If I could Choose A Pack

Series: To Become A Pack 1/?

Summary: When Argent dropped him off after his beating, Stiles didn't walk up the steps to his house, instead he turned and walked across town to where he knew Derek was holed up.

Notes: I wrote this a while back with the intention of building it up, but I reread it today and thought I might as well post it, get reactions from the masses. I was thinking about adding to it with some over-the-summer stuff after I read a compelling case somewhere on Tumblr about how there's subtle evidence to suggest that Stiles spent a lot of the summer actually with Derek and his pack.

When Stiles was dropped rather unceremoniously outside his house after Gerard had taken an avid interest in his capture and whatever, all Stiles had to do was walk up those few steps and he'd be with his dad. His lip was split; he could feel bruises forming around his eyes, on his cheeks, his jaw, all over his chest. His shoulder was dislocated, maybe his arm was broken too - he wasn't quite sure. The hunter's hadn't really taken too kindly to Stiles' sympathy towards the supernatural ways. Boyd and Erica had watched, locked up themselves, as he was beaten and questioned roughly, they watched while he was subjected to some... less than savoury torture methods - there were sweet kinds, Stiles' internet history proved that point. What happened to him though, he just couldn't think about so he shut it out to the back of his mind and focussed on turning away from his house and walking down the street.

He walked silently for about an hour before he finally reached his destination, the old abandoned Railway factory where the pack had been keeping themselves. He was making too much noise for them not to hear him approach but was almost relieved when they didn't come out to meet him or ask him why he was there. His inner dramatist wanted him to make a spectacular entrance but his energy levels just didn't want to cooperate, so he settled for pushing against the door and shuffling through, letting it close and leaning back against it before opening his eyes and staring at Derek, Peter and Isaac, who were all staring at him, shocked.

"Piece of advice," Stiles said, voice hoarse. "If you don't want to be beaten, tortured, and a whole host of other crap? Don't let Gerard Argent kidnap you." Those words out, he let himself breathe. "I'm going to fall now."

He'd only just let himself drop when he was being supported on both sides by Derek and Peter.

"What hurts?" Derek asked as Stiles was gently lowered onto the cot.

"Shoulder," Stiles hissed. "Head, face, arm..." he trailed off and gripped Derek's forearm with his working hand tightly, staring into the alpha's eyes, trying to show him something, he wasn't quite sure what, but Derek nodded.

"Why did you come here?" Isaac asked once the dislocation had been reset and Stiles' clothes had been removed in favour of loose fitting sleepwear. The group tensing that occurred when his underwear was removed told him nothing was hidden now, not from them, but he was too tired and in too much pain to care. 'Later,' Derek has whispered in his ear as the trousers were pulled up.

"Had to tell you Argent had Boyd and Erica. Think Chris Argent is wavering though so he might set them loose." He let Peter set the bone on his arm and splint it until it was safe to move him to a hospital. "Look, thank you... for this help. Really. If I could be in a pack, I'd totally be in this one, I'd submit and everything, really," he gave Derek a 'I dare you to argue' look, which made not only the Alpha smile, but Peter too. Isaac just looked confused. "Besides, Scott sucks at being a werewolf. Seriously. That kid would be dead ten times over if it wasn't for me and my awesomeness. Anyway, you all need to be... there for whatever's going down. I can't move, I'm not stupid enough to try. But you all need to be there."

"Not leaving you like this," Derek growled at him.

"How are you so calm?" Isaac asked him, aghast. "I remember when..." he trailed off before clearing his throat. "I was never this calm."

"I have the uncanny ability to block out what I need to be able to function. When you leave, I'll start going through what happened in my head."

"How level headed of you," Peter mused.

"Tell that to my therapist," Stiles sighed. "Just go, will you? The sooner you go, the sooner you'll get back. Tell Scott I'm here, but not to come without one of you." Isaac and Peter stood and walked out of Derek's room, leaving Derek and Stiles alone for the moment.

"Answer me one question and I'll leave..." When Stiles nodded hesitantly, Derek gave him an intense look of concentration. "Why did you come here instead of going home? And I can tell when you're lying." For his part, Stiles closed his eyes and sighed.

"I told you if I could choose a pack to be in, for the experience level alone I'd choose this one. It's small and a little dysfunctional, you have some serious anger issues but you know what it takes to run a pack theoretically and the others are young enough to help you learn how to implement your knowledge better. And Peter... I didn't really know he was gonna be here."

"You're not telling me something." It was more a statement but Stiles nodded, agreeing.

"It's nothing important right now. Just go, I'll talk to you about it later."

"Stiles," Derek said quietly after a minute of watching the teen's chest rise and fall. Stiles opened his eyes, looking directly into his, and Derek felt his skin flare as his eyes glowed red. "A pack can have humans in too, you know."

"If it didn't hurt to move my head, I'd bare my throat," Stiles smiled, patting Derek's arm before closing his eyes again.

It took a couple of hours for him to work through everything in his head but eventually, he let himself fall asleep. When Stiles next woke up though, he didn't know how long it had been but it was dark outside if the windows were anything to go by and he ached everywhere. He couldn't actually believe how much pain he was in but suffered through it and tried to shift, gasping and deciding that moving was a bad idea all around.

"You're awake," a voice said and Stiles looked to his left and saw Erica sat on a bean bag against the wall. She looked like she'd seen better days but she was freshly showered, her hair still wet. She was eyeing him with something he couldn't quite understand, but it looked like compassion, or something like it. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was torn apart from the inside out," Stiles answered honestly and she flinched. "Did he... I mean... were you..." he couldn't finish and her eyes widened before she shook her head quickly.

"No no, they didn't... I wasn't attacked. Like you I mean. Neither was Boyd. Just a beating and the electricity. I have no idea why they went so hard on you. You're human!" Her expression showed true pain and it made Stiles grimace.

"Oh trust me, I know. I got the nifty human healing time to prove it." She winced and he gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Why?" she asked. "Why are you glad? Why weren't you happy we got caught? We've been nothing but horrible to you, we've tried to sabotage you at every turn-"

"Because you're only pups," Stiles said. "I've had a few months more than you to learn what it's like for a werewolf. My best friend is one, remember? You, Boyd and Isaac... you've got so much more to learn from Derek. Scott probably has more than you to learn because he's so damn bad at being one but he manages. He tries. And maybe yeah, one day, he'll be an alpha of his own pack, but for now you're all so young and that's dangerous."

"Did Derek ask you to talk to me?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"No, why?"

"Boyd and I were thinking about leaving and going it alone."

"Don't," Stiles said. "You all need each other, now more than ever. I don't know what happened out there with Gerard and Jackson, if they've been back before now I slept through it, but you, Boyd, Isaac... you all need to stay with Derek. If for nothing else, then to help him survive Peter with his sanity in check."

"Tell me about it," she muttered. "Dude's creepy as fuck."

"That he is." They sat in silence for a minute or so and he sighed. "Just... think about it, okay? Wait for the others to get back, sleep on it, have a pack meeting, sing kumbaya around the campfire and talk shit out. You gotta remember that Derek's a new alpha. He was never meant to be alpha in the first place, neither was Peter. He's learning as he goes and it following his instincts. He needs the support of a stable pack right now."

"How do you know so much about this?" she asked. "And why do you care so much?"

"Just because Scott's my best friend doesn't mean I don't know when he's being a dick and not seeing the bigger picture. His eyes are firmly set on Alison's rack right now and that's skewing his judgement of everything. Trust me," he rolled his eyes. "I'm removed enough, believe it or not, to see the bigger picture in that first of all, this pack is the better option strategically. It has the most potential and Scott can learn more from being here than anyone else. Derek was right when he called Scott an Alpha, but Scott isn't ready to be anything more than a Beta. Why do you think Derek's been trying to get Scott to join?"

"We just assumed it was because he was a lone werewolf and we might as well just join forces."

Stiles laughed at that, or he laughed as much as he could, which wasn't much. "That might be true, it's not reason enough for Scott to join the pack. I think Derek sees Scott's potential and he wants that in this pack. And there's probably a bit of perverse pleasure he might derive from getting the chance to knock Scott down a peg or two during training." They shared a grin at that.

"More than a bit," Derek's voice said and Stiles' eyes fell to the doorway where the alpha was stood, looking roughed up but okay.

"Daddy's home," Stiles whispered to Erica, who grinned at him and stood up to leave, stopping in front of Derek and bearing her throat to him, letting him nuzzle and nip at the skin before she finally left, closing the door behind her.

"Thank you," Derek said, still propping himself up against the wall, arms folded over his chest, watching the teen shift and flinch. "For saying that to her. Boyd heard it too."

"Sorry if I put words in your mouth," Stiles said. "I just... them leaving would be bad. For them and for the pack."

"I know," he pushed away from the wall and walked towards the bed, his nostrils flaring. "You haven't cleaned..." he knelt by the bed and Stiles shook his head.

"Hurts too much, can't move my arms anyway. I think I need to soak in hot water to get the blood and..." he hesitated and saw Derek's eyes flash red in anger. "At the risk of sounding completely unsexy in the face of a very attractive guy, I think I need something to help me clean... inside." He lowered his eyes, cheeks heating up.

"You've never been this... forward, before. With me I mean."

"Yeah, generally you're shoving me into walls and threatening to tear out my throat. Generally doesn't require much conversation."

"If you're looking for an apology..." Stiles just laughed, as much as he could anyway, which again… wasn't much.

"You're cute, you really are. But no, no apology needed. If I'm honest, aside from the bashing my head into the steering wheel, the aggressive thing was kinda hot. As for how forward I am right now, it's a mixture of you being able to tell when I'm lying, the fact that I'm in too much pain to really care about what I'm saying and finally... I trust you not to throw everything I've told you back in my face. Despite the fact that I'm just a kid and I am injured, my Dad's the Sheriff and I've trained with the police since I was 12. I could probably take you in a non-wolf-powered spar." He smirked, challenging, and Derek chuckled.

"We'll see," he said and cocked his head to the side. "Isaac has a bath ready if you still want one?" Stiles nodded and waited for Derek to help him stand.

"Can you..." Stiles bit his lip. "I'm going to need help," he said finally, sighing, and felt Derek's hand on the small of his back.

"You very probably just helped me keep my pack, I can help you with this." They walked slowly out of the room and across the open plan training area. "Can you all go for a run? We need privacy." Derek didn't mince his words but the pack understood and told Stiles to rest up before walking out, Peter too, who Derek had asked to supervise. "If I thought you'd take the bite I'd offer it now so you'll heal faster," Derek said idly as he gently helped Stiles out of his clothes.

"I may in future, I just need to work through this pain at human speed. Thank you though." Derek nodded and Stiles was suddenly naked.

The bath was a welcome relief as someone saw fit to throw in some healing salts.

Isaac was totally getting a cookie.

The way I wrote it, I wrote Stiles out of the final show down with Derek, Scott, Jackson and Gerard, but I figure I'll go over that in future additions.

Let me know what you think :)