She was great. In fact, Stiles was reasonably sure he’d have liked to be her friend if she hadn’t been dating Scott. No, the problem was Scott. His best friend was turning out not to be the kind of friend Stiles had thought he had been. He kept trying to forgive Scott, but Stiles had to admit (if only to himself) that Scott’s behavior was wearing thin. People balanced friends and dating all the time. Allison was Scott’s first girlfriend, sure, but really?

So it wasn’t that Stiles was glad that Allison wasn’t there. He was glad that Scott was gone. He sighed as he got into bed. He was going to have to talk to Scott about this. Damnit.

* * *

The conversation never happened. Stiles was shaken awake later that day by an extremely upset Scott.

“Wha’?” Stiles groaned as the light hit his eyes.

“This isn’t funny! Everyone hates me!”

“Go ’way, Scott. Sleeping.”

“Stiles!”

Stiles hid under his pillow. He was sleeping. Sleep was good. Soon he would be asleep again, he just needed to snuggle back into his pillow and think happy thoughts.

Unfortunately, Scott pulled him right out of bed. “This is important!”

“Ow!” Stiles groaned. “The fuck was that for, asshole?”

“Here, I brought you coffee. Now wake up! Everyone is mad at me, Stiles!”

Stiles scrubbed at his face in an effort to wake himself up. He somehow managed to escape his blankets and, after making his way to the coffee, he turned and glared at Scott.

“First: I was asleep. Sleep is sacred, Scott. Sacred.”

Scott started to say something, but Stiles growled him into silence. Scott’s eyes widened. (Stiles, clearly, either needed to spend more time talking to Derek or less. His growl was a little pathetic, and he should either stop or practice. But that was a thought for another day.)

As Stiles was glaring at his friend, a thought occurred to him. “Dude. Aren’t you not supposed to be back until tomorrow?”

Scott flopped onto his own bed and groaned. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Everyone hates me.”

Stiles sighed. He wasn’t getting out of this. He kissed his thoughts of going back to bed goodbye.

“Alright. Hit me,” he said, sitting down at his desk. Returning to his bed seemed like an exercise in masochism, and he really didn’t have any interest in that at the moment.

“Well,” Scott began. “So, Allison and I are getting pretty serious, you know?”

Stiles sighed again. He did that a lot around Scott these days. “Buddy, you’ve known her for less than a month. But okay, sure. Continue.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “Anyway, when I got there, everyone knew. Like, I didn’t even have to tell them! I walked in and they were like, ‘Why do you smell like a girl?’ And they were so angry. I did what you said, you know, and told them we broke up and everything, but…”

“Scott. Come on. You knew they would be able to tell. They’re werewolves. They have noses. And things. Of course they knew you have a girlfriend.” Just then, Stiles’ phone buzzed. He glanced at Scott as he reached for it. He blinked when he looked at the screen. Seven missed calls and twenty six text messages, all from various Hales. Stiles waved the phone at his friend. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well.”

“No!” Scott cried, sitting straight up. “Like, I knew they would be upset, but I thought they’d be happy for me, you know? Instead, they treated me like shit!”

Stiles sipped his coffee. “Dude, no way Talia was anything other than polite to you. Don’t even.”

“Well, okay, fine. But they weren’t as nice as usual. And! I didn’t get a single brownie! And only half a cookie! And you know how I like those. Seriously, Cora had like ten cookies -- and she hates snickerdoodles!”

Stiles nodded thoughtfully. It did seem like they were a little upset. He shrugged. “They’ll get over it. Once they meet Allison they’ll forget all about me. Seriously, dude, it’ll be fine.”

Neither of them believed a word of it (though for somewhat different reasons), but Scott just turned over and groaned into his pillow.

Stiles looked at Scott, looked at his bed, and then looked back at Scott. Scott appeared to be trying to burrow into his pillow.

The choice was clear. Stiles went back to bed.

* * *

Meanwhile

“Everyone, sit down!” Talia ordered, her eyes flashing red. Everyone sat down -- some managed to locate chairs while others sat on the floor immediately. “Now. As I’m sure you’re all aware, Stiles and Scott have broken up.”

“We know, Mom. Did you smell him? Geez. It’s like he was parading it around,” Cora complained.

Peter smirked from his corner. “Perhaps he was. The boy never smelled like that when he was dating Stiles. Do you suppose....”

Talia cut him off. “Peter, don’t. We need to have a serious discussion, and I will not have you derail it into suppositions.”

Peter inclined his head. “If you insist.”

“At this point, you all must know what happens next. Scott will bring his new girlfriend by sometime soon, and you will all behave, do you understand?”

Nods were grudgingly given from around the room.

“And Stiles?” Cora asked.

Talia sighed. “Stiles is not a werewolf. You all know the laws. We can’t break them, not even for him. Of course, he will always be a friend to the pack, but the laws are clear, and Stiles can no longer be allowed at pack functions.”

“But what about Derek’s homecoming party next month. I’ve already invited him,” Laura whined.

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“But it’s a homecoming party,” Cora whined. It’s not even anywhere near the full moon! Plus,” she added conspiratorially, “he might even bring homemade cookies.”

Talia paused. Laura, recognizing that her mother was leaning toward letting Stiles come, quickly jumped in with, “And Isaac, Erica, and Boyd are coming, right? They aren’t pack yet. I know, it’s practically a done deal, but they won’t be pack until the full moon. And the full moon isn’t until two weeks after the party.”

Erik looked at his wife. “Think of the cookies, dear.”

Talia sighed. “Just this once, then. But! Classing this as a friendly gathering instead of a pack function doesn’t change anything. Stiles is no longer a member of the pack, so please treat him as you would any other friend.”

The others nodded in agreement, but Talia knew her family. They were going to try to get around that somehow.

Well, she liked Stiles. There were worse things.

“Excellent. I am going to the grocery store. Would anyone like to go with me?” she asked, standing. There were no takers. “I’ll see you when I return, then.”

She hoped they came up with something good.

* * *

Talia had been in the frozen foods section when she ran into John Stilinski. She’d never been one for small talk, but this situation called for some kind of acknowledgement. Or at least for some gossip.

The Sheriff stared at Talia. “I’m sorry, what?”

Talia nodded sadly. “I know, it came as a shock to us all. They always seemed so happy together. Honestly, I was expecting a wedding at some point.”

“A wedding,” John said blankly.

“Yes. In fact, I believe Cora had started to plan it. It’s unfortunate that it is no longer going to happen. Though… I believe she was planning to hold the ceremony in the forest, and if I recall correctly she had decided that chairs were ‘overrated.’ It might have been a picnic wedding, though… Well, it’s probably just as well, now that I think about it. At least we were spared that.”

John nodded slowly. He disregarded Cora’s wedding planning skills to focus on the bigger picture. “I see. And you’re sure they broke up?”

Talia sighed. “Yes. When he came over for the full moon… Well, I would hope they were broken up, for Stiles’ sake. I’m sure you understand what this means, however. Stiles can no longer be a member of the Hale pack. There will be a gathering next month to welcome Derek home, and while you and Stiles are both welcome to come, I’m afraid that after that, contact with Stiles with have to be minimal while we deal with the change in pack structure.”

“What? But he’s been in the pack since Scott…” he trailed off. He hadn’t thought too hard about why Stiles was considered a member of the pack in the first place, but he had known the laws governing werewolves. It was supposed to be for the safety of humans, but really it just helped to keep werewolves and humans apart. He sighed. “He has known you all for years. He’s good friends with Scott and Cora. Are you sure?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I see. Well, thank you for informing me of… the breakup.”

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you,” Talia offered.

John nodded, then gestured to the ice-cream in his cart. “I should go before this melts. Have a good afternoon, Talia.”

John had a phone call to make.

* * *

Stiles did not appreciate his dad calling him about his break-up with Scott. There was a reason that neither John nor Melissa had been told.

“I can’t believe you two,” John was muttering. “I thought we raised you better than this. And how on Earth did you manage to lie to a family of werewolves?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, and was immediately glad his dad couldn’t see him. He had already explained everything.

Twice.

Third time’s the charm?

* * *

A week passed, then another. Scott was happily dating Allison, and Stiles was doing his best to ignore any and all feelings on the matter. He barely saw Scott anymore.

He was, however, getting some really strange texts from the pack.

It had started reasonably enough, with variations of Are you okay? and Do we need to beat up Scott for you? He’ll heal. There was one offer (from Laura) to have Peter hide Scott’s body. Stiles found all of these texts much funnier than Scott did.

Soon it went from semi-reasonable and kind of comforting and landed in really odd.

He kept getting texts about other members of the Hale pack. Laura texted him about Cora and Derek, spouting random facts about them. She wrote about Cora’s new-found love of milkshakes and how she was looking for people to go have them with her. She wrote about Derek and his love for small animals (which Stiles found both adorable and entertaining, and resolved to tease Derek about as soon as they could Skype, because he really wanted to see Derek’s face).

Cora, however, kept texting about Laura and her husband, and how they seemed to be looking for adventure. Stiles was really not sure what any of that was about, but he did wish them luck with their travels (Cora ellipsed him and didn’t bring it up again.). She also sent him short texts about Derek: he was moving home soon, and was Stiles excited to finally meet him? Did he know what Derek looked like? Here, have some pictures, Stiles.

One of them became his desktop background. He was really pleased.

Peter was the weirdest, though. He sent a few messages about how excited he was to see Stiles again, and did Stiles want to go visit this museum with him? When Stiles asked who else would be going, he didn’t really get a response.

When his regularly-scheduled Skype meeting with Derek finally happened, Stiles was really confused, and ready to tell Derek all about it. He was hoping for some really entertaining eyebrow action.

“Hey, dude!” Stiles said when the video started up. He waved a chip in greeting before shoving it into his mouth.

“Stiles, don’t call me ‘dude,’” Derek groaned. Stiles just grinned. Derek sighed.

“So. I hear you like cute baby animals. And that you wore cat footie pajamas until you were thirteen. Would you care to weigh in on this?” Stiles asked with a smile. He crunched happily on his snacks as Derek’s eyes widened.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Derek grumbled.

“Really?” Stiles asked. “I have pictures. My background is currently a picture of you with a kitten on your head. So, you know, if you want to change your answer there…”

Derek’s head hit his desk. Repeatedly. Stiles laughed at his friend. “Dude, it’s adorable. Seriously. You should really tell me these things.”

Derek looked up as something occurred to him. “Stiles, where did you even get that?”

“Cora! I don’t know, dude, your family has been really weird lately. I obviously haven’t seen them or anything, but I keep getting these odd texts. I don’t know, man, your family.”

“What.”

“Yeah! Like, I swear, I -- you know what, I’ll read some to you. Would you like to hear Cora’s, Laura’s, or Peter’s?”

“What.”

As Stiles told Derek about the text messages, Derek’s scowl became more and more pronounced. Eventually, Stiles took pity on his friend and moved the conversation on to other things.

“So, you’re coming back next week, right?”

“Yeah,” Derek nodded. “I get in on Thursday. I--”

“Dude! Do you need me to come pick you up?”

Derek laughed. “No, it’s fine. Laura dropped the camaro off a few days ago, so I’ll be able to drive my own car. I might stop by, though?”

“Dude! Yes. Do that.” Stiles paused. “Wait, your friends from school, are they…?”

“They’re coming down on Friday. I’ll go pick them up. I get in at noon, so I’ll see you around one?”

Stiles blinked. “Dude. No way you can make it from SMF to Berkeley in less than an hour, not with the time it takes to go through baggage claim and finding your car and everything.”

“Well, actually…” Derek didn’t blush, but Stiles was pretty sure he could see the tips of Derek’s ears turn a little red. “I’m flying into Oakland. It was a cheaper flight.”

Stiles wasn’t sure how accurate that was, but he decided not to comment. “Cool! So, yeah, one. I’m actually out of class at twelve fifty, and then I’m free for the rest of the day. We should do something!”

Derek coughed. He knew Stiles’ schedule, and it had had no small amount of influence on his choice to catch that particular flight.

By the time they hung up, both of them were excited for the week to pass quickly. They had decided that Stiles would show Derek all of his favorite places. In the mean time, Stiles was going to have to find favorite places that weren’t the library or the diner that sold curly fries.

* * *

Somewhere else, a long way from both Stiles and Derek, a handful of people had gathered together to plot. Stiles had been part of the Hale pack for three long years. How could anyone actually expect the Hales to let him go?