Status: One-shot

You Need Me

1/1

Stiles and Derek were perfect. They didn’t fight often. Not seriously. Not since the pack became a little more stable, not since they stopped receiving so much resistance from the Betas.

Stiles was a big help to Derek, who was still learning the ropes to the whole Alpha thing. Ever since his parents died it had just been Derek, his older sister Laura, and his younger brothers, twins named Michael and Steven. Laura, being the oldest, had become Alpha after her mother’s death. The transition was bumpy, but she had already been taught a lot by her mother, who had known that Laura would become the Alpha when she herself had passed.

Nobody was prepared for Laura’s murder.

The rogue hunters knew nothing of the tragedy that had happened to the Hale family. The local family of hunters left them alone, a truce between the werewolves and the hunters kept the peace. The wounds from the fire were too fresh and the pack had suffered greatly from the loss. Had the hunters known that then maybe they wouldn’t have launched an attack. Any hunter would know better than to attack a pack that had just lost their family. Any hunter would know better than to attack a pack under a new Alpha. Any hunter would know better than to attack a pack that was greatly unstable. Maybe if they had known, the Hale pack would have been left alone.

But they hadn’t known, and they had attacked, and they had lost their lives. But not before taking Laura’s. Again, the Alpha status had been shifted to the next oldest, Derek, without warning.

Unlike Laura, Derek didn’t know the first thing about being the Alpha. He was forced to follow his instincts and to try as hard as he could to remember what made his mother such a great Alpha.

His first order of business was to find a place for him and his brothers to stay. Since Derek was an adult at the age of twenty-one, he knew that finding a new house was the smartest thing to do. It would provide an ounce of much needed stability for the remaining Hale brothers. The twins were in their sophomore year of high school, so Derek knew that they were old enough that they wouldn’t become wards of the state. He was financially able to support all of them, what with the insurance money from the fire. They could afford to move to the richest part of the state and sit pretty until they died, but Beacon Hills was their home. It wouldn’t have felt right to leave.

So they found a new place to live, and furnished it to their liking. They were cautious to stay in the Sheriffs good graces, which wasn’t hard since the man knew nothing of the supernatural world and took pity on the three brothers who had lost their entire family in less than ten months. He knew how it felt to lose someone, seeing as his wife had passed away years ago. He also knew how it felt to need to hang onto the family that he had left.

The Sheriffs son’s name was Stiles. Well, not really. No one really knew what his real name was, and those who did know didn’t know how to pronounce it. Stiles Stilinski was the ray of light in the Hales darkest of days. He was a year above the twins, and they had gotten to be pretty good friends, since the three of them had been spending copious amounts of time in the Sheriff’s office together, Stiles waiting for his dad and the twins waiting for Derek. After the custody arrangements had been settled and the case involving the fire and Laura’s murder had been closed, Stiles began spending time at the Hale house instead.

Derek was happy that the twins had found a way to start integrating themselves back into a normal life, but he was wary about having a human so close. No harm had come from Stiles’ presence so far, so he decided not to worry about it.

That is, not until Derek made a mistake. The full moon still made it difficult for him to control himself. His instincts as Alpha were overwhelming. The human part of him struggled to gain control, and sometimes it couldn’t. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the woods, his bones aching and his memory vacant. His brothers would ask about his whereabouts and he didn’t have the heart to tell them what was really going on. They didn’t need something else to worry about.

Derek’s plan had worked for a while, but one morning following a full moon, the twins burst into the house a mere twenty minutes after they had left for school, dragging a scared looking boy with shaggy black hair between them. The boy reeked of the fresh transformation smell. He had just recently been bitten. Derek was guessing it had been last night. Derek was guessing it had been himself who had bitten him. Derek was right.

Scott McCall was the shaggy haired Junior who had been given the bite. It was the classic tale of being in the wrong place at the right time. Most teenagers would be wary of the woods at midnight but Scott was not as bright as most teenagers, simply put.

The Hales had a new pack member, which was both a blessing and a curse. The more werewolves in a pack, the stronger the wolves were. This had put the idea in Derek’s mind that he needed to build his pack to be stronger. He offered the bite to a handful of other teenagers, who in Derek’s eyes deserved the bite, the gift, more than anyone else. He would have kept offering the bite to others, until one rainy afternoon Michael pointed out that the last thing they needed were more newborn werewolves who needed a lot of attention and a lot of training from an Alpha who had not yet learned everything himself. The betas had begun acting out, trying to get the attention of their Alpha and endangering the lives of humans in town. They were beginning to attract the attention of the family of hunters who lived in town to make sure that that very thing didn’t happen.

The pack stood at eight. Derek, Michael and Steven, Scott, Erica, a busty blonde Senior who’s earlier days were full of torment, Boyd, a tall black Junior who had been mercilessly abandoned by his peers, Isaac, a curly haired, strong jawed Sophomore who had been his father’s personal punching bag, and Jackson, a pretentious douchebag of a Senior who was easy to pity when he let his guard down.

It took a while for them to become close. The group as a whole was… well, unlikely was an understatement. Simply hanging out together in public drew enough attention. Beacon Hills was not a place of very much change, and for teenagers from such different social circles to come together and become friends was unnatural. They knew it too. More often than not, they couldn’t seem to put their differences aside and become the pack they were supposed to be. The “pack bonding” wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t natural either. As the wolves became more in tuned with their senses, they found it harder to hide their abilities.

Derek found it difficult to train such a rambunctious group all at once. He hadn’t taken that into consideration. He hadn’t expected it to be so difficult. He also hadn’t expected anyone to take too much notice. He certainly hadn’t expected Stiles to start coming around asking questions.

And with a group of betas constantly hanging around his house, the secret came out pretty quickly. It didn’t help that Scott had practically grown up attached at the hip with Stiles, and spilled every secret the second Stiles started laying on the guilt trip. It also didn’t help that the twins were more than open to welcoming Stiles into the pack. The other betas didn’t have an opinion either way. And so, the Hale pack had its first human.

Derek quickly found that Stiles was a Godsent. He should have known, given Stile’s existing relationship with each of the betas. Everyone loved him. Jackson was the only one who would occasionally give him a hard time, but one glare from his Alpha and everything was set right again.

They lived peacefully for a long time, training and learning and growing together as a pack. But most things, especially peace, are short lived. Their power attracted darker creatures to the town of Beacon Hills. Everything from Vampires to Wendigos to Kanimas attacked the Hale pack territory. It was up to the pack to protect the innocent humans who called Beacon Hills their home. Most of the pack had parents and siblings that they wanted to keep safe, so incentive wasn’t a problem. Control, however, control was a problem. It took decades for a born werewolf to be able to control themselves fully. Bitten werewolves were an entirely different league, one that Derek didn’t have the rulebook for.

Everything was a challenge but they got through them together.

In the face of danger, Stiles proved himself over and over again. He could handle the betas, keep them under control while Derek thought of a plan. With Stiles’ help, everything was less chaotic than it could have been.

He stayed out of the way enough to avoid hindering the success of any missions, and in fact, was able to use his father’s role as Sheriff to help the pack gain as many advantages as possible. He took on leadership roles that any human in a pack of werewolves would be hesitant to take. Many Alphas wouldn’t let anyone other than a mate take that position.

But that was it, wasn’t it. Stiles didn’t know, couldn’t feel it, but Derek could. He could feel it in the very core of his being. Stiles was a part of him, the most important part, especially to an Alpha werewolf. With the pack still in an unstable and occasionally uncontrollable condition, Derek couldn’t afford to let anyone know, not even Stiles. If an enemy tried to take his mate away from him, things would become uncontrollable and bloody, the secret would be out to everyone, innocent people might be hurt, and the pack would be at risk of being completely destroyed. He couldn’t tell anyone until the pack was a lot more stable.

But Stiles was smart. Smarter than any other human Derek had ever met was when it came to the topic of supernatural beings. He had done his research, looked into the uncontrollable need of his to be around Derek at all times. He had waited until there was a moment of peace in town. The pack had just defeated a Changeling who had taken two citizens and severely injured Scott and Erica. The wolves were healing at their accelerated speed and were getting the rest that they needed, Stiles made sure of that.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Derek had just gotten back from checking on his injured betas to see Stiles sitting on the front steps of the house.

“Hey.” Derek said, “Did you lose your key again?”

Stiles stood up and gave a small smile. “No, I just had something to talk to you about. It’s nice outside so why not?” He shrugs. Before Derek had a chance to reply, Stiles forged ahead. “Listen, I feel this unyielding need to be with you all the time. Not just in the same room, but touching you, hugging you, kissing you. I want to tell you every little thing about me and I want to learn all your little quirks, you know the ones I don’t already know about. I’ve been doing research and I found out that werewolves have soul-mates, or whatever, and I think I’m yours, which is totally awesome.”

The whole thing took Derek by surprise. It couldn’t happen like this. The pack wasn’t stable enough. Derek couldn’t risk putting Stiles in any more danger than he was already in. He needed to tell him it wasn’t true. “Stiles-“

“I mean, my dad probably wouldn’t like it too much, but I would. It’d be pretty cool. I mean, having a smoking hot piece of ass as a mate would make my life, but then I get the pups as well. I could be pack mom! I already kind of am. I am literally a childless mother.”

Stiles babbled on and on, and Derek could feel his resolve crumbling, which was much too dangerous and too real for him to handle. “Stiles! Shut up for two goddam seconds. Stop it. It’s not- that’s not what it is. We’re not mates, trust me, I would know. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s not that.”

Stiles face fell before brightening up again. “I read that a werewolf under a lot of stress might not be able to acknowledge their mate for as long as a year of the situation is serious. You’ve been under nonstop stress since- since the fire, I know. Listen, I can help you clear away the stress and then we can work on this mate thing, yeah?”

Derek shook his head. “No. Stiles, it doesn’t work like that. What you’re feeling is probably just a silly little teenage crush. It doesn’t mean anything. Do you understand me? Nothing.”
They stood in silence for a minute or two before Stiles could finally bring his eyes to meet Derek’s again. “I see. No, I understand. A crush. You’re right. I’ll just- I’ll go.”

Stiles edged his way around Derek, got into his Jeep, and drove away. Derek watched the Jeep until he couldn’t see it anymore and he listened to the Jeeps engine until it was inaudible. The feeling of regret settled into his stomach like no other feeling he had felt before. He was sad, scared that he had driven off his mate for good, angry at his situation for preventing him from having the thing he so desperately wanted, needed even.

Derek stormed into the house and threw the first thing he could get his hands on- the table by the front door. The picture frames and the glass bowl that held keys that were on it flew off and smashed against the floor as the table flew across the room and crashed into the mirror above the fire place. The sound was so satisfying that he picked up a lamp and destroyed that next. Before he knew it, the entire living room was a mess of broken glass and stuffing from the couches. He was exhausted and slumped in the middle of his disaster.

At that moment, the door swung open to reveal Michael, Boyd, and Steven. The three Betas were instantly on the defense, teeth elongated and ears pointed. Michael was by Derek’s side in an instant, while the other two made sure they were alone.

“Derek, what happened?” he asked, words slurring around his fangs.

“I just lost control. I’m sorry. I lost control.” Derek sounded so helpless.

Michael’s fangs retracted and his facial features went back to normal. “Der, it’s okay. It happens to the best of us, you know that. Why don’t you go lay down for a while?”

“No, we have training today. Make sure the other Betas get here on time. I’ll clean this up.”

Training quickly became Derek’s outlet. It made him feel better, to be able to lash out and blame it on training. It was driving him crazy that Stiles wasn’t around, and that it was because of him. Stiles had quickly become a part of him, and he was definitely feeling the gaping loss.

It had been two weeks since their last encounter, and when Derek wasn’t pushing the Betas to train harder, he was pushing himself to be better, and then berating himself for not living up to his own impossible expectations. If he was a better Alpha, if he was able to control himself better, then his mate would be by his side and this feeling of emptiness wouldn’t be there.

The twins were the first to notice that Derek wasn’t acting like himself, and it didn’t take the long to connect the dots between his odd behavior and Stiles’ absence. They did the best they could to help cheer him up, from pack bonding nights and puppy piles to leaving him alone to read and watch baseball, like he loved. Derek, however, was only interested in creating better training sessions.

It got to the point where he would begin to wake up sore. That wasn’t supposed to happen, not to werewolves. They were supposed to heal, their muscles were not supposed to stay torn. Steven was the first to notice that Derek had begun wincing during their training, and he brought it to the attention of his twin. Michael had always been the bold one of the two, so naturally, he was the one to voice their concerns to their Alpha brother.

One night, after the Beta’s had all gone home or fallen asleep, Michael crept into Derek’s room and found him sitting up at the foot of his bed.

“Once you’ve found your mate, you can’t be away from them. Mom and Dad used to tell us that all the time.” Michael said.

Derek glanced up and then back down at his lap. “If he’s away from the pack, that means he’s safe.”

“But that means that you aren’t. You can’t do that to us, we can’t lose you. We’ve lost everyone else. You’re all we have left.”

“I’m not strong enough to protect him.”

“Stiles can protect himself. He’s a big boy who is more talented than you give him credit for. If you let him in, he’d be able to help you protect him, help you become a better Alpha. That’s what mates are for. You know that! And you pushed him away and we don’t understand.” Michael’s tone took on a hint of begging. “Listen, I know that you’re afraid of losing someone else, but look where that fear got you. You’re not happy, those who care about you are scared, and you’re not getting better. Please, just talk to him. Please. If not for yourself, then for us. If not for us, then for him. He’s miserable too.”

And Michael wasn’t wrong. The Betas had noticed that Stiles was unhappy as well. He wasn’t the normal hyperactive kid they all knew and loved. He was calm. He was sulking. He was sedated. It worried them.

Steven had always been a little bit closer to Stiles than Michael had. They shared a love of research and murder mysteries that no one else could really understand. After school on Thursday, Steven found Stiles in the library, staring at a book and not reading a single word.

Steven sat down and pushed the book away, drawing Stiles’ attention to himself. “Listen, my brother can be really stupid sometimes, but he only has out best interest at heart. He always does. He’s just scared of losing you. You have to be able to understand that, right?”

“I do, but that’s not why- it’s not that I don’t care about him or that I’m mad. It’s that I was wrong. I’m not his mate, and I confronted him about it and I’m mortified. And it really fucking sucks because I’m in love with him.”

“Is that what he told you? That you’re not his mate?”

“Well, he would know better than anyone, right?”

“No, you would both be able to feel it equally. It doesn’t matter that you’re a human. The fact that you were able to recognize the feeling is a little abnormal but not unheard of.” Steven explains, tapping his fingers on the desk. “You’ve done the research yourself. All the signs are there from an outsider’s point of view. You feel it, and Mikey talked to Derek last night. He didn’t deny it to us. That’s as big a sign as any.”

Stiles looked angry all of a sudden. “He lied to me?”

Steven sensed that he had started something unintentional, making things a tad worse in a whole new way, but nothing that wasn’t fixable with a little communication. He fled the library and found his twin in the parking lot. They exchanged a look and they immediately knew that things would be okay.

Derek was the one to try rebuilding the bridge first. On the first day it was a text.

“Come back."

"No." Was the reply, signaling that Stiles was still rightfully angry.

This carried on for three days.

Then the calls started. When he answered and when he didn’t it was the same thing.

"Please come back."

Better, but still the answer remained "No."

When the calls didn't work the notes started coming. Sticky notes on windshields, letters in the mailbox, notes in his locker.

"Please come back. I need you."

Even better, almost convincing even, but it still wasn't what Stiles wanted to hear. So the answer was still "No." if he even answered at all.

It had been a full week with no contact at all when the knock on the door came.

Stiles opened the door and was abruptly overwhelmed by just how much he had missed the tall, dark, brooding man standing in front of him. It had been almost two months since the last time he had seen him. Derek’s face showed the same emotions. "I need you, okay? I miss you and I want you to come back. I need you to come back."

"Why do you need me?" Stiles asked calmly, though it was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to. His need to hear the right answer overpowered everything.

Derek took a deep breath and looked into his eyes, the intensity of the gaze steadily increasing. "Because you're my mate. Because it physically pains me for you to be away for this long." He breathes in again and grabs Stiles’ wrists "Because I love you."

Stiles smiles then, not wide and goofy but small and pleased that Derek finally realized it. "I love you too"

The werewolf’s eyes lit up and he pulled Stiles into a hug, squeezing him as tight as he thought the human could handle. "Will you come back? Please?"

Stiles pulled back and cupped his stubble ridden cheeks between his hands. He seized the moment and pressed his lips firmly to Derek’s.

"Yes."
♠ ♠ ♠
The prompt was to take the universe and add an original character. I added two, the twins, Michael and Steven. I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for reading!

Word count: 3,771