Be Still

Whatever it is that Derek tells that idiot McCall – and will Peter regret that stupid bite for the rest of his existence – the reason he wants to seduce Sheriff John Stilinski is not just so he can call Stiles his son.

There is a bit of that too, if he's completely honest with himself. Stiles is smart and charming, loyal and intelligent, a bit of a jerk sometimes, with a dark twist to his sense of humor that Peter really likes, and all of that makes him an amazing young man.

Lydia and Jackson are lucky to have him.

But mainly, Peter longs for what John is. Stiles wouldn't be the person he is today if it weren't for the father he has – he wouldn't be loyal if John hadn't taught him the value of it, he wouldn't be unique if John hadn't made him see that it is okay to be yourself, even if no one else appreciates you yet.

Derek says that Stiles can see the best in people, but no one sees the best in people like John Stilinski, who heard his whole story and managed not to hate him, who listened to Derek and understood him, who managed to bring Boyd out of his shell and made Erica see she didn't have to seduce the world to make it love her. The man who finally got Jackson to tell his parents he loves them, and who convinced Lydia she could have the best grades and still be popular.

John sees people and understands them, and that's probably why he's so good at his job – he empathizes. He can see the reasons and the motivations, and he's fair and honest and accepting.

The man hadn't even blinked when Derek had finally had enough of Stiles moping about lying to his dad and told the man the truth: he heard it, and then he saw proof of it, and then he decided to do his best to help them keep his son safe. He grew to love each and every one of those misfit teens, and he gave Derek a chance when anyone else would have tried to push him away – and he may say it was only because Stiles was such a stubborn kid that he would keep helping them even if his dad forbade him, but all of them knew it was because the Sheriff believed they had done their best, and deserved to be helped out. He saw them, and he understood them, and it was okay.

John Stilinski was different from Stiles – he liked to joke, and maybe tease the people he cared about, but he was good, absolutely good. There was no meanness in him, no dark side hidden away in a corner.

John was a good person.

And Peter was not.

Opposites attract, after all, and all Peter had to do was make the man see it.

X

He waits until the kids are on a road trip that summer until he actually goes to the Stilinski house hold with a bottle of the finest whiskey he could find in Beacon Hills, knocks on the door, and waits to be let in.

John smiles tiredly at him and invites him in – they drink, watch an old baseball game on TV, Peter tells the man that Derek had once dreamed of being a Baseball player, John tells Peter that Stiles is actually a bit afraid of the bats because he hit himself on the head with one when he was little.

They laugh and joke and drink, and it's comfortable and familiar and easy and home.

Maybe, just maybe, Peter is developing feelings for John, the real kind. The kind he hasn't had ever since the fire.

It's scary and weird, but he welcomes it.

This is normal.

It's exactly what he needs.

X

You see, there's more to it than that too.

He's never said anything when Stiles is present, but Stiles's father is hot. Objectively speaking, of course. He always looks tired and worn out, because being the Sheriff in a town where all the crazy crap happens is not easy, but there is this one weekend, when things have calmed down, and the Hale Pack has their territory under control, and the house is finally done, and they all have dinner together, and John is wearing casual clothes and he is… amazing.

Derek sees him staring and growls a bit, but he just smirks, and walks to John, offering him a beer that Stiles confiscates ten seconds later. The man looks exasperated, but looks fondly at his kid talking to his friends, his pack mates, and he looks at peace, finally, as if he could just stay there, forever, looking on his son being happy.

John's goal in life is to make Stiles happy.

He needs someone who would make their goal in life to make him happy.

X

It doesn't happen fast or even all at once – it's slow and hard and he has to get over a lot of things to actually make it happen.

And the hardest one of them is that if Stiles tells him he's not okay with this, he won't go for it, because Stiles is the most important thing in John's life, and that would be the end of everything.

So he waits. He cultivates a friendship that is solid enough that it won't fall apart if he doesn't get what he wants, and he waits until Stiles is going away for college to actually ask him.

The kid has the gall to smirk at him and say Finally, and then tell him to be careful – not only with his dad, but for himself.

Peter pulls him into a hug and sends him off.

Now that he has his step son's okay it's time to up the game.

X

There are a whole lot of things that go wrong with his plan to seduce John Stilinski, and that's not even counting the fact that everyone assumes the man is completely straight.

John has a whole lot of trust issues, and when those are overcome, he has a lot of guilt, feeling as if he's betraying his wife. Peter works through it all with him, always by his side, because that's what he wants to do – just be there for someone. His pack doesn't need him like this, he's not their Alpha, and he doesn't have kids who need him like this.

But John can need him like this.

To share pain and joy, to hear him talking about all the times he was rejected by the girls he fell in love with, and to listen to the story of how John met Stiles's mom. To understand why John never tried to date Melissa, and to tell him why Peter wouldn't try that ever again.

They bond over pain and sorrow and the smallest bits of happiness they can find, and that can make them best friends, maybe, but Peter wants more.

He wants him.

So he does what any wolf would do – he tries to take it.

He kisses him out of the blue, with no warning. John, of course, pushes him away, but then he looks at Peter, his blue eyes bright in the kitchen artificial light, a bit of insecurity there too, Peter knows, because he's had rejections before, but that doesn't stop them from hurting when they happen.

Surprisingly, John steps closer to him, pulls him into his arms slowly and, tentatively, brings their lips together again, slow and calm and easy – just like everything Peter wishes for.

He's not twenty anymore, he doesn't want burning passion and fiery discussions – he wants the certainty of someone there, the calm of knowing that you are at the same place the other one is, the easiness of not having to fret over the smallest things because they aren't children anymore.

He's been an easy Beta, a crazed Alpha, a feared outcast, and now all he wants is to be family again. To have and protect and be protected, and in John's arms he thinks he's found it all.

The man smirks at him, so similar to Stiles, but doesn't step away.

"So that's why Stiles left the box of condoms and lube on my bed before leaving."

Peter smirks right back.

"He was always my favorite."

And then they kiss again.

Because they can.

X

They don't get married, because John thinks they are too old, and Peter never cared for conventions – hell, he's the one who talked Stiles into the three-way relationship he's in now – but they do have a party when they move in together.

The kids are home for Easter break in their first year at college, and things have been finer than they had ever been for all of them combined. They invite close friends – mostly John's, because all of Peter's meaningful people are his pack – and Peter, in a spur of the moment act of meanness and, at the same time, kindness, invites Melissa McCall, her son, the boy's girlfriend, and the kid who was once their pack too.

Not all of them show up. Allison wouldn't put her feet on Hale land, and Isaac, apparently, is too ashamed to show his face, but Scott and Melissa do come, and stay until the party is winding down.

She congratulates them, and John blushes something fierce while Peter smirks away, because that's what he does.

Scott looks at them, stunned, and doesn't even try to pretend to be happy – he doesn't say anything stupid, though, which is already an improvement from the way he was before.

Stiles comes over as the four of them are talking and, jokingly, puts his arms around Peter's and John's shoulders, calling them dad and papa and laughing away at John's fake angry stare. He gets pulled away by Jackson soon after that, and Peter watches Scott.

He could be a part of it, and the worst thing is, he's not because he didn't want to.

He wanted to be normal and he wanted his life to be easy – and so it is.

It's a shame no one's ever taught him that the best things in life are those you have to work hard for.