Chapter Text
Stiles and Isaac became friends really easily under unfortunate circumstances. Isaac would always be down at the station with bruises and a broken psyche. But no matter how much the sheriff asked- not that he needed to, everyone knew what Isaac's father was like- Isaac would never give his father up. No amount of begging from Stiles made his father be able to do anything to help his friend. It hurt the young teen who was only fourteen the first time Isaac was brought to the station. He didn't understand how someone could ever want to hurt someone as sweet as Isaac. Every time he saw a new mark on his friend, his blood would boil. He always secretly hoped that it would be enough of a boil that he'd present as an Alpha when he turned eighteen and could truly save Isaac in a way his dad didn't have the power to. Even if he wasn't Isaac's mate, which neither felt anything other than platonic love for one another, having an Alpha for a best friend would do wonders for a human.
Three months before Stiles' birthday was Isaac's and the blonde presented as an Omega. His dad, an Alpha, beat him so badly for it that he ended up in the hospital. Stiles stayed by him for three days waiting for him to wake up. On the third day a man came to Isaac's room that Stiles was pretty sure he recognized, but couldn't quite place. The man was tall, with strong features that screamed Alpha. Spiky black hair framed his face, and his ridiculously gorgeous eyes were covered by thick bushy black brows. Underneath the leather jacket and green henly Stiles could smell smoke and the forest after it rains; it's intoxicating.
"Oh, sorry, I was told he was alone." The man says with a deep voice finally noticing the human glued to the side chair.
"They probably forgot I was here, I’m pretty quiet when I want to be." The teen tells him, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants before extending one to the Alpha. "But I never left. I'm Stiles."
“The sheriff’s kid, right.” The man says, reaching out for his hand, shaking it firmly. The touch sends a shiver down Stiles’ spine that he really tries to ignore. “I’m Derek Hale.”
The wheels spin wildly inside the human’s brain until the cogs land on a conversation he had with his father a few years ago. There was a fire that burned one of the oldest werewolf families in Beacon Hills, the Hales. Derek was the sole survivor, his uncle Peter died from smoke inhalation a few days after. Derek left town for a bit to- Stiles assumes- work on himself and allow himself time to heal. It was that night that his father became the Alpha of their town. Being an Alpha and the sheriff, no one saw a better fit to take the job.
“What brings you back to town?” Stiles asks, wondering if he should be worried about his father’s status as head Alpha.
“I’m just looking to expand my pack, it’s just me and two betas right now.” Derek offers freely. “I’m not prejudiced, but an Omega would really help me and my pack thrive. Your father actually told me about your friend and I realized that I could help him too. Has he woken up at all yet?”
Stiles’ eyes sting, “no, he’s been out for three days.” Remorse saturates Derek’s nostrils and his wolf flips inside him, wanting nothing more than to make that smell go away. “How do you know my dad?”
“I knew him when I was a kid,” the dark haired man says, “seeing as he’s the town’s Alpha now, it was best to let him know that I was back in town and plan on staying, but don’t worry, I’m not going to make him step down. He seems to be doing a better job than I would. I just want a normal pack, that’s all.”
Stiles humms, but before he can speak Isaac wakes up, “S-Stiles?” His voice sounds hoarse from disuse.
Stiles flails out of his seat, had it not been for Derek he would’ve knocked himself out on the bars around the hospital bed. “Isaac! Hey buddy, how are you feeling? Do you need anything? Dude, you had me so worried! You were out for three days! I’m so happy to see you awake, you have no idea.” Stiles rambles, Derek’s hold on him never leaves, and he clears his throat. “Sorry,” the human shuffles, fixing his clothes before looking at a very confused Isaac.
“Who are you?” He asks the Alpha.
“Derek Hale,” he says, his voice authoritative, but smooth, meant to be calming. “I’m here to offer you a choice.” That does nothing to appease Isaac’s confusion and his brows pinch together further. “I know about your situation, and I wanted to know how you’d feel about becoming a werewolf.”
“Yes.” Isaac says, barely letting the man finish speaking.
“Whoa,” Stiles remarks. “Don’t you at least want to think about it first? I mean, you don’t have any questions?”
Isaac looks at his best friend with a bewildered expression, as if there’s anything to think about. “If I’m a werewolf and part of an actual pack, mated or not I can leave my dad. Right?” He turns to the Alpha, who simply nods. “Yes.”
“Okay.” Stiles reeks of compassion, a gentle smile on his face for his best friend. “You know I’m here for you dude.” Stiles steps back so that Derek can do what he needs to.
The man can’t resist looking at Stiles’ amber eyes. Smirking, his eyes bleed red and Stiles gasps so lowly that only Derek can hear, he smiles wider. The Alpha lets his fangs drop out and the human really shouldn’t find that as hot as he does, but well, it fucking is. Turning his attention to Isaac he says, “I really wish I could say this wasn’t going to hurt.” His expression is almost regretful. Isaac offers his arm to the Alpha and with a growl he sinks his fangs in until they draw blood. His best friend screams loudly, then passes out. Derek doesn’t seem surprised by it so Stiles doesn’t freak. He will however, deny the stiffness in his pants when Derek licks the blood from his lips. What the fuck is happening to him?
Three months later Stiles is at Derek’s pack house. He worked tirelessly to rebuild the Hale home after the fire killed. Apparently the wolf likes charity cases, not only did he save Isaac from his father, but he also gave Boyd friends and cured Erica of her seizures that were literally killing her. Isaac made it clear after his transformation that he and Stiles were a package deal and that if he was going to be pack, so was Stiles. But Stiles rejected the bite- Derek was more than okay with that, he thought humans had just as much of a right in packs too. But Stiles wanted to stay human for himself. He knew that as a human, no matter how he presents that it wouldn't matter what species his mate is, there would be no law to keep them apart. But asked if he could have the choice to change his mind later. The Alpha agreed.
Erica and Boyd, two of Derek’s betas and now Stiles’ friends, are snuggled up on the couch, “hey Batman,” she asks the human, “are you getting excited about presenting tomorrow?” She has a devilish smirk on her face. She may be mated to Boyd, but she is ever present in talking about Stiles’ sex life.
“Catwoman, I think I might just have to become an Alpha to live up to the batman name.” He jokes, but it makes her smile and back off a little bit as Isaac and Derek walk down the stairs. Isaac had another panic attack, this one was bad enough that Stiles wasn’t able to help, only the voice of an Alpha could help the Omega.
His best friend runs a hand through his curls, the other holding the reason for his attack; a manila folder with the list of all the human and werewolf Alphas in Beacon Hills and surrounding towns. Now that he had presented, he needed to find a mate. Yes, he had the security of a pack, but Derek wasn’t his mate, and an Omega needs a proper Alpha.
“Can you please help me go through these?” Isaac asks, dropping the packet in Stiles’ lap joining him at the table.
“Of course, dude.” He says, pulling out the folder’s contents, laying them out in front of him. Derek takes the seat to Stiles’ right, brushing his arm against his. Stiles will just have to pretend like the act doesn’t radiate sparks throughout the limb. “Okay, well, I’m pretty sure we can toss Jackson’s file in the garbage.” He tosses the pages behind him and Erica snickers. “I’m pretty sure that Danny wants to be with Jackson, so better not bark up that tree either.” More pages go flying. “Ooo,” Stiles says, stopping over a particular file of one, "Allison Argent, what about her? She’s pretty.”
Derek leans off of the human and his entire body stiffens and Erica and Boyd growl. “It’s okay.” The Alpha says, turning a calming look to his Betas. Did Stiles say something wrong? “The woman who killed my family was an Argent.” Derek tells the human. Oops. “But it’s okay. I’ve met her, she’s a good Alpha and nothing like her aunt. She’d be a good pick, Isaac.” Derek puts his arm back against Stiles, whether he wants it there or it’s just meant to scent his pack Stiles is unsure. The blonde nods, taking the pages from Stiles.
Stiles keeps looking through the papers, knowing his best friend is bisexual, he tries to find a guy for him to try for too. His eyes land on a friend from school that he also knows Isaac had a crush on at one point or another, Scott McCall. “What about him?” Stiles flashes the photo to his friend.
Isaac blushes hard, but takes the file nonetheless. Stiles even notes that he puts it on top of Allison’s.
“My work here is done,” Stiles overly bows when he gets up from the table, making him and Isaac laugh. “It’s getting late, better get home before my dad freaks. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Everyone responds with their own goodbye and the human leaves his pack, getting in his jeep, and going home.
The school day passed by in a blur. Isaac quietly told him happy birthday, but Erica wasn’t about to let him off as easily. After lunch there was a handmade sign, balloons, and a card taped to his locker. He wanted to keep it lowkey, especially since it was well into the day and he still hadn’t presented, Stiles was getting worried. But he appreciates the werewolf’s affection, she doesn’t offer it to just anybody. The final bell has rung and Stiles is off to lacrosse practice, and his skin is uncomfortably hot. Maybe he’s getting sick, he thinks, maybe skipping practice would be best.
An arm wraps around his shoulder, “you heading to practice?” Isaac asks, surely if something was wrong with Stiles, the werewolf would be able to smell it, but he says nothing.
“Uh yeah, let’s go.” The human says, and the two head to the locker room together, Isaac’s arm stays on his shoulder. Touch must be a werewolf thing, Stiles figures, because ever since he was bitten Isaac has been a lot more touchy.
The weirdest thing happens when Isaac opens the door to the locker room. Usually Stiles is met with the distinct smell of man sweat and jock straps that should’ve been cleaned a long time ago. This time, Stiles is slapped in the face by the most delicious thing he’s ever smelled in his life. It’s like valentine’s day wrapped in a bottle, chocolate and flowers. Stiles’ mouth waters and he gets a little wobbly on his legs, but recovers fast enough that the werewolf doesn’t notice.
Jackson, Danny, and Theo are all inside tying their cleats, about ready to walk out the door. Stiles really would’ve loved to not deal with this shit today. He could care less that it’s his birthday, but here is unpresented and being stuck in a small room with fucking Jackson Whittemore. “Look who it is. Little Stiles Stilinski.” His nostrils flare, “smells like bitch in here, is it that time of the month for you already Isaac?” Isaac growls, flashing gold eyes at the Alpha, he’s nothing if not bold.
“Jackson, don’t be such a dick.” Danny scolds before he shoves him out of the locker room to the field. Theo lingers for a moment, eyeing Stiles, with a smirk he’s out the door following his friends.
“Fantastic.” Stiles bites out, quickly getting changed into his gear.
“I really hate that guy,” Isaac says, his eyes returning their normal blue. And he really does, Jackson pushes Isaac about being an Omega, and it’s fucked up. Danny tries to get him to cool off, but it doesn’t always help.
About halfway through practice, Stiles is getting really pissed and kind of worried. Not only does he feel like absolute garbage and he’s sweat more than he ever has in his life, but Jackson keeps tackling him to the ground and it’s really fucking annoying. It seems that there’s nothing that can be done to stop him, Danny has tried about a million times already. Even Theo tried to talk some sense into him, but every chance Jackson got, Stiles would crash to the ground. Fucking hell does his hip hurt.
“That’s enough!” Coach yells. “Suicides Jackson. NOW!” He blows his whistle and Isaac again comes to help his best friend up.
Scott and Danny jog up to them as Stiles rips his helmet off. “What the fuck did I do to pain a target on my back?” Danny just shrugs, clearly at a loss for words.
“Are you okay Stiles?” Scott asks, and Isaac pretends to be very interested in a particular patch of grass. He put in his request for a mate a little over a week ago. To Scott. Only Scott. The Alpha in question has yet to answer.
“Yeah, I’m al-” an angry growl erupts from right behind Stiles and none of the werewolves have a chance to stop the impact from happening. Jackson, again, tackles Stiles to the ground. “Fuck!” The human yelps, bracing for impact, mmm dirt, how delicious. Stiles spits it out, rubbing his mouth just to be sure it’s clean. Scrambling to his feet he yells at the still growling Alpha, “what the fuck is your problem?”
Jackson stands up, blinking hard and his eyes are finally an icy blue again. But shit gets bad again when Theo walks over, “Jackson, are we actually going to practice today? Or are you just going to keep waving your dick around?” The coyote asks. And those were very much not the right words to say right now. Jackson’s eyes bleed red again and he roars.
Isaac pulls Stiles to his side and Scott and Danny form a shield in front of them. Jackson has totally fucking lost it, “Mine!” He roars again, lunging towards the three werewolves blocking him from Stiles. Theo tackles him to the ground before he can even take a step. The shrill whistle blows and everyone has to cover their ears. “Everybody hit the showers!” Coach yells, muttering under his breath about teenagers and their stupid hormones and how they should leave it off his field.
“Can’t you guys smell it?” Jackson snaps. “He’s in heat!” The Alpha tries to wiggle out of Theo’s grasp, but the coyote’s hold is firm.
“Shit!” Stiles curses himself for not noticing sooner. How even more uncomfortable his uniform felt, how hot he’d been all day. And Omega’s in heat run on pure instinct, someone in the locker room smelled good enough to the Omega inside him that it triggered his presentation.
“I-I need to get out of here.” Scott says, backing away. He was still pretty newly presented himself and doesn’t have the control that Danny does. But hey, at least he’s not losing his shit like Jackson is. Danny nods, helping Scott walk away, his control slipping, but Stiles knows that it’s just in his nature, they’re friends. Jackson however, the biggest dickhead on the planet, was crumbling like an idiot over Stiles.
“Why are you still here?” Theo says to Isaac, “get him home! I can only hold this idiot for so long.” He offers a meek smile, “sorry he acted like that Stiles.”
“Right.” Isaac finally snaps back to reality, “I’ll call your dad and let Derek know I’m gonna be late.”
Stiles makes no effort to move, his eyes are glued to the Alpha’s on the ground. His mind is still reeling over what happened when he got in the locker room. He’s read enough and done enough research that he knows an Alpha can lose their shit like that for a few reasons. Their self control is shit because they think they’re better than they are so they’ve never practiced, which let’s be honest that’s probably more likely. They’re too newly presented that they haven’t had the chance, much like Scott. Or, and this really rattles Stiles to his core, the Omega in question is their ‘true mate’ and their first heat triggers the Alpha’s rut. He really, really hopes that smell didn’t come from Jackson.
“Stiles!” Theo and Isaac yell.
“Sorry,” Stiles rubs a hand on his face, “thank you, Theo.” The human allows himself to be taken away by his best friend. Isaac had already called his dad and told him what’s happening. The sheriff told him that he had a feeling his son would be an Omega like his mom, so he’d been restocking the heat room in their house without Stiles noticing.
Isaac gets the human home before his dad does, thank god his best friend is a fellow Omega and was able to get him there safely. The blonde tells him about the heat room and Stiles heads straight for it, thanking Isaac for looking out for him and to tell Derek that he’s sorry he won’t make it over the next couple nights. He’s even going to miss movie night, they were supposed to watch Endgame. Stiles hasn’t started to feel needy yet, but he’s been stiff as a board since his best friend left. His dad shows up an hour later, interacts long enough to let him know that his son isn’t alone, the Omega in him needs to know there’s an Alpha there to protect him.
Two days into his heat and Stiles is really fucking confused. He’s jerked off more times than he can count. And every time he cums he sees one of two faces: Derek and Theo. Memories of pack nights flood his mind, all the times Derek would scent him, or let the human help with training or whatever other thing the Alpha would be doing. He flashes to Theo, tackling Jackson just to make sure that Stiles was safe. His haze clears enough that he’s able to ask his dad for the packet of Alphas that got sent into the mail.
If he could burn Jackson’s in the heat room, he would. But he can’t, so tearing it up and flushing it down the toilet will have to do. He neatly places Danny, Allison, and Scott’s papers in the no pile. He won’t intrude on Isaac and he’s not really interested in women, so all of the girls go to the no pile actually. That leaves him with five choices: Chris Argent, Derek Hale, Theo Raeken, Lucas August, and Ethan Steiner. Chris also goes to the no pile, even though he gave Isaac the okay for Allison, doesn’t mean he’s okay with something like that.
He’s never met Lucas before and the idea of mating with someone he doesn’t even know sounds kind of stupid. Who would agree to that? And he tells his dad just that. Yeah, the Alpha could turn him down, but still what if he didn’t? His father sighs outside the door, “you’re not asking them to be your mate full stop. There’s a courting period first Stiles. Maybe it would be good to look at someone you’ve never met. They could surprise you.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah,” Stiles agrees, “I guess you’re right.” Stiles does know Ethan though, he goes to Devenford Prep with his twin, Aiden. That’s going to be a no too. That leaves him with three. “Can you send these ones out, please?”
“Sure thing, kid.” The sheriff answers, “you gonna be okay by yourself?”
“I’m eighteen and I have my phone. I’ll be fine.” Stiles answers and his dad leaves to deliver the requests. He pulls his phone out to call Isaac and tell him about the decisions he made.
"Hey Stiles! How are you doing? That first heat can be killer." His best friend says through the phone."
"It's not too bad, the room is pretty sterile, so I don't have a bunch of smells confusing my Omega like earlier." Stiles admits. "I even had enough clarity to go through the Alpha packet."
"Oh?" Isaac chirps. "And did you make any decisions?"
"Three." Stiles answers, but says no more than that.
Isaac huffs on the other line, "well don't leave me hanging here! Come on man, details!"
Stiles actually laughs despite the pinch growing in his abdomen. "Someone named Lucas August, Theo, and uh," Stiles takes a pregnant pause, not sure how to tell his best friend that he actually chose Derek. Whether or not the Beta’s or even Derek knew, Stiles was a little more than crushing on the Alpha. His best friend knew how Stiles felt. But actually acting on it is something totally different. "I, I'm, I picked Derek too."
"It's about damn time!" The werewolf practically yells into the phone. Isaac even understands why he picked the coyote. "Theo can be kind of dicksish, but he’s nowhere near as bad as Jackson is. He’s also really hot, so you know, that helps. And, he protected you the other day, I get it. But who's this Luca guy?"
"Some nineteen year old just outside of town, it was just to placate my dad." Stiles tells him and his best friend hums. Stiles wonders for half a minute, "should I warn Derek?"
Isaac kind laughs mischievously. "Fuck no. I can’t wait to see how high his eyebrows will go!" He howls another laugh, and then gasps, "I wonder if Derek will blush?"
"Nope, no. I'm very much not having this conversation.” Stiles groans making the werewolf bellow even more. But then Stiles whines, “fuck! Is, I gotta go.” Another wave hits and it’s worse than the last ones for sure, but he powers through it like a champ. Stiles is pretty stubborn like that, and the lack of smells other than his own really do seem to make it bearable. His dad comes back an hour later telling him that as long as his heat has stopped, that since tomorrow is Saturday, he will have meetings with the three Alpha’s he’s chosen and then they’ll agree to court or not. If it hasn’t, they’ll be on Sunday.
His stomach is lurching inside of him. He’s nervous about facing Derek and telling him the truth. But he’s also really excited about the thought that Theo would be okay with him asking to be mates too. He hopes that they’ll both agree to the courting. As for Lucas, he will make it clear that this was just a formality for his father and that there were really only two people he was interested in. As politely as possible of course, no need to be an asshole about it. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.