Chapter Five: You Hid Something Obvious From Me

When Stiles woke up he was cold and his father was pounding on his door. "Stiles wake up! Get up now, Stiles or you'll be late for school!" Normally Stiles reaction to this statement would be to roll over and huddle beneath the sheets, but at the back of his mind was sharp panic that increased as his dad went to open his door. It wasn't his emotion. It was Derek's.

Shit.

Stiles jumped out of bed to find his new lover/boyfriend/alpha/Derek stood in the corner of his room poised for action should the Sheriff, who still held Derek partially responsible for the crimes that had spread through Beacon Hills in the past few months, come into the room. Stiles legged it over to his door and pushed it shut. "Dad," he groaned out, sounding like a normal sixteen year old embarrassed by his parent, "I'm getting dressed, okay? Go to work, I'll see you later."

There was a pause and Stiles held his breath waiting for a reply. "Sure, son. Have a good day at school. Try not to get into trouble, I know that's hard for you!" His father's voice was getting further away and then he heard the comforting sound of footsteps on the staircase. His dad was gone. Derek was still here. Normally these events would evoke opposite emotions in him but right now he was oddly relieved and grateful that Derek hadn't bolted.

"Why didn't you just leave?" Stiles asked. It was the normal response, if Derek felt threatened by someone or something he left via the window. Scott did it too.

"I didn't want you to wake up without me," Derek admitted and something in Stiles relaxed slightly. Obviously this wasn't going to be a 'it was all a mistake, never tell anyone' conversation.

"Can you explain something to me then?" Stiles asked, and continued when Derek nodded. "What the hell happened last night!" He started to freak out, hand gestures and raised heart beat and all.

Derek smirked, all wolf-got-the-cream to abuse a perfectly adequate expression. Stiles blushed and licked his lips, Derek's eyes darted down to observe the gesture and the room was silent and thick with tension. No, Stiles wouldn't let himself be distracted. He had questions, and he was going to get answers even if it killed him, and with Derek around there was always a fifty-fifty chance of that actually happening.

"You said... I remember you saying something about 'mating' me? Which sounds pretty ridiculous in the morning light, huh? I mean, since when are werewolves gay and how come... you know... me?" Stiles asked awkwardly. He was trying to act like his usual self, hyper and quick witted but he was so far out of his own element. It's not like he had any experience with morning-after-talks let alone morning-after-a-werewolf-alpha-claimed-you-as-his-mate-talks.

Derek looked slightly amused. "Let me put it this way, Stiles what is the point of having sex with females?"

"Orgasms," was Stiles' automatic and prompt reply.

Derek cocked an eyebrow at him and Stiles flushed slightly remembering in explicit detail that orgasms could be plentiful between two men. "Uh, wrong answer... babies?"

"Correct. Procreation. How to werewolves make more werewolves?" He asked patiently, like a third grade teacher trying to coax an answer from a particularly reticent child. Stiles would be annoyed at this normally but right now he was busy focusing on the answer to the riddle that seemed to have plagued his life since Derek became alpha.

"The bite. You can't really be telling me that evolution made werewolves gay because they don't need sex to procreate? How would that work? I mean Scott's obviously not gay, and you were born a werewolf so your parents must have not been gay either," Stiles theorised.

"No. The freedom of not being weighed down by procreation means that when a werewolf chooses a mate, which is part instinct part choice, there is nothing to stop him or her choosing a same sex partner. Sexuality isn't an issue to us because we can procreate without sex," Derek explained.

"Wow, how knew werewolves were so enlightened," Stiles said, sitting back down on his bed.

"It's just another way in which we trump humans and their petty little concerns," Derek shrugged.

"On behalf of all humanity, thanks for that damning generalisation. I have more questions," Stiles said, before Derek could come any closer and he would forget why using his mouth for something that wasn't kissing Derek was important. "How does this explain 'my place' in the pack?"

"An alpha's mate is outside the pack order. Immune to even my control, although mates generally feel each other and want to please each other. Still, the alpha needs a mate who can stand up to them and tell them if they are being an ass without being subjected to controlling factors, and the mate also needs to be completely trustworthy, which means they can't be a beta because in the end all betas are possible alphas. Obviously having other wolves in the pack being able to submit to you would make you powerful and a threat to me. Hence why you are outside the pack order, yet still in the pack," Derek said, and Stiles thought it made sense from a very paranoid point of view.

"How does being in the pack affect me then?" He asked.

"Like all the other members you contribute to the strength of the pack just by being, including the strength of healing and the stability of the pack. You also feel the emotions of the pack. It's non evasive and strongest with touch but you'll probably always be able to feel us in the back of your mind," Derek revealed and Stiles swallowed dryly at the realisation that this was real and it was permanent and it was exactly what he had wanted. A sense of belonging that would never leave him. It was also frightening.

Derek approached him finally and Stiles didn't stop him with questions. "Don't you have to get to school?" Derek breathed against Stiles' mouth as he pressed a kiss there, quick and desperate and not nearly enough for Stiles who presses back when Derek withdraws and captures his lips once more in a kiss that bruises and burns through his veins.

"Screw school," Stiles moaned and Derek pushes him back now straddling the younger boy's hips as he attacks Stiles neck once more, still tender and bruised from last nights activities.

"I thought you might say that," Derek whispered, and then rolled off Stiles leaving him panting and frustrated.

"I'll see you later," Derek said and then he was gone and Stiles threw a cushion at the window, rolled over and groaned into his remaining pillow. He was Derek's mate, a solid and undeniable part of the pack, and he was late to school. All these things were true, but in the sanctity of his bedroom he only cared about one thing. He was Derek's, and Derek was his.

"Stiles!" Scott shouted from downstairs, obviously having entered while Stiles had been lost in thought. "Stiles come on, we have a test in econ this morning!"

Stiles didn't care. He smiled as he quickly dressed and joined his friend down stairs. For the first time since his mom died, he truly believed everything was going to be alright.

The End.