home is a fire

chapter one

It all boiled down to the fact that Stiles was sick and tired of Jackson whining about not having found his blood family, as if blood made it any less complicated, and if blood ties meant more than the love of taking care of his sorry ass for seventeen freaking years.

Or maybe it all boiled down to the fact that, no matter what, John Stilinski would always be his father, no matter what any blood tests could say.

Or maybe it all boiled down to the fact that he loved his mom and his dad, and he didn't think he needed anyone else.

Or maybe it was just that he needed to get this all out before it ended up suffocating him, because it smelt like a secret, even if it wouldn't make a difference for anyone in any pack.

Or so he thought.

It went down pretty much the way Stiles knew it would: the Alpha pack had been defeated with a lot of blood and injuries and angst and manpain on the part of all werewolves. If it hadn't been for Lydia making Aidan change his game plan, leave his evil twin and betraying the Alpha pack to become a Beta of Derek's, they wouldn't have won at all.

Also, if he hadn't caught onto Jennifer Blake and her Darach ways, Derek would have been food for the evil druid (druidess? whatever), and so he had saved Derek, Derek had saved everyone, Scott wasn't really a part of the pack, but he had an alliance with Derek, and everything was sort of okay – they weren't exactly a big happy family, but it was definitely looking better than it had in the past three months.

That's when Jackson thinks it's okay to come back – when the mess is solved and everything's okay. When they don't need any more help, when Lydia is happy again with Aidan.

That is when Jackson comes back.

Derek takes him into the pack, because he's the Alpha, and that's what he has to do.

And with Jackson comes the whining, that he hadn't managed to connect with his blood family, that he hadn't managed to really find himself.

What an idiot.

So there they are, at Derek's loft for an update of the going-ons of the town, when Jackson makes a remark about his dad – the person who adopted him, who chose to be his father – and Stiles just… snaps.

Maybe because things haven't been good with his dad with all the lying, maybe because he knows who the serial killer was, and his dad still doesn't, maybe because he wants to help more, but instead he is only ever making it more difficult.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the problem is not your parents, but you?"

Jackson snarls at him and Derek growls back in warning, but the blond doesn't really take any physical action.

"What do you know, Stilinski? You have no idea what I'm going through."

"Actually, I do, because I'm adopted, and honestly? All that matters is that I love my dad, and he loved me enough to keep me. And you are hurting your parents and yourself with all this stuff about birth parents. They are dead, Jackson, they didn't give you up because they didn't want you, but because they couldn't be here anymore, be grateful for what you have for a change, and stop trying to make everything about you."

There's a moment of silence in the room, when everyone is looking at him, and he takes in a deep breath.

"Dude, since when are you adopted?" Scott asks, and Stiles smiles ruefully, shaking his head.

"I don't want to talk about it. But yeah, I am. And it's not because my biological father died, it's because he didn't even stick around for long enough to know I exist, so."

No one answers to that, even though they are obviously curious about it, and eventually they leave.

Stiles stays behind because his dad has the nightshift again, he doesn't want to be alone, and Scott is going to hang out with Isaac and Allison tonight.

He's on the couch, looking out the window when Cora comes and sits beside him, not saying anything. Derek is at the table, pretending to read, but his eyes haven't moved for at least fifteen minutes.

Stiles sighs.

"My dad was ten years older than mom when they met. She was fifteen, he was twenty-five, already a deputy, and mom was a school girl. He didn't ask her out until a year later, but even then, they just… stayed together for the longest time, not really doing anything but holding hands and talking a lot, because my dad didn't want to push her into anything she wasn't ready for. He was in love with her with all his heart, but he was a man, not a boy, he had been to college and he had a job and a career, and he thought she was just a kid. When she said they should get serious or break up, she was seventeen, almost out of school, but he told her to wait just a few more months, just until she was officially legal, and then they could, you know, really date and be a couple" he pauses, looks at Derek with a smirk and their eyes meet, "He wanted her to be a normal teenager, when she obviously couldn't anymore, because she had found what she had been looking for" Derek looks down, Cora snorts, and Stiles sighs before continuing, "She got really angry at him, and said she wouldn't talk to him again. Two days after that, there was this new kid at her school, in her class. He was seventeen, cocky and smirky, and everything my dad has never been – a player. Charming and casual, and saying since day one that he wouldn't be sticking around for long. She went out with him twice, lost his virginity to him, and he was gone not even two weeks later" he pauses again, and takes in a deep breath, looking down, playing with the hem of his shirt, "Two weeks after that, mom found out she was pregnant. She ran to dad, and he took her in. They told her family the baby was his, and they hated him for that, you have no idea. That's why we never had any contact with them, actually, not even when she got sick. They got married as soon as she was out of school, and moved here to escape her family, who were awful about the whole thing."

He looks up and sees Cora is staring at him in shock, and that Derek has moved from his position at the table to his side in the couch – not really touching him, but close enough that he feels comforted, even if only a little bit. He looks down again before finishing talking.

"Dad wouldn't have told me any of this, but before she… before she died, she told me everything. So that I would know that dad would always be there for me, because he was there for me even before I was born, and how amazing he's always been. So that I'd know how much he always loved us, even if I'm not his blood, and even if mom couldn't have any more kids because of complications from when I was born. It bugs me to hell that Jackson is so ungrateful for his family, who accept him for whatever he is, even now that he's a werewolf, and I can't even tell my dad half the things I want to tell."

When he looks up, Derek is crouched in front of him, his hazel eyes intense.

"Do you want to tell him the truth?"

He nods, eyes never wavering from Derek's, and the Alpha nods once, decisively.

"Then we'll tell him."

His voice is certain and gentle, and Stiles smiles at him, knowing he can wait. He won't give up on Derek yet, and the man knows now why he's okay with the whole let's wait till you're eighteen, Stiles, because he knows they'll be together eventually, even if he has to wait for a whole year and then some for that to happen.

It feels as if things are finally getting to his very own happy ending.

Little does he know that's just the beginning.

X

Well, it went as well as could be expected. His dad is still staring at him as if the world is coming to an end, and Derek looks as if he wants to bolt, but it's, well, what he had expected.

His dad gets up and walks in a circle for a few seconds before sitting down exactly where he had been a few seconds before, and stares at him, shaking his head.

"Werewolves, Stiles? Really? You couldn't be like all the other trouble maker kids and get involved with the wrong crowd, get drunk too soon, shoplift? You had to go and find…" he gestures towards Derek, who looks as if he wants to become one with the chair.

Stiles sighs, and stares at his dad.

"Look, I wanted to tell you all this time, but I couldn't, ok? Now everything is calm and okay, and Derek told me I could tell you, because you are my father and I don't want to lie to you anymore. So you know."

"And you expect me to be okay with you running around with werewolves?"

Stiles looks at his dad and very carefully does not look at Derek. If he looks at Derek he'll lose his nerve.

"Also, I'm kind of really in love with Derek. He knows that, and he keeps hinting that we have to wait until I'm eighteen, and I'm good with that, because, well, I've been a virgin for sixteen years, I can wait a few more months, but I just thought I'd throw this out there now, so we won't have to have another big revelation kind of talk in a few months when the big guy over there finally decides I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

That's what startles a laugh out of his dad, just like Stiles knew it would. The Sheriff is shaking his head, though, with a fond smile on his lips, and he's looking at Stiles with the sort of fondness he used to stare at his mom, when she did something a little bit crazy. It's been months since he saw this smile, and he missed it.

"We okay?" he ends up asking, voice small and a bit afraid, breaking a little, because here's the thing he's been fearing: up till now he knew his relationship with his dad had been going down because he was lying – what if now that he knows of the truth things get worse?

The Sheriff lets out a big sigh, and rubs his eyes for a moment before looking straight at Stiles, pinning him with his baby blue eyes.

"I tried protecting someone I loved by telling them what to do once" he starts, looking at Derek briefly before gazing back at Stiles, "And although what resulted from that is the one person I love most in my life, I learned that you can't control people, even if you think you're doing your best by them. I can't forbid you from seeing all of your friends. I can't tell you not to do whatever it is you do when you're with them, but I can ask you to trust me. I'm your father, Stiles, and while I know I can't protect you from ever getting hurt, I can, and I will, do my best to keep you safe, and even when I can't do that, I'll do my best to be by your side. Even if you want to date a werewolf who's six years older than you."

Stiles smiles wide at his dad, who just shakes his head at the boy, before pinning Derek with a fierce gaze.

"You hurt him, and I will find a way to hurt you back, I swear."

"I know, sir" Derek replies, and the Sheriff nods.

"Good. Now, what's your excuse not to be together?"

Derek looks trapped and Stiles looks startled, and he has a feeling his dad is having fun with this.

"Stiles is sixteen and…"

"Derek," the Sheriff interrupts, "all I want in my life is to see my son happy. I'm not saying that you should be together if you don't feel that's right, but don't make him keep waiting for something that could make him happy just because of a number. He won't have changed so much in a few months that it'd make that much of a difference. I can't be a hypocrite and say you're too old for him, because when I got married to his mom, she was a year older than he is now. Just… don't do this for the wrong reasons, but if they are the right reasons, don't keep him waiting."

And with that he gets up, says goodbye and leaves for work.

Derek and Stiles stay in silence for a few more moments, and then the teen turns to the Alpha.

"Am I going crazy, or did he just tell you to date me?" his voice is disbelieving, and the look on Derek's face is the same.

"I think he did."

Stiles smirks at the man a bit.

"And are you going to do what the Sheriff tells you to?"

Derek looks down for a moment, before getting up and walking to the other side of the kitchen with a frown on his face – which in and of itself is not strange, but it does make Stiles's stomach drop.

"Oh" he says, small and suddenly feeling stupid, "I mean, I thought I was reading you right, with the whole thing after Jennifer Blake and… You did say you were together because she reminded you of me, and I thought, I mean, I assumed, because I've been teasing you, and you never said anything to the contrary, and you did tell me you were waiting till I was eighteen, but if you don't… Like, like me, or want to be with me, I understand. Let's just not make this weird, okay?"

"Stiles" Derek says, his face unreadable.

"What?" he answers, looking down, getting ready for the rejection.

"Shut up" Derek whispers so close he can feel the words as much as he can hear them.

He looks up, and Derek's hands are on his cheeks, gentle, careful, as if he's made of glass and is going to break at any second now, and then he's closing his eyes, and Stiles closes his too, and their lips meet softly, slowly, a caress turned into a kiss, making Stiles smile, because the one kiss he had before this had been nothing like it.

They break apart a few seconds later, and Stiles is smiling wide, Derek's lips gently curved into a small smile too, and Stiles closes his eyes for a few seconds, his forehead touching Derek's.

There's no monster after them. They are safe, and okay, and even Jackson is back. They aren't fighting amongst themselves, and things are fine. Derek's arms are around him, and they are sharing the same air, and everything is just… fine.

It's kind of perfect.

So, of course, it couldn't last.

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