Fenris

"A dog? REALLY Derek?"

Stiles just gets a level stare in reply, as he should have expected of course.

"So?"

"You're a WOLF with a DOG. Doesn't that seems kind of odd?"

"And you're a person with a CAT dating a WOLF, with a DOG, and yet I'm the odd one?" The deadpan snark isn't lost on Stiles, and since he doesn't know whether to laugh or scoff, he ends up making a strangled noise and almost choking on the sound. Typical.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But still. What if Merrill and your dog don't get along?"

"Don't worry Stiles, I'm sure he'll love her and vice versa."

Derek shows up with his dog the next day and Stiles sees it's a match made in heaven.

The dog – nameless thus far – is a husky (the Siberian type, Derek points out), and thus have the same resting I-will-murder-you-without-a-thought face.

(Another thing is that he's got eyes the same colour as Stiles', which is a bit unnerving. Stiles doesn't comment on it though.)

So of course Stiles thinks to name him Fenris, again after a character from Dragon Age 2. (Stiles vows to himself that he'll call the husky Fenris no matter what Derek decides to call him.)

"Thought of a name yet?" Stiles asks, dying to start calling the dog Fenris already because it's such a perfect name and there is no way he's letting Derek get away with naming him anything else.

"No. It's harder than I thought, actually," Derek replies, sounding as though he's all the time in the world to find a name.

Fenris is well behaved and listens to Derek's every command (maybe because of the fact that Derek's an alpha, although Stiles can't be completely sure), but Stiles worries about the effect Merrill will have on him.

She's still young and playful, and this is the first other animal she's encountered as far as Stiles knows.

It turns out he's got nothing to worry about however.

Merrill is curious and wants to play with Fenris, but he just lies there on the floor by Derek's legs on the back porch.

"He's quite well behaved," Stiles states, somehow making it sound like a question.

"Yeah, which is why I don't get what happened to him," Derek starts, and his voice suddenly sounds harsh and unforgiving. "I got him from Deaton, actually. His previous owners came in to have him put down, because – according to them – he acted out on the last full moon and bit someone."

"You don't believe them."

"No, I don't. Look at him Stiles; I know he's only just over a year old, but he's gentle and listens to the smallest command. I guess I should be glad they took him to Deaton instead of just dumping him somewhere. Sure, he looks like he's ready to murder everyone he sees, but that's how the race looks."

Stiles can feel himself get angry at the people who owned Fenris before. The fact that such a young dog is so well behaved (not that Stiles knows much about dogs) seems so contradictive to what the previous owners claim.

"I know what you mean. Like, you look that way most of the time too, and yet I'm still here with you." The teasing tone in his voice earns him a small smile.

While Derek goes in to get a bowl of water for his newest pack member, Stiles decides to test something, as Fenris still lies by the chair Derek occupied only seconds before.

"Hi Fenris," Stiles says, looking at the dog's face for a sign of a reply of any kind. He doesn't expect anything, and can't even be sure what it's in reply to, but the dog honest to God smiles at him, tongue out and fangs showing.

"Derek!"

"What's wrong?!" Derek comes running outside, water splashed on his shirt and fur growing on his face.

"Fenris smiled at me!"

"Fenris?!"

"Oh, yeah. I thought he looked like a Fenris and then I called him Fenris to see if he reacted and then he smiled at me."

Derek simply lifts an eyebrow and crosses his arm.

"You named our dog after an angry, elven former Vint slave?"

"You know about Drag… Wait. Did you say OUR dog? Is Fenris OUR dog?!"

The fur is gone from Derek's face and his ears – still slightly pointed – turn red. Stiles thinks he looks embarrassed, and wonder if maybe he overreacted, that Derek hadn't meant to say 'our' at all and now…

"Yeah. I mean, if you want to. Merrill already feels like she's ours, as in us two, not the pack, so I figured…"

Stiles shuts him up by kissing him and mouthing "yes" against his lips.

When the Sheriff comes home that night he finds Derek on his back on the couch, with Stiles on his chest, and Merrill curled up by Fenris at the floor besides them, all asleep.