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Stiles rolled over in bed, ignoring the persistent buzz of his cellphone. It was sitting on his desk, on vibrate, in case of emergencies, but despite having been awake for over an hour, he couldn't bring himself to answer it. It was probably Liam giving him shit about what happened the night before.
He pulled the covers down far enough to look at the clock on his cable box across the room.
11:50 A.M.
Well, at least he didn't sleep past noon.
His phone started up with buzzing again, this time clearly alerting him to a string of texts.
He un-burritoed himself from his blankets and sat up in bed, scrubbing his hand across his face. He winced as pain shot through his right hand. He pulled it away to examine his swollen knuckles. One of the cuts had re-opened and stung as he made a fist.
The phone buzzed again.
"This is fucking ridiculous." Stiles sighed, grabbing for the phone before flopping backward on the bed again to see what could have possibly constituted blowing his phone up before noon on a Friday.
7 missed calls.
81 new messages.
"What the everliving fuck?" Stiles squinted in horror, concern steadily rising as he unlocked his phone.
He breathed out a sigh of relief upon opening the pack chat, which accounted for a majority of the messages, and reading the most recent one.
Lydia: Stop calling him! It's his birthday! He can sleep in as long as he wants.
Stiles had completely forgotten it was his birthday. He checked the date on his phone. November 3rd. Had it really been three days since Halloween?
"Fuck my life." Stiles groaned, not even bothering to read the rest of the pack texts. He figured they were mostly Mason, Corey and Malia excitedly hounding him about what they were doing tonight to celebrate.
He started thumbing through a couple of the others he'd received seperately.
Melissa McCall: Happy 20th birthday! I can't believe how old you are. Can't believe we actually made it to see you turn 20.
Melissa McCall: Ah, I don't want to think about it. You're still one of my babies! Love you.
Stiles smiled at her motherly texts and typed out a thank you.
Derek: Sorry about all the pack harassment this morning. I know you're probably tired from last night. They're just excited you're staying in California.
Derek: So am I.
Derek: Oh yeah. Happy Birthday.
Stiles sighed as he opted not to respond to that one for now.
On Halloween, when the pack gathered to watch horror films at the McCall house, Stiles and Lydia had finally addressed their breakup. Specifically, Stiles came forward about how he was going to start at Berkeley for the Spring Semester in January, the same day Lydia was leaving for Ithaca for Cornell's Winter Session.
The pack was instantly worried about Stiles coming back to the place he tried so hard to escape, and giving up on his dreams. Stiles honestly assured them that his path to the FBI was firmly intact, and Berkeley was part of it.
Lydia, as she sternly interjected, was not.
Stiles opened the texts from a couple distant relatives, responding with polite thanks before another text came in. His eyes narrowed as he saw the sender.
Theo Douchekin: I'm at your door. I brought a sandwich from Cracked.
Theo Douchekin: And French toast bites.
Stiles stood instantly, hurrying to the front door. He threw it open to find Theo, alone on his front porch, a large paper bag in his hands.
"Extra maple butter?" Stiles glared at the smirking chimera.
"Absolutely." Theo laughed, pushing his way past Stiles and heading straight for the kitchen.
Stiles shut the front door and followed Theo to the kitchen, where his dad was reading some case files at the table. The Sheriff eyed Theo in mild confusion while calmly sipping his coffee.
"Mind if I use your broiler, Sherriff?" Theo smiled, already fiddling with the dials on the oven. "There's a pesto sandwich from Cracked in it for you, I promise."
"Then by all means." The Sheriff shrugged before turning to Stiles and getting out of his chair. He hugged his son tightly, ruffling his hair as he pulled away. "Happy birthday, son. Coffee? Pants maybe?"
Stiles looked down at his boxer briefs, then up at his dad with a frown.
"It's my birthday. Apparently." Stiles raised his brow in challenge. "Do I really need pants?"
"Fair enough." His dad sighed, looking over at Theo, as if to share his exasperation with someone. "Pots half full if you boys want coffee. I'm gonna grab some stuff from upstairs before I head to the station. Make my sandwich to-go. What were you doing in Berkeley, by the way?"
"Scott wanted me to go with him and Derek to meet with some of pack on campus." Theo explained, putting a baking sheet arranged with French toast bites and sandwiches into the heated oven. "It's a huuuuge pack, by the way. I could smell different wolves everywhere we went. Cracked's entire staff was part of that pack. Their Alpha, believe it or not, is a coyote. She's British, and here's where it gets real weird. She's an American History professor. None of those things make sense together. At all." Theo shook his head and laughed. "I like her."
"Sounds like an interesting woman. As long as they're friendly." The Sheriff nodded, making his way upstairs to get ready for work.
Theo set the oven timer for 3 minutes and went to fix himself and Stiles some coffees.
"I'm guessing you like your coffee black?" Theo looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah." Stiles sat at the table, idly flipping through the files his dad had been reviewing.
"How's your hand?" Theo smirked, placing the coffee on the table. "Break anything?"
Stiles rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, tapping out an anxious rhythm on the ceramic mug with his uninjured hand.
He met Theo's stare with a identical smirk. They stared each other down for a full minute, before the oven timed beeped. Theo calmly turned to tend to the warmed food.
"I'd ask the same about your face, but you've got an unfair advantage." Stiles spoke finally. "Why are you here?"
"To bring you breakfast." Theo's brow furrowed as he plated a corned beef and egg sandwich with hash browns and a large helping of French toast bites. He placed the plate and two sides of maple butter in front of Stiles, before grabbing his own plate with a sandwich and spicy potatoes and sitting across from the newly-turned-20-year-old.
"Alone, Theo." Stiles cocked an eyebrow as he popped a piece of crisper French toast in his mouth. "Wha y'doin hee awone?"
"Gross." Theo made a face at Stiles as the human spoke while chewing. "I told Scott and Derek that you'd probably prefer the company of someone you hate right now than a member of your pack."
Stiles took a sip of his coffee and continued eating rather than confirm or deny the accusation.
"Seeing as you didn't respond to any texts this morning..." Theo trailed off.
"You're pack too, y'know?" Stiles said calmly, not meeting Theo's stare. "What I said last night? I didn't mean it."
"Yeah you did." Theo smirked as he swallowed a bite of his sandwich. "And you're not wrong. But thanks. I get what you mean."
Stiles examined his hand again, flexing it stiffly.
Yesterday
"Look, we can't just sit around and wait to be attacked." Stiles yelled at the men sitting around his kitchen table. Scott, Argent, Derek and Theo looked back at him with identical frowns.
"Stiles, we don't know enough-" Argent started before Stiles slammed his hand on the table.
"They went after Cora." Stiles was practically growling. "They're sending a message. Trying to make us think they're bigger than we are. That they have more reach. They're only going to grow from there."
"We don't know where they are, Stiles." Derek reasoned. "Cora said they couldn't even tell if there were two or twenty of them that set the trap."
"They tried to burn her house down, Der." Stiles cried. "That's a personal attack on you."
"And what do you want us to do, Stiles?" Theo actually growled. "Ask everyone to drop their lives and scour the country for... What? What's your big plan? We need to think about the safety of the pack. Corey and Mason can't exactly go hunting for hunters their senior year of high school."
"The safety of the pack?!" Stiles roared and stood suddenly, chair flying behind him. It clattered to the ground as the room fell silent. "It's not your fucking pack Theo. Corey and Mason aren't your fucking responsibility."
Stiles walked calmly around to the other side of the table and grabbed the chimera by the front of the shirt, pulling him up to stand.
Derek surged up from his seat and moved to intervene, but Scott grabbed the older wolf's arm. He gave him a stern shake of the head.
"Why are you all of the sudden concerned about the safety of the pack?" Stiles yelled, spitting as his rage carried through his words. "Were you concerned about the pack when you tried to get Liam to kill Scott? Were you concerned when you watched me commit murder? Were you concerned when you blackmailed me with it? You don't even deserve to be alive, let alone in my home, bringing up concern for the people whose lives you almost destroyed."
Stiles cried out in rage and punched Theo in the face, hard enough that the teen stumbled backward.
Theo quickly righted himself, a blank expression on his face. Stiles stepped up to punch him again, harder, the chimera's cheek splitting open as he fell backward on to the carpet from the momentum behind the punch.
Derek looked at the true alpha with concern, but Scott just frowned sadly and shook his head once more. Derek stared across the table where Argent sat with crossed arms and looked on with a pained expression. He turned his attention back to where Stiles was standing above Theo.
"Why do you care, Theo? Why should you care about if we're safe or not after everything?" Stiles straddled the boy sprawled out on the kitchen floor, grabbing the front of his shirt and punching him again and again as he refused to defend himself. Stiles blood boiled with pent up frustration as he screamed. "Tell me!"
"For the same reason you're freaking out that Cora was targeted, even though she's not pack, and she's not your responsibility either!" Theo yelled back, coughing and choking on the blood pooling from his broken nose.
Stiles' arm stilled from where he'd reared back for another punch. He threw himself off of Theo, panting and sweating, staring at the other man as if he'd been burned.
All of Stiles' limbs suddenly felt heavy, as if the stress of the past few months was finally being drained from his pores.
"Out." Stiles whispered. He stared down at his bloodied hands.
Derek stood finally, moving to the pair on the floor, unsure of who to check on.
"Leave, Derek." Stiles looked up at the werewolf with redrimmed eyes. "Make sure Theo gets home okay. And that his nose doesn't heal crooked. Again."
"Fuck you." Theo laughed bitterly through a mouthful of blood as Derek helped him up.
"Stiles..." Scott started as he and Argent rose from the table to leave.
"Later Scott." Stiles sighed, examining his split knuckles with a laugh. "Theo's right. I just... I just want to forget I ever admitted that out loud and go to bed. We'll talk tomorrow."
The four men exited the Stilinski home, leaving Stiles alone with his thoughts until his dad came home, grabbing some ice for his son's hand and embracing him without a word.
"I got what you meant too." Stiles mumbled, knowly the other teen would hear him. He looked up through his lashes for confirmation. "About Cora. She's Derek's family. I need to protect her. For Derek."
Theo nodded with a sad smile.
"Where's that sandwich you promised, Mr. Raeken?" Sheriff Stilinski wandered into the kitchen in uniform. Theo gestured to where he had re-wrapped the brunch sandwich in parchment paper for easy take-away. "Stiles, I'll see you after work at the McCalls? Melissa said 8 pm."
"Got it, dad." Stiles smiled weakly. Not even bothering to stop his dad from stealing a French toast bite on his way out.
"Oh, and maybe clean what I'm assuming is Mr. Raeken's blood off the floor at some point today." The Sheriff nodded at Theo, who grinned widely at the order. "Have a nice brunch, boys."
The door slammed, leaving the two in silence once more.
"Your nose is crooked." Stiles put on a pleased smile before stuffing the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.
Theo rolled his eyes and reached across the table to steal some of Stiles' French toast bites and maple butter, earning a squeak of disapproval from the human.
"You still got a Gamecube?" Theo wagged his eyebrows in suggestion.
*****
"Bullshit." Stiles cried out for the tenth or so time in the same amount of minutes. "You can't keep picking Ness."
"I'll stop picking him when you stop picking Jigglypuff." Theo chuckled as the screen showed his character proudly standing as winner.
"Fine." Stiles huffed. "Random next round."
"Final destination only, then." Theo nodded.
"Fair enough." Stiles shrugged, flexing his sore right hand. "I can't believe this thing still runs."
"Console of the ages." Theo smirked, getting up to refill his water. He walked back into the living room a moment later, pausing to lean on the doorway from the kitchen, examining his phone. "I noticed you haven't responded to any of the pack's texts. It's past one."
"Thanks, mom." Stiles frowned, pulling out his phone. He quickly typed something out on it then put it back in the pocket of his joggers. "Happy?"
Theo felt his phone buzz and opened it to the group text.
Stiles Stilinski: Thanks guys.
"Overwhelmed." Theo snickered, pocketing his own phone as well.
"Yeah, well." Stiles smiled patronizingly. "I try."
"Need a few to rest?" Theo nodded at Stile's hand.
"Yeah." Stiles' fake smile dropped as he blankly stared at his swollen knuckles. He looked up at Theo curiously before picking at his nails. "American History professor?"
Theo furrowed his brow and nodded, unsure of the random change of subject.
"Sounds like Derek's type. She young, pretty and psycho too?" Stiles joked dryly.
Theo's eyes widened in shock. Stiles looked up at him, irked by the judgmental silence. Theo shook his head angrily.
"You know he isn't interested in anyone else, Stiles." Theo scolded the brooding young man. "You know he wants to be with you."
"That's a fucking lie. He's made it clear he's not interested." Stiles laughed humorlessly. "Besides, who says I want to be with him anyway? Lydia doesn't get to break up with me and just chose who I have to be with afterwards."
"Uh, first of all, Lydia didn't force you to try and make out with him at Scotts on Halloween, and no, no one else except Liam knows about that."
Stiles turned pink at the memory of the older werewolf dodging him and fleeing as he tried to make a move after everyone else had left or fallen asleep. Everyone but Liam and Theo apparently.
"Also, you freaked out with jealousy just a minute ago about a woman you've never even met, just because Derek spoke to her once. You don't even know if she's an old lady, or married, or interested in men at all." Theo laughed incredulously. Stiles at least had the decency to look guilty at that. "And trust me. He wants to be with you in every way, whether he says so or not."
Stiles huffed in disbelief.
"Look, Stiles, I know it's not really the same thing, but I kind of know where Derek's head is at, having strong feelings for, and an intense connection to, someone who just had their heart broken. So, just hear me out."
Stiles nodded, guilt still painted on his face. Theo crossed the room and sat next to him on the couch.
"Liam loves me, right? He loves me and he needs me." Theo swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as he spoke about his boyfriend. "But he's young, and handsome, and incredible, so fucking good, and anyone in their right mind would want to be with him. And no matter your past, no matter what demons still haunt you, the same goes for you, Stiles."
Stiles looked up in shock, eyes reddening as he stared at Theo curiously.
"I had to wait a long time, alone with my emotions, before I could stop feeling guilty for even having them. And Derek, well..." Theo's voice cracked and he let out a quiet laugh. "Derek's sins may not be anywhere near mine, but you know we're both damaged goods."
Theo sniffed, turning away from Stiles for a moment to collect himself.
"We've both spent years of our lives being used and manipulated by people who we thought cared about us. People who took care of us when we thought no one else would. When we thought we didn't have another choice. We both have projected that forward on others as a result. And it didn't end well for anyone."
Theo huffed at the memories he was bringing up and met Stiles' gaze again before continuing.
"Being with either one of us is a burden. And Derek and I know that. Liam knows that. Liam still wants me, for some fucking reason. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to hate myself every once in a while for being selfish enough to be with him, when he deserves better. He deserves the best. Not some fucked up kid who doesn't even deserve to be alive."
"Theo-" Stiles choked on his words as he tried to say something. Anything that would take back what he said the night before. But he couldn't say anything that would make it better. Not without lying.
"I'm going to make life hard for Liam sometimes." Theo muttered. "No matter how hard I try not to be, I'm going to be insecure and a fucking pain. But somehow I know that he'll stay with me, and he'll help me through it all, even though he doesn't have to. And I will help him. I will never stop being there when he needs me."
Theo sighed and sniffed again. Stiles tried not to look at the suddenly vulnerable-looking teen as a tear fell down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away.
"I know it sounds stupid, because we're so young, but this thing we have? We know its forever. I think Derek knows that you can be that, someday, but he needs to be sure that's what you really want. That you won't regret this, or change your mind. That you're not just rebounding, or stuck on some long forgotten hormone-fueled crush from years past."
"That's not-" Stiles started, then groaned in frustration. "Yeah, no, that's completely fair. I can't expect anything from him, when I don't even have my own shit figured out. The last thing I want to do is rush into something I can't handle and hurt him. I love him."
"Derek told me once that you're the one who taught him that he deserved to be loved." Theo patted Stiles on the leg in an awkward attempt at comfort. "Just love him in whatever capacity you're able to right now. Don't force it. Hopefully the rest will work itself out on its own."
Stiles smiled at the chimera weakly. He nodded, not able to find the words to thank him for the advice.
"And maybe give it a year, so the age gap isn't so creepy." Theo smirked as Stiles jaw dropped in surprise at the jest. "And also maybe you'll get a little hotter with time, cause right now, you can't even grow facial hair, and I don't know if you've seen Derek, but he's way out of your league."
Stiles frowned and used his right hand to swat Theo in the chest, immediately recoiling with a yelp after his bruised knuckles made contact with the other man's very firm pectoral muscle.
Theo fell of the couch crying, this time with laughter.
*****
Liam checked his phone for the third time in less than a minute. His ears twitched and he sat straight up as he heard the familiar rumble of Theo's truck as it pulled into Scott's driveway.
"They're here." Liam announced to the room full of pack and family.
Malia rushed to take the cake from the fridge. Scott and Mason started to light the twenty candles scattered around the cake, as the ten other people stood from where they'd been chatting, waiting for the guest of honor to show up.
Lydia picked up the cake as they heard the front door open followed by the sound hearty laughter.
"We're here." Theo called out as Stiles was still laughing.
"Kitchen!" Lydia called back, ignoring the look of confusion on Scott and Liam's faces on each side of her as the heard the boys approach.
"Happy birthday!" Everyone chorused as Stiles walked in, grin on his face.
"Heyyyy!" Stiles smile widened, eyes almost glowing with joy as he approached Scott and his mom to hug them first. "Thanks, guys. Man, I love you guys so much. Thank you for this."
"Theo, did you give my son drugs?" The Sheriff called from the back of the room, causing everyone else to chuckle.
"Shut up, dad. I'm not high." Stiles laughed along with them. "I might be after all the sugar on this cake, though. Oh my god. Dad, you get none after that little joke."
"Blow out your candles, dork." Lydia grinned as everyone in the room began to laugh.
"What, we don't sing?" Jenna Geyer asked from where she was standing next to the Sheriff.
"Stiles has a thing about the happy birthday song." Theo answered before anyone else could, causing everyone to stare at him. "What? I remember shit from when I was little."
"Alright birthday boy." Scott grinned, grabbing Stiles shoulders from behind and leading him to the cake.
"Wish for something good." Lydia smiled at him.
Stiles smiled back briefly, before looking around at everyone in the room. His eyes locked on Derek, who smiled back shyly.
"I don't need to wish for anything." Stiles spoke without breaking eye contact with the man who'd been on his mind most of the day. "Everything will work itself out on its own."
"Well then wish to win the lotto." Corey called out, drawing Stiles attention away from Derek as the room broke out in laughter once again.
Stiles gently blew out all 19 of the candles, and everyone cheered.
Theo backed away from the crowd as everyone hurried to hug the birthday boy and give him well wishes and presents. The chimera leaned against the wall in the hallway to the kitchen, smiling as the pack laughed and celebrated, drama of the previous night temporarily forgotten.
"You good?" Liam walked up and wrapped his arms around the taller boy's waist, slouching enough that he could tuck his head under Theo's chin.
"Did you miss me, bub?" Theo smiled, placing a kiss on top of the werewolf's head and running his hands up and down his back soothingly. He felt the warm air as Liam huffed into his chest.
"You take a day off work and spend half of it with Scott and Derek, and the other half with someone who barely tolerates you." Liam mumbled into Theo's t-shirt. "What the fuck did you and Stiles even do all day?"
"Smashed some Brothers." Theo shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer possible.
"Fine. Don't tell me." Liam huffed again.
"Seriously, that's what we did." Theo laughed. "Hey Stiles, how many times did I beat you at Smash today?"
"Shut your filthy mouth, Raeken." Stiles growled from where he was opening a present from Mason and Corey. "I had a gimp hand."
"Sure, blame it on the hand." Theo chuckled.
Most of the room exchanged confused, but pleased looks at the uncharacteristicly friendly interaction.
"If you gave him drugs, can I have some too?" Argent called out from where he and Melissa were sitting on the kitchen counter.
The room broke into laughter again as Stiles threw a wadded up bunch of wrapping paper at Chris' head.
"Can we go home?" Theo smiled down at his boyfriend. "I've been up since 4:30 this morning."
"Yeah, let's go." Liam smiled walked over to Stiles to give him a hug and say good to the rest of the pack.
Theo walked up to Jenna and told her that he'd see her at home, giving her a quick hug and shaking the Sheriff's hand. He met Liam at the door and they started for the truck.
"I want to sleep for like a day." Theo groaned.
"You always say that." Liam chuckled, grabbing Theo's keys from his hand. "I'll drive."
"Theo!" Derek called, causing both boys to turn. The man jogged over to them and stopped in front of Theo, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I just wanted to say thanks."
"For what?" Theo smiled, confused.
"For Stiles." Derek frowned. "It's not easy, y'know? Getting through to Stiles. Especially for me, right now, with everything..."
Derek trailed off sheepishly. Theo stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders.
"Hey. I know you're scared of pressuring him or scaring him, but you should tell him." Theo smiled as Derek's brow rose in alarm. "He'll be fine with being your anchor. Especially when you tell him that it's nothing to do with love, and that you are able to use him as an anchor even when you're apart for months. He'll understand. Trust me."
"Jesus." Derek stared at the chimera in wonder. "Did you come back from hell omniscient or something?"
"I wonder that all the time." Liam sighed in exasperation from behind his boyfriend, shaking the other two men from their moment.
"Okay, I'll think about it." Derek nodded. "Thanks. Again. For everything. Oh, especially for his birthday present. I owe you."
"No prob, man." Theo grinned, patting Derek on his leather clad shoulder one last time before the werewolf jogged back up to the house, leaving Theo and Liam to climb into the truck and head home.
"What was he talking about?" Liam asked as he started the car. "What birthday present?"
"Oh." Theo smirked, buckling his seatbelt, and reaching across the seat to thread his fingers through Liam's. "I gave him the 7pm opening night tickets to Star Wars that I bought for us, because I saw on your Google calendar that you bought me some for my birthday."
"What the fuck Theo?!" Liam yanked his hand away as his jaw dropped in shock. He put the truck in reverse, growling as he started the drive home. "It was supposed to be a surprise! I can't believe you went through my phone!"
"I love you, bub." Theo laughed and reached across again to grab his boyfriend's thigh, smiling even wider when it was smacked away angrily.
"I hate you." Liam growled, but sighed as he finally accepted the hand Theo offered again. He brought it to his mouth and kissed it softly. "But you're a good friend. Derek and Stiles are both lucky to have you."
Theo smiled at his boyfriend before looking out the window at the houses that blurred past and squeezing the younger boy's hand tightly.
"I'm the lucky one." Theo mumbled. He smiled to himself as he felt his hand squeezed in return.