Archive of Our Own

Derek at seventeen is an alpha and at the top of his game. A senior, one of the most popular kids in school, captain of the basketball team, and dating the most beautiful and incredible and sarcastic omega he’s ever met.

Derek thinks he might even want to mate Stiles one day.

No, he knows he wants to mate Stiles one day.

Its hours before the final basketball game, the last thing to do before graduation, and Derek is shooting hoops in an attempt to calm himself, because this is going to be the big one.

“Hale, save some for the game!” Finstock shouts as the team filters into the gym behind him.

Derek throws the ball in his hands and sinks it in the hoop. “Just warming up, Coach.”

Finstock takes him over to the side, looking slightly wilder than usual. “Listen, I talked to the scout again and he’s coming tonight. You play half the game I know you’re capable of and he’s prepared to offer you a scholarship. Full ride to college and everything else is… Cream cheese, kid.”

“Thanks, Coach.”

“All right, jockstraps, gather up! Picture time,” Finstock orders, passing a ball to each team member. “Try not to break the camera.”

Derek is about to kneel front and centre before he realises that they were missing his best friend.  “We’ve got to wait, Scott’s not here yet.”

“Who cares? He’s just the water boy,” Ennis sneers.

“That doesn’t matter. He’s part of the team, asshole.”

The gym doors fly open and Scott comes rushing in with an apology. Derek can see Ennis about to say something in the corner of his eye, so he flashes his eyes at him in warning before Ennis backs off. It’s not Scott’s fault he’s smaller than the average beta, he just hasn’t had his growth spurt yet. It’s what Stiles keeps telling him, but Scott just doesn’t believe it.

Too bad the other betas can’t understand it either.

“Someone give the little man the sign, please.” Finstock orders while the photographer moves them around.

“Three, two, one,” the camera goes off.

There are cheerleaders dancing and Scott is right next to him, his family is up in the stands, and Derek can feel his hands shaking. Everything is riding on him doing well in this game.

“Dude, Stiles looks kind of sick.” Scott says, nudging Derek with his elbow.

Derek looks up, and he hadn’t even noticed that Stiles had come in because he was so worried.

Scott’s right though, he looks paler than usual and when Derek meets his eye and blows him a kiss through the imaginary hoop that Stiles has teased him about relentlessly before he admitted loved it. Stiles’ seems kind of dazed before he waves back, wrapping his arms around himself.

Even from the stands, Derek can smell Stiles above everyone else, but he doesn’t smell like he’s sick. He smells richer, sweeter than he usually is, but Derek figures it’s the smell of his lingering heat.

It had been over a week, but it happens to every omega once in a while.

Derek jogs over to him and smiles brightly, and he definitely does not smell sick. “Hey, there’s my S.”

“Hey,” Stiles says as Derek kisses his cheek. His eyes do look a little glassy.

“I’m glad you’re here, Stiles. This whole scout thing is stressing me out. I just feel like my whole future is on this, you know?”

“Yeah,” Stiles nods. “Yeah, I know how you feel.”

There’s something in his tone that makes Derek pause, searching his face for a sign of anything that could be wrong. “Is everything… Everything is okay, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Everything is totally fine,” Stiles says, but Derek hears the small skip in his heartbeat.

“Sure?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Stiles smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

The shout of his name from Finstock and Derek sighs. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you after, okay?”

Stiles nods and Derek is about to head back to the team when he smells the change in Stiles’ emotions.

“Stiles, are you sure you’re okay?” Derek asks, taking his hands.

The touch calms Derek from his nerves, but Stiles looks torn and upset. “Uh. We– we can talk about it later.”

“No. Just tell me, please?”

“No, it’s your big night. Go enjoy it,” Stiles tries, going to push him away.

“I can’t enjoy it if you’re worrying about something, Stiles. Please, just tell me what’s going on,” Derek pleads.

He can see the conflict over Stiles’ face, and it breaks Derek’s heart to think that Stiles can’t tell him something.

Stiles is searching his eyes and he must find it before he nods. “Okay. Well…”

The words shock Derek to the core, and then Coach is shouting at him to get on the floor. There’s not time to process let alone give Stiles a reaction before he’s waiting for the game to start.

His team are all around him and the ball is thrown in the air and Derek is the first to get it, darting around the opposing team and before he’s blocked.

His teammates all have someone on them, and Derek can’t find an opening.

He looks towards the crowd, he can see the scout watching him, and he can hear Finstock shouting at him to wake up, but his eyes drift over his family and land on Stiles, watching him with a broken expression. Derek looks back but he has nowhere to pass, and then movement catches his eye.

Stiles is heading down the stairs and out of the gymnasium and Derek can’t, he can’t see him leave like this, can’t smell him so distressed–

He drops the ball and is chasing after him, ignoring the shouts from his team and Finstock.

The hallway is dark but Stiles is near the end of it, and Derek can’t let him go like this, not when he can smell the tears.

“S! S, hey. Hey, Stiles–” he grabs his hand, trying to pull him back.

“Derek–” he pleads, trying to pull away.

“Hey, hey. Hey, what are you doing?” Derek asks quietly, cupping his face and wiping away the tears.

“Derek, what are you doing?” Stiles asks.

“Look, you and me, we’re in this together, okay?”

“But the game– that’s your future.”

Derek shakes his head.

“No, you’re my future. This is our future,” he says, palm drifting to rest on Stiles’ stomach.

“That’s crazy,” Stiles fights. “I can’t let you throw this all away. I won’t let you.”

“Stiles, I love you. You’re more important than some basketball game.”

The way Stiles is staring at him, Derek just has to lean forward and kiss him. Stiles kisses him back desperately, and Derek decides he can never let Stiles doubt him again.

This is what he wants.

Derek wakes up in a bed that isn’t his, but he’s used to it. Thirty six years old and sleeping in his best friend slash brother-in-law’s spare room. He sighs and goes about his morning routine, not bothering to shave because he just doesn’t have the time.

He’s eating breakfast with Scott and trying not to hate everything. “Thank you for letting me stay here, Scott.”

“Oh, yeah. No problem dude,” Scott nods, taking another spoonful of his cereal. “Hey, Derek?”

“What?”

“Derek, I can tell you’re down, but trust me on this, you’re going to be okay. You’re looking at Stiles kicking you out of the house and the kids wanting nothing to do with you as a negative, when really… I guess it’s mostly negative, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Scott,” Derek grits out.

“I have no upside for that,” Scott grimaces and looks back down at his bowl before he looks up again. “Oh! You’re getting that big promotion today, right?”

“Hopefully,” Derek nods.

“You’re an alpha, be more positive!” Scott punches his shoulder.

“Today everything turns around for me,” Derek tells himself, squaring his shoulders. “I am the best person for that promotion.”

He repeats it in his mind, and he knows he’s the best candidate for the job. He’s got the best sales and he’s the best at communicating with their target audience.

“Yeah! Knock them dead,” Scott calls as Derek leaves the house.

“Today I am proud to be naming our new regional sales manager. I mean, I’ve been in the omega pharmaceutical game for almost two years,” his boss rambles. “And people always ask me, ‘what’s it take to be an RSM?’ Leadership. Courage. Integrity. But most importantly, dedication.”

Derek knows he’s all of those things, he’s an alpha in a room full of betas, where more of three quarters of them have never met an omega in real life before. He knows that they promote to the alphas instead of the omegas who should be making the decision for themselves.

Derek just feels angry whenever they talk about them like they’re children, because things were supposed to have been better than high school.

But everything had just been worse for Derek.

“Congratulations to our new RSM, Jennifer!”

Derek grits his teeth and fights the urge to flash his eyes as Jennifer shrieks happily with all her friends around the table.

“Go out there and sell me some drugs, my peeps.”

Everyone filters out the room and Derek stays sitting, clenching his hands into fists. He approaches his boss as calmly as he can manage.

“Hey Hale, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on? Are you kidding me? Jennifer has been here for two months! I’ve been here for four years. I have the best numbers on the team, and I actually understand the clientele. You know. Omegas. Not the alphas or betas they’re with.”

“Listen, Hale. You should think of it as a compliment. You’ve got the knowledge we need. Think of it as us saying, ‘you’re just too valuable to promote.’”

Derek opens his mouth before he’s interrupted when the man’s Bluetooth headset starts to go off.

He waits patiently, but when it seems like the man is going to ignore him, Derek grabs it and crushes it in his fist.

“You can’t–”

“I quit,” Derek snarls, stalking out of the office.

It was the most satisfying thing he’s done in years, but driving away leaves him feeling guilty. Now he doesn’t have a job or his mate.

At least he has the kids, Derek tries to remind himself.

That’s the thought that spurs him to drive to the high school, the two good things that are still in his life.

He looks for Isaac in the gym, but the only thing that’s there is a lone basketball.

Derek picks it up and smiles to himself, remembering how good it used to be, how good he was and how the world could have been his oyster.

He shoots the ball and sinks it in the hoop, scowling to himself as he turns away.

He could have been more than this.

Should have been more.

The high school hasn’t changed that much, still the way Derek remembers it as he walks through the halls in his business suit.

He slows as he passes the trophy case, looking over the photos of all the old teams. He tries not to feel bitter when he finds his team picture, he and Scott kneeling next to one another in the centre of the photo.

“Derek Hale,” a voice says.

Derek turns with a frown and sees the janitor, about to correct them to ‘Stilinski-Hale’ but he realises they’re right. He won’t be, not by the time Stiles is done.

“Do I know you?” Derek asks, eyeing the man.

His uniform says Deaton and the way he’s watching Derek feels all too knowing.

“No, but I know you.”

“Really?” He scoffs.

“High school star. Never quite lived up to your potential,” Deaton smiles calmly. “Sooner or later you all come back to the old school. You stand there and look at the picture of the glory days, wondering what might have been.”

Derek tenses, eyes going back to his picture.

“Seems to me like you guys are living in the past.”

 “Of course I want to live in the past. It’s better there.” It comes out crueler than he wanted, but Derek knows it’s the truth.

“I’ll bet you wish you had it to do all over again,” Deaton says, and Derek feels like he’s staring into his soul.

“Yeah, I do.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Derek glares at the picture, wishing that he knew what would have happened if he hadn’t of been such a stupid kid. If he had just played the damn game before going after Stiles…

“Definitely.”

There’s a moment of silence, when his daughter’s voice breaks his thoughts.

“Dad?”

 Erica is standing in the hall with her friends with an incredulous expression on her face.

“Hi, Mr. Stilinski-Hale,” her friends chime, and Derek smiles politely.

“Girls,” he nods.

“What are you doing here, Dad?” Erica asks.

“I was just talking to–” The janitor is gone, and students are coming out of their classes for the end of the day. “Nobody. Doesn’t matter. I got off work early, I thought we could get ice cream.”

“Together?” Erica blurts, looking confused. “Why?”

“Just go get your brother,” Derek sighs.

Ice cream was a bad idea. Derek had forgotten how many kids used to come to this place, and he’s had a headache since being at the school. All these young children have made it worse. What’s worse, Erica had apparently been having lessons from Stiles in how to give the cold shoulder.

“Do you need anything else?”

“No, we’re fine,” Erica grumbles.

“What’s the matter?” Derek asks. “This used to be your favourite place. We used to come here for your birthday.”

He remembers, because she used to smile at him and Stiles was still in love with him.

“Yeah, Dad. When I was eight,” she sneers, turning her focus on her ice cream.

Derek bites his tongue and turns to Isaac, hoping to have an actual conversation.

“So basketball season is coming up. You ready?”

He was so proud when Isaac told him he’d been wanting to make the team. Erica snorts for some reason, keeping her eyes glued to the table.

“Yeah, Dad. Totally.”

“Been working on your skills?”

“Yep.”

“How’s it going for you?”

“Good. Really good.”

“Good doesn’t get scholarships. Trust me, the way college is right now, we need it.”

“I meant that it was great. Really. Erica got into Harvard,” Isaac blurts.

Derek smiles widely, looking to Erica to say congratulations, but her headphones are in. “Erica?”

He knows that with omega hearing she’d be able to hear him even with the headphones in, so really, she’s just ignoring him.

It just makes him feel like even worse of a father, worse of an alpha, that his daughter doesn’t need him in her life.

Isaac talks to him quietly when he drives them home, glad that his son still wants him in his life. Derek knows how hard Scott had found in in high school as a smaller beta, but Isaac was popular. He was tall and he had muscle, and he was doing okay.

As soon as Derek pulls into the driveway, he has a bad feeling.

Erica is out of the car immediately and Isaac follows her, leaving Derek alone in the car to prepare himself to talk to Stiles, when a loud buzzing reaches his ears.

He’s out as quickly as he can, following the sound to around the side of the house. There’s a huge scrap bin full of all his stuff, and Stiles is throwing a huge branch into the wood chipper, covered in dirt and sweat.

“What the hell are you doing?” Derek shouts over the noise, and Stiles throws something else into the machine. “That better not be my stuff!”

Stiles spares him a glance, turning the machine off and turning to go into the back yard. Derek follows him, set on answers, when he sees the torn up grass and piles of dirt everywhere.

“Why are you destroying our yard?”

“It’s not our yard. It’s my yard, remember?” Stiles scoffs and turns to him, shaking his head. “You took the road not taken, and I get the yard.”

Derek stares at him, feeling hollow in his chest. Stiles’ eyes are on his, and they just look hopeful. When he doesn’t say anything, Stiles sighs.

“I’m going to turn it into a showpiece for my clients,” he says softly, looking away from Derek.

“Clients? Of what?”

“Landscape design,” Stiles replies, picking up a stray brick and throwing it into the nearby wheelbarrow.

“Landscape design?”

“Yeah. I’m going to show people what I can do,” Stiles says proudly, looking over the area.

The bitter feeling claws its way back up his body, and Derek just wants everything to be different. “Well, the divorce isn’t final for another two weeks, so you have no right.”

Stiles turns to him, shaking his head. “Really? So I’ve spent the last eighteen years of my life listening to you whine about the things you could have done without me, and I have no right?”

“I put a lot of work into this yard,” Derek fights.

“Did you?” Stiles asks, gesturing at the pile of broken bricks. “Like the barbeque pit?”

Derek’s eyes go to it, and yes, sure, he never finished it, but he had other things to do. “Yeah.”

“Yeah? The way I remember it, you spent maybe an hour working on it, and then you spent the next two days complaining that if you had gone to college, you could have hired someone to do it for you.”

“It wasn’t two days,” Derek says quietly.

“Or how about the hammock?”

Derek doesn’t even look. He knows what it looks like.

“I think maybe you spent an hour on it before you just gave up. Do you even try anymore?” Stiles asks desperately, probably hoping to provoke a response.

He was always good at that.

“Try to see it from my point of view. I am extremely disappointed with my life,” Derek tries to reason.

“I never asked you to marry me,” Stiles snaps.

Derek didn’t mean it like that, but the whole day just bubbles over and he snaps back, wishing he could take it back instantly. “Yeah, but I did, didn’t I?”

He didn’t mean it, Stiles has to know–

Stiles steps back and although his face is shocked, Derek can smell the hurt and pain and it just makes Derek feel worse.

“Well… You don’t have to do me any more favours then,” Stiles says, turning away. He’s picking up stray tools and walking to the garage, but Derek isn’t letting him go.

“Stiles…”

“We’re not going to hold each other back anymore, okay?” He says, dumping the tools on the bench.

“S, please…”

“I’ll see you at court, okay? At the trial.”

He wants to shout that he didn’t mean it, but it was too late for that because they both hear the call of Stiles’ name.

“Lydia, Jackson,” Stiles says in relief, turning to them instead of Derek. “You came.”

“Of course we came. What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t hold your hand during the divorce,” Lydia says, ignoring Derek completely.

“Derek,” Jackson sneers.

“Jackie.”

“Jackson,” he growls, like it will make a difference.

“I don’t care,” Derek drawls, turning away from Stiles and starting to walk back to his car. He deserves a medal for not crushing his keys in his hand.

“Let’s get going, we need to get you ready,” Lydia says, and Derek can’t help but look up.

“Yeah, I’m a great catch,” Stiles says sarcastically. “A single omega with two teenage kids and manure caked under my fingernails. Who doesn’t want that?”

“You’ll do great. You can still pass as a twink, you’ll do fine,” Jackson shrugs.

“That’s fantastic,” Derek calls from his car. “I hope our kids heard that!”

“Ugh, when was the last time you washed your hair?” Lydia asks, pulling Stiles away.

Derek is so angry the drive home, he’s sure his eyes are perpetually glowing red. The rain came out of nowhere, and it’s bucketing down so hard that he can barely see the road in front of him.

There are too many memories replaying in his head, things he shouldn’t have said in the heat of the moment, things he should have said when he kept his mouth shut. So many things he wishes he could have done differently.

For a moment he thinks he’s hallucinating when he sees a man on the side of the bridge, but he knows it’s real.

If he can do one thing right today, it will be this.

“Hey, what are you doing?” He shouts.

The body turns, and he sees the janitor from before. For a second Derek thinks he hears his voice over the pouring rain as he’s running to get him off of the ledge, but then Derek is falling into the freezing cold water below–

Derek jolts awake from his dream, sitting in the driver’s seat of his car in the driveway of Scott’s huge place.

His head is still pounding and he smells like algae and mud for some reason, and he doesn’t remember driving home. Derek groans and gets out of his car, heading for the shower before anything else.

The first thing he needs to do is get rid of the smell. Derek has done this routine so many times, he doesn’t even have to open his eyes.

The hot water feels perfect after everything, and he tilts his head back under the hot spray before he leans out to grab his toothbrush, opening his eyes as he reaches for it.

Instead, his eyes land on the mirror, and that is not him, what the–

He shouts in panic and shock and confusion, because staring back at him is the reflection of what he looked like when he was seventeen.

His mating scar is gone.

Scott bursts into the bathroom with his claws out, but then he screams at both the sight of what Derek can only assume is him naked, and also the fact that he’s seventeen years old.

“Derek?” Scott asks, eyes wide.

“I think so,” Derek says, making a face at the difference in his voice. “Oh god, I sound young.”

“You look young,” Scott nods, eyes staying on Derek’s face. “Oh my god?”

They stand there, neither having any clue about how to react before Scott starts nodding. “Okay, dude, get dressed or something. I’ll… Meet you in the kitchen?”

Derek nods, lack of anything else to do.

Being in the kitchen fully dressed doesn’t help at all.

“Would you stop staring?” Derek snaps.

“It’s freaking me out,” Scott defends.

“It’s freaking me out! I’m pubescent!”

This is the worst day of his life, no contest.

“Okay, okay. Uh…” Scott looks at all the books he has laid out on the kitchen table, a collection of novels and handbooks and comics that have been gathering dust since he was a teenager. “Classic transformation story. Happens all the time.”

Derek raises his eyebrows, face scrunching up in disbelief.

“Were you exposed to gamma ray at all?” Scott asks, looking up from his hulk comic.

“No, Scott. We’re not comparing me to comic book characters.”

“No?”

“And don’t suggest any other creature, I’m a goddamn wolf, I always have been.”

Scott nods, casually putting books to the side. “Well, we’ve known each other since first grade, so it would be a stupid question anyway.”

Derek rolls his eyes, burying his face in his hands.

“Oh. Maybe… Huh.”

“Scott, please stop making noises and just tell me.”

“Well I mean, it could be a basic... Spirit guide transformation magic? Actually that’s kind of big… I guess that would make you the hero, but I mean, I guess it fits–”

“Scott.”

“Right. So ‘the hero is transformed by his spirit guide to… Set him on a new path’,” Scott reads.

“Which is what?”

“Do I look like a spirit guide to you, Derek?”

Derek frowns, thinking yesterday over. There was no one who could have–

“The janitor,” Derek realises.

“Who?”

“Have you guys seen the janitor?” Derek demands, stalking through the busy halls of the high school. First period hasn’t started yet, so he being stared at and he’s getting desperate, before a lady comes out of a classroom wearing the same gear as Deaton had.

“Excuse me!”

“You alright, kid?” She asks, turning to him.

“Is there another janitor at this school?”

“No, just me,” she smiles kindly.

“No, I saw him yesterday,” Derek tells her. He needs to get turned back. “There was an older guy and he was bald and…”

She’s watching him carefully, looking confused, and Derek turns around to try and find something that will help him.

The trophy cabinet is right there, and Derek turns back to her. “I was talking to him yesterday, I showed him this picture of me.”

“You?” She asks, looking at him and then the picture.

“Yeah,” he nods, hoping that it works.

“That picture is from nineteen years ago,” she says slowly, watching him carefully.

“Right. Forget it,” Derek sighs.

He starts walking away from her, and then he sees Isaac by his locker. He still smells mostly the same, surely Isaac will know it’s him.

“Isaac!” He calls, watching his son’s head snap up and turn to look at him.

Isaac frowns and looks away, grabbing things out of his locker quicker than before.

“Isaac, buddy!”

He’s already hurrying away in the opposite direction, leaving Derek standing there alone.

Scott is in the middle of playing a game when Derek comes back, the hollow feeling in his chest worse than it had been the day before.

His pack, his family, wouldn’t recognise him. The only reason Scott had is because he’d known Derek back then, and he had smelled his scent almost immediately and was able to put two and two together. The janitor had seen his basketball picture. It had to be the reason.

“Scott,” Derek says quietly, touching his shoulder.

Scott shouts in panic and jerks away before he sees Derek’s face. “Oh. Teenage you. Sorry.”

“I think I know what I’m supposed to do. I figured out why my spirit guide wants me to do.”

“Oh, really?” Scott asks, refocusing on his game.

“I’m going back to high school, Scott.”

“What? No. No! No way, dude. Your spirit guide wold not waste transformation magic on you reliving your senior year and going to prom. No.”

“Scott, what if this is my chance! I have a chance to have my life over, except do it right.”

“I don’t believe that,” Scott denies. “Not when I know you as well as I do.”

“Wouldn’t you? If you had the chance?”

Scott chokes on a laugh, killing another enemy on the screen. “No. I’m rich, I’m happy, and I didn’t get my head stuck in a toilet today.”

“It’s not just about me, Scott.”

“It’s about you.”

“It’s bigger than me.”

“Nope, it’s about you.”

Derek stares at him, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Stiles didn’t want him around, his kids barely spoke to him… It was the only solution. “Maybe it is. But what’s wrong with that? I haven’t done anything for myself since senior year.”

Scott hits him with a frown, and Derek knows how it sounded, but it was the truth, wasn’t it?

“Look, you do what you have to do. But don’t think about sucking me into this with you. Stiles is my brother and he deserves to be happy too.”

“He’s better without me around, Scott,” Derek shrugs.

“BHHS was the low point of my existence, Derek. If you want to go back, good for you. I’m not going back. Ever.”

“I hate you,” Scott whispers furiously to Derek.

Scott smiles at the lady at the front desk when she turns to them, and Derek smiles at her as well.

“Hello. I’m here to enroll my son. In school. Daniel.”

“Sup?” Derek asks casually, trying to look like a teenager.

Looking isn’t the problem, he knows. It’s the acting.

He’s probably failing.

“So, we’ll just take a seat until you’re ready?” Scott asks, dragging Derek down next to him. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Derek looks down, the muscle shirt and basketball shorts were the most teenage things he could find in his wardrobe. Plus the backwards Mets cap he must have accidentally packed when Stiles had been kicking him out. “This is cool, okay? I looked up teenage clothes online.”

“You look like a douche,” Scott says.

“Really? And what are you wearing? I told you to dress like a dad.”

“I am.”

“You look like an idiot,” Derek hisses.

“We match then, don’t we,” Scott growls back.

Derek snatches the manila folder out of his hands, looking through the forged paperwork. “Are you sure these look legit?”

“No,” Scott rolls his eyes. “Look who you’re talking to. I have connections.”

“You paid Danny off, didn’t you?”

“He owed me a favour,” Scott shrugs.

Derek sighs and passes it back, thumping his head against the hall behind him.

“Ms Yukimura will see you now,” the receptionist smiles.

“Let’s go,” Scott stands, straightening his clothes out. “Just leave the talking to me, okay? Say as little as possible.”

Derek smiles sarcastically and nods, following Scott to the principal’s office, but then Scott steps back onto his feet.

“Watch where you’re going,” a teenage voice snarls.

“Aiden,” the principal snaps, and the boy glares at them before he walks away.

“Hello, I’m Kira Yukimura, principal at Beacon Hills High,” she smiles, offering her hand for them to shake.

“Hi,” Derek smiles politely.

“Hello,” Scott says, a little breathlessly, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Hi,” she says again, sitting back down in her chair.

“Hi,” Scott repeats, until Derek elbows him.

“Excuse my dad,” Derek says quickly when it looks like Scott is just going to keep staring. “He’s not used to talking to attractive women.”

“Uh, thank you…?”

“Daniel,” Derek replies.

“…Daniel, for that flattering and totally inappropriate comment,” she says slowly. “Please, sit down.”

The moment Scott is in his chair, he smiles at her. “Before we start, you should know that Daniel is a bastard.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean– I had him out of wedlock. So I’m single,” Scott says. “And very rich.”

Derek can’t believe what he’s hearing, instead turning to face Yukimura properly.

“Did you bring your transcripts?” She asks Derek.

Derek nods and tries to take them out of Scott’s hands, but he’s already passed them over.

“Straight-A student, impressive. Math club, basketball team,” she nods, looking it over. “Well, I think Beacon Hills would be very lucky to have you.”

“Thank you,” Derek says.

“You’re welcome,” she smiles.

Derek sighs and tries not to dig his fingers into his skull when Scott raises his hand.

“Uh, yes, Mr. McCall. Do you have a question?”

“Your hair is pretty.”

Derek tries not to groan.

“Not a question, but thank you. Now is probably a good time to tell you that I don’t date my students’ parents.”

“Maybe I should tell you that I never don’t not date the principal of my child,” Scott says, and Derek wants to hit himself for thinking this was a good idea.

“Okay, Dad. Let’s go,” he pulls Scott up next to him, smiling at her while he drags him out of her office.

“I was about to close!” Scott complains when they’re out of her hearing range.

“No, you weren’t. Please, don’t say anything to her again. You’re supposed to be my dad.”

Scott argues with him until Derek shushes him.

“It’s Erica’s friends, watch this,” Derek whispers, smiling at them. “Hey girls, how’s it going?”

They ignore him aside from a comment about his clothing and Derek tries not to let the mortification get to him. How was being a teenager so easy when he did it the first time round?

“Welcome to the bottom of the food chain,” Scott grins. “Dude, you had my back in high school, okay?  So if your spirit guide wants you to be a fake teenager, and me to be your fake dad… Then the least I can do it make sure that my fake son doesn’t look like a total douche.”

“What else am I supposed to wear?” He asks desperately.

Scott looks him over before he sighs. “I guess what you would normally wear? But you can’t obviously wear your clothes because they won’t fit. It’s like you lost all your muscles, I can’t believe this.”

“I didn’t lose them, I’m just smaller now. I had muscles when I was seventeen.”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

Derek glares at Scott while he cackles.

When Derek turns up to school after having bought an entire new wardrobe, he can feel all eyes on him as he steps out of Scott’s spare car. He would have given anything to drive his Camaro, but Scott had claimed that his kids would know their dad’s car.

So the Camaro was not allowed.

The soft white shirt, the leather jacket, the tight jeans, and the aviators however? That was definitely what he needed to be wearing to get attention.

He was the new kid, and an alpha. Even in homeroom, he could feel eyes on him.

The first bell hadn’t rung yet and Derek’s phone started to ring.

Derek had to take a breath to prepare himself, sure that it was going to be nothing good.

“Hello?” Stiles asks as soon as he picks up.

“Hello?” Derek says carefully.

“Where the hell are you?”

Derek groans when he realises the date.

“Crap, we had the thing.”

“You mean our divorce? Do you take any of this seriously?”

Derek is slightly grateful for the anger, because then it means that he might not hear the difference in his voice.

“Of course I take this seriously! I… I came down with something, something really bad,” Derek lies, coughing to try and sound more legitimate. “You know that alphas don’t get sick until something really bad comes along.”

There’s a pause in which Derek thinks he might have successfully lied to Stiles, before he speaks again. “Are you with a girl?”

“No, I’m not–”

“Would you consider dating a tenth grader?” One of the girls in the room comes up to him and asks, completely interrupting his sentence.

Derek growls at her in warning and his eyes flare before he can stop himself, but the damage is done.

There’s silence over the line before Stiles’ lawyer speaks. “I think we could go for full custody.”

“You can’t take my kids away from me,” Derek snaps.

“Mr. Hale, if you can’t make–”

“Let’s reschedule, okay?” He interrupts. “I just need time to figure things out.”

He hangs up before they can say anything else, and then Erica is walking into the classroom.

“Hey, Erica,” Derek calls, waving.

“Why is the new kid waving at me?” Derek hears her ask her friends quietly.

“I don’t know, but I would wave back if I were you,” one of them says, eyeing him up and down.

Derek turns away immediately, staring at his hands rather than meet their gaze.

Gym is definitely the thing he’s most excited for. That’s the reason he’s seventeen again, right?

He’s got the chance to change his life and make it better.

Derek shoots the hoop and smiles when he sinks it. He’s better than ever.

“Oi, new kid. Alpha,” a voice calls.

Derek turns, almost dropping the ball when he’s faced with Coach Finstock again. “Oh, wow. You’re still here?”

“What?”

“You’re… A legend,” Derek says, shaking his hand. “My dad talks about you all the time.”

“Been going on twenty years, I should damn hope so. What’s your name?”

“De– Daniel. Daniel McCall.”

“You good with that ball, Daniel? You had a nice handle. We’re looking for a point guard on the team.”

“Really?”

“Come to tryouts. We could use that extra edge.”

Derek nods, glad that at least one thing is going to plan.

“I’m done talking to you,” Finstock says, shooing Derek away.

He’s on the phone to Scott immediately after gym, pacing back and forth in the bathroom.

“Things are looking up. Finstock practically put me on the team already, that’s not a coincidence. We’re on the path.”

“That’s great, really, you’re finding your destiny, but here’s something. I need a favour. Could you get in trouble for me? Not big trouble, but just enough so that the principle needs to meet with your father.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“We’ll see,” Derek answers, hanging up and staring at his face in the mirror.

It’s still freaking him out.

“Uh… Can I get a little help in here?” Asks a familiar voice, and Derek jolts at the shock.

He should have been able to tell that someone was in there with him–

Derek pushes the cubicle door opening, his eyes flashing at the sight of Isaac taped to the toilet. It made sense that he wouldn’t notice he was there from the familiarity, at least.

“Isaac? Who… Who did this to you?” He asks, his nails turning into claws.

“The basketball team,” Isaac snaps, struggling a little against the tape.

“But why? You’re one of them, you’re popular.”

“Look, this is kind of personal? And I don’t know you,” Isaac looks up at him awkwardly. “And I’m taped to the toilet.”

“Yeah,” Derek nods. “Uh, sorry. I’m Daniel McCall, Uncle Scott’s kid. I just started here.”

“Right,” Isaac drawls, looking him up and down. “Well, I’d shake your hand, but it’s taped to my ass.”

Derek nods, kneeling down to help him. He slices through what he can with his claws, but there’s the problem of it stuck to his skin. “Should I…?”

“Like a Band-Aid,” Isaac pleads, closing his eyes in anticipation.

“So how come we never met?” Isaac asks as they walk to the cafeteria.

Derek can feel the presence of another alpha in the cafeteria immediately. There weren’t many in Beacon Hills that weren’t a part of the Hale family, so it was odd to find one he hadn’t met before.

Which was actually a bonus in this case, because Derek knew they wouldn’t recognise him.

“My mom didn’t want anyone to know she had a kid with Scott,” Derek shrugs.

“That makes sense. I mean, your dad is cool and all, but sometimes he’s weird about things.”

“Since we’re practically family and all, my dad says we should keep an eye on each other, you know?” Derek says, trying to be subtle.

Isaac is his kid, he can’t let anything like this happen to him again.

“Yeah, why not? Next time you could get there before they tape me to the toilet,” he says dryly.

Derek grimaces, following his son to an empty table. Isaac’s focus seems elsewhere and Derek follows his gaze over his shoulder. A few tables away there’s a girl with dark hair and he can tell she’s the alpha just by looking at her.

“Who’s that?” Derek asks, turning back.

“Oh. That’s Allison,” Isaac says quietly, so as not to get her attention.

“Are you two dating?”

“No. She’s head cheerleader. She’d never go out with someone like me.”

Derek frowns and leans forward to comfort him. “You know, the first time I met your pa, I was so nervous–”

“You met my pa?” Isaac asks, tilting his head to the side.

Derek blinks, wanting to hit himself. “What?”

“My father? You said, ‘the first time I met your pa, I was so nervous.’”

Derek tries to look innocent, knowing for sure it’s got to work on this face. “Oh, that’s weird. Is your pa hot?”

Isaac stares at him in disbelief. “Dude, what? What the hell am I supposed to say to that?”

Derek’s answer would be yes, but Isaac doesn’t need to know that. “I was joking. It was a joke, Isaac.”

Isaac makes a face and then he groans, shifting around so much that Derek is basically watching him curl into himself. When Derek doesn’t look away from him, Isaac sighs and nods over Derek’s shoulder. “Aiden. I hate that guy.”

It was the same guy from the principal’s office, harassing some freshman kid for their lunch.

“Is that the guy who taped you to the toilet?” Derek asks, hiding his claws.

“Yeah. Yesterday he shoved me in a washing machine in my own house.”

“What was that asshole doing at your house?” Derek growls lowly, not taking his eyes off the beta.

He was headed straight to Erica’s table, and Derek had to fight his paternal instincts down when their mouths slide together.

“Aiden is Erica’s boyfriend.”

“Erica has a boyfriend?” Derek repeats, because no. That could not be true. Stiles would have told him if their daughter were dating a piece of shit. So he clearly doesn’t know. “I’m very disappointed in your sister…”

“Daniel, he’s looking. Don’t make eye contact. You’re looking. Stop it, stop looking,” Isaac hisses, but Derek shrugs him off.

“I’ll look at him if I want to,” Derek murmurs, keeping his eyes on Aiden as he walks over.

“Hey, little beta. If I wanted you in the cafeteria, I would have taped you to the lunch lady,” Aiden sneers.

“You don’t talk to him that way,” Derek snaps. He’s up out of his seat as soon as the words leave his mouth. No one talks to his son like that.

“Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do about it?”

“What am I going to do about it?” Derek growls, eyeing the basketball in his hands. “Well, I’m not going to beat the shit out of you.”

He grabs the ball out of Aiden’s hands before he even has time to react.

“Give me my ball back, bitch.”

Derek smirks, spinning the ball in his hands as he eyes him. “You know, Aiden, I feel sorry for you.”

“You don’t know me,” he snarls, eyes glowing gold.

“Oh, but I do, all too well. You’re the man. Captain of the basketball team. Dates anybody you want. High school is your kingdom. But people… Aiden is a bully. Why? It’d be easy to say Aiden preys on the weaker of you simply because he’s a dick. No. Aiden here is much more complex than that.”

Derek has everyone’s attention, which is exactly what he wants.

“See, according to leading psychiatrists, Aiden is a bully of one of three reasons. One: Underneath all that tough, beta bravado, there’s an insecure little child who just wants the attention. Two: like a caveman, Aiden’s brain is… Underdeveloped. Therefore, Aiden is unable to use self-control, making him act out aggressively.”

Derek’s grinning now, deliberately going to spin the basketball on his pinkie finger. “And the third reason: Aiden has a small penis.”

He lets his eyes turn to their deep alpha red, feeling smug. “Don’t hurt yourself, big boy.”

Getting into a fight maybe wasn’t the best idea Derek had ever had, but he was an alpha who could hold himself in a brawl. Scott has a grin on his face when Derek comes home, but there is a beer in the fridge with his name on it.

Scott steals it before he can drink anything from it. “No way, drinking age is still twenty one. Unless your spirit guide gave you a fake ID, this is mine.”

“Scott–”

He smiles and takes a long sip, never breaking eye contact.

“I hate you.” Derek sighs, turning to the fridge and pulling out food.

There isn’t a system he’s going by when he puts a sandwich together, if you could even call it that. It just feels right to heap Nutella and cream and spray cheese and crushed chips into two slices of bread.

“That… Is disgusting,” Scott says as he stares. “I can’t believe we used to eat like that as teenagers.”

Derek shrugs, taking another bite. He has the metabolism of a teenager, he’s just doing what his body is telling him, and it’s telling him he’s hungry. All the time.

“So what did you learn at school today?”

The bench seems more appealing than looking at Scott in that moment. “I’m a bad dad.”

“What? I thought it was going great!”

“It was, until I found out that my son is the basketball team captain’s punching bag. And I had to watch my daughter get a tongue bath from that same douchebag.”

“High school hasn’t changed,” Scott sighs.

“I think I was wrong about my spirit path,” Derek admits. It’s not hard to admit, not when he had to rip the duct tape from his son’s skin.

“See? I told you, high school was the wrong path.”

“No, high school was right, but it’s not about me or basketball. It’s about helping Isaac and Erica. My kids need their dad,” Derek says, grabbing his keys and stalking towards the door.

“Not to take you off the path, but do you think going to see them is a good idea? Stiles knows you better than anyone. He’ll recognise you.”

Derek pauses at the door, feeling his stomach sink. “No, he won’t.”

When Derek pulls up at the house, Isaac is practicing in the driveway. He has to take a moment for himself when he gets out of the car, because he’s never seen Isaac practice alone before. And he’s– he’s good. Really good.

“What’s going on?”

Isaac throws the ball before he turns, smiling easily at Derek. “Hey, Daniel.”

“What was that,” Derek nods at the ball.

“A three-pointer?”

 “Can you do it twice in a row?”

Isaac shrugs and does it again, and god, how had he not know these sides of his kids before? Derek shakes his head with a smile.

“Let’s see you do it with a bit more pressure,” he says, crowding at the appropriate distance, a smile breaking out on Isaac’s face as the ball goes through the hoop. “Isaac! You’re great, you should be on the team.”

Isaac shakes his head, ready to protest, but that’s what Derek realises he has to do. That’s what will change him back.

“I’m going to get you on the team. That’s it, that’s the answer.”

“What are you talking about?” Isaac asks.

“Nothing,” Derek shrugs, about to start practice again.

Only, the scent of omega reaches him as a familiar Porsche pulls into the driveway. When Stiles, Jackson and Lydia step out, Derek feels like he’s seeing him for the first time in a long time. Not just because of the seventeen year old body, but because he’s actually laughing.

The way he smells, it’s so different, it’s like he’s in a different place entirely.

It makes guilt sink in Derek’s stomach, that he’s the one who was causing his mate so much pain and negativity. He can make it right though.

He can help the kids, and he can help his mate, because Stiles won’t know it’s him.

“Jackson, Lydia, thank you. This is exactly what I needed.”

Derek has to bite his tongue to not make a shitty first impression, but it doesn’t really matter when seeing Stiles like this just makes his chest tighten. That’s before Isaac throws the basketball at the back of his head when he’s been staring too long.

“Ow,” Derek grits, drawing their attention.

“Hey, Pa, this is Daniel. Uncle Scott’s bastard.”

“Wow,” Lydia says, staring at him curiously.

When Derek makes eye contact with Stiles though, Stiles is staring at him with wide eyes and it makes him freeze completely.

“I know right,” Isaac says. “Someone had a kid with Uncle Scott.”

“Are you okay, Mr. Stilinski-Hale?” Derek asks carefully, trying to look casual.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Stiles nods, still staring at him.

Stiles wouldn’t recognise him. He couldn’t.

“It’s just ‘Stilinski’, remember, Stiles? Don’t forget that,” Jackson says, but Stiles isn’t listening.

He’s already walking up close to Derek, staring into his eyes.

Derek has to restrain himself from looking at the scar of Stiles’ mating bite on his neck or else he’s sure he would break down and bury his face into Stiles’ neck to smell him. He never could resist Stiles when he smiled.

“Right,” Stiles tells Jackson absently, tilting his head to the side.

“Wow.” His hands are suddenly on Derek’s face, squishing and moving his cheeks around, taking in all the details while Derek tries not to react. “You look just like my husband.”

Derek is suddenly grateful for his missing mating scar. He’d been feeling naked without it every time he looked at his reflection.

“Ex-husband, Stiles,” Lydia corrects, starting to walk closer.

“Right, yeah, ex-husband,” Stiles mutters, his attention focused on Derek. “That is so weird.”

“Yeah, it is weird,” Derek nods, trying to pull away.

God, he can’t have Stiles recognise him.

“Stiles, I need you to come here,” Lydia says, grabbing his hands away and pulling him back to where Jackson is watching him with a glare.

“Did you see that?” Stiles whispers furiously, eyes darting back to Derek.

“I did,” Lydia nods placating.

“Do you see him?” Stiles asks again, looking at Derek’s neck before Lydia pulls his face to look at her.

“You’ve got to let Derek go, Stiles. Get him out of your brain and move on,” Jackson says quietly, looking to Stiles sadly.

“We know you need to grieve your relationship,” Lydia nods. “It’s only natural.”

Stiles is staring at them before he looks back to Derek and nods. “Okay. You wait here, I’m going to go smell him.”

He takes one step before Lydia grabs his arm. “No, no, no. Sweetie. You’re not allowed to smell teenagers. Stiles, you need to hear me on this. Yes, you need to acknowledge that he looks exactly like Derek used to look in high school.”

“We discussed that,” Stiles nods, looking back at Derek. “I have looked at him.”

“Honey, this is what I’m talking about. You need to hook up with someone new.”

It breaks Derek’s heart that that is what pulls Stiles’ attention away from him, the slow nod that Stiles is giving them. He can see the indecision, can smell it, but then Stiles squares his shoulders and nods again when they start walking towards the house.

“Yeah, I deserve to have someone smile at me and tell me they want me.”

“You do,” Lydia agrees.

“Even if it is to just get me to go home with them.”

Derek has to fight the growl that threatens to come up, but he manages.

“Or lunch,” Lydia says. “But yes, we’ve got to find you a new friend.”

“We know an alpha you might like,” Jackson adds when they’re at the door.

Derek acts before he thinks, throwing the ball at Jackson’s turned back.

Jackson growls and turns back to him, and Derek holds his hands up. “Sorry, I guess I was distracted. Like I imagine Isaac is after hearing about how his father– who is still married and mated, by the way, that his friends are planning for him to go and hook up with someone else, who might not even be on the required suppressants. I’m just saying, Jackie.”

“Jackson,” he corrects with a flash of his eyes.

“I don’t care,” Derek sighs, turning away from their watchful eyes.

Derek is sitting in class, bored out of his brain. The teacher hasn’t arrived yet, and he’s trying not to listen in to Erica’s conversation with her friends.

Health and Sex Ed. He’s dreading this class.

He knows all this stuff, he’s lived through it. He doesn’t want to be in health class with his daughter. It’s like living in a nightmare. Especially when Aiden storms in and slides into the chair next to Erica’s, his legs spread.

Derek really, really hates this kid.

The teacher walks in, telling them to settle down, and Derek has a moment of relief when the teacher wasn’t Finstock.

That had been an experience the first time round.

“Now, as all of you know, the school’s policy is abstinence. Of course, we’re not idiots, so we can’t expect you to follow that. You’re teenagers, you have hormones and those of you in class that aren’t betas, and you’ll experience your heats as your body dictates. Obviously, those of you who are omegas will go through it more frequently than alphas, but the concept is the same, even if you’re on suppressants.”

“Which is why having heat sex needs trust,” Derek interrupts, glaring as Aiden sends Erica a significant look. “Even if you’re on suppressants, you still need that trust with your partner.”

The teacher sends him an odd look, but nods nonetheless. “Yes, and heats are emotional things. While omega heats won’t send a beta into a rut, it is possible for them to provide assistance during heat. Since the majority of you are or will be sexually active outside of heat however, the official school position is to prepare you for safe sex now.”

Derek’s eyes go wide at the giant basket of condoms.

“Take one and pass it down, please.”

When Aiden takes a giant handful and winks at Erica, Derek has to dig his claws into his legs to keep himself seated.

“I have needs,” Aiden shrugs, going to pass it to Derek before he realises that it’s him. “You don’t need these.”

“Aiden, give one to Daniel,” the teacher sighs.

“No. No, he’s right. I don’t need one.” Derek shakes his head.

He doesn’t want one. The only person he wants to have sex with is Stiles, which is obviously not going to happen. Even when he’s divorced, he knows he couldn’t think of having sex with someone who wasn’t his mate.

“You know why I don’t need one? Because there’s no one here that I want to be with. No one who I’m in love with. And…. I know that if I got my partner pregnant, I would want to be with them for the rest of my life.”

Derek has to close his eyes and force himself not to think about what he’s said to Stiles, how he’s made him feel, because he knows that he’s the one at fault. He blamed Stiles for everything, and now he’s hurting his whole family because of it.

“Even if it was accidentally, that first moment when you hold your baby girl…” Derek’s voice cracks when he looks at Erica, just remembering how tiny she was and how she fit into his arms so perfectly, and how happy they had been and how easy it had all seemed.

“And you didn’t know that anything could be so small or delicate. You feel that tiny heartbeat, and you know that you’ll cherish everything about them, and you hope that you can do right by that little girl. That you’ll always be there to catch her if she falls, and that nothing ever hurts her. Not a broken bone, or a bad dream, or a broken heart…”

Derek tears his eyes away, the memories almost overwhelming him. How for so long Derek would kiss Stiles’ belly and listen to the heartbeat inside, how Stiles would stroke his hair with a smile. How Stiles had been sweaty and pale after they’d cut her out, and how they had both been so young, but Derek had known that he could never want for anything more or for anyone else in his life but Stiles.

Derek sits back down, staring at his hands and trying to figure out where it went wrong, how could he have ever let it get to the point where he had to be magically turned into a seventeen year old to make him see that everything he wanted was right where he had left it.

“I don’t want these,” he hears a girl say, before there’s a murmur of agreement.

“Are you serious? Fine, perfect. More for me,” Aiden protests grabbing the entire basket, glaring at Erica. “Now I’ve got enough for the whole weekend.”

Derek tackles him.

It’s worth it, even though he gets sent to the principal’s office. He can hear kids laughing in the hall at the various videos that people had managed to get in class, when Scott bursts in.

“I hope I’m not late for our meeting,” he says, sliding in the seat next to Derek. “Busted for fighting, nice. Who won?”

“It was even,” Derek grumbles.

“Really? On YouTube is looked like you kicked his ass. I saw it a couple of times, good job.”

Derek rolls his eyes, but then he sees what Scott is wearing. Spots and stripes? “What the fuck are you wearing?”

“Armani.”

“Clothes, Scott.”

“Oh, right. To the untrained eye, I look like an idiot.”

“You do, actually.”

“It’s a seduction technique, Derek. Peacocking,” Scott shrugs. “The clothes serves the duel function of icebreaker and attention-getter.”

“You know, I would have thought Lydia would have made some impact in your life considering how long you’ve known each other.”

Scott opens his mouth to reply before he’s cut off by the secretary telling them that they can go in.

“Watch,” Scott whispers, stepping in front of Derek.

“Are you peacocking? Do you think that’s going to work?” Kira asks immediately, her head tilted curiously to the side.

“I think it just might,” Scott smiles awkwardly.

When Derek finally gets out of school, the first place he heads is home. After what he had said and remembered in class, he had to see Stiles. He doesn’t have to look very far because Stiles is already in the driveway when he parks his car.

“Mr. Stilinski-Hale!” Derek calls, waving nervously. “How are you doing?”

Stiles looks up from where he’s crouching, looking back and smiling politely at Derek. “I’m good. How are you?”

“Good,” Derek nods, walking up to him.

“Wow. This is going to take some getting used to,” Stiles laughs as he stands. Derek feels his breath catch when Stiles’ eyes roam his face and pause on his lips before he looks back up. “You’re Scott’s son?”

“Yeah. Scott gave birth to me– I mean, he didn’t, because he’s a beta but… You know what I mean. My mom decided it was time I meet him, I guess.” Derek shrugs, trying to act casual.

He has never been able to look casual around Stiles since he first met him, who was he kidding?

“You’re doing some gardening?” Derek asks, looking down at the bags of topsoil.

Stiles smiles at him genuinely this time, wiping his dirtied hands on his jeans. “I’m redoing the backyard. Do… Do you want to see?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some time.” Derek tries not to say yes as soon as he’s asked, but he’s sure that his smile gives it away. Stiles smiles back softly, tearing his eyes away and back to the topsoil bags that had his attention before.

“Let me take that,” Derek says, leaning to pick one up. “You open the gate for me?”

Stiles pauses for a second before he seems to realise he’s staring, turning away quickly and leading Derek to the backyard.

“You can put that here,” Stiles says, gesturing near the fence.

“Right here?” Derek asks.

“Yeah, thank you.”

There are sods lined up against the fence but the whole thing is devoid of any grass, just the flattened land and the trees that Stiles had kept in place.

“Wow,” Derek breathes. It looked so much better than it had before, and it was empty. “This is it?”

“This is it. It used to look a lot worse, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it.”

Stiles laughs and the sound makes Derek’s stomach fill with butterflies.

“So what I plan to do is basically put a pond in over here,” Stiles says, walking over to the area, holding his hands out. “And have water streaming in from both sides? And then a flagstone patio there with the topsoil and sod in between. That would be pretty.”

Derek is nodding along, losing himself in Stiles’ enthusiasm.

“And then I want to have twinkling lights above the whole thing, so that every night is a starry one.”

“It’s going to look incredible, S.” Derek says quietly.

“What did you just call me?”

Stiles is staring at him now and Derek wants to hit himself.

“I just said, ‘it’ll be amazing.’”

“You called me ‘S’,” Stiles accuses, eyes never leaving his face. “My mate is the only one who calls me that.”

Change the subject, Derek orders himself, eyes darting back to the back of topsoil.

“Could you use some help? A volunteer. I’m young, I’m strong,” Derek asks hopefully, because then that means he gets so spend more time with his mate.

“Oh.” A blank look passes over Stiles’ face before he frowns, biting his lip. “Right, got it. Listen, I get that you’re an alpha and that I’m an omega, and that there’s that thing with dilfs, you know, whatever, but that’s not going to happen between me and you. I'm- I have a mate.”

The way he says it, like he’s trying to let Derek down gently, it makes Derek bite his tongue so he doesn’t smile. “I didn’t even mean it that way. I was thinking more along the lines of business experience, college applications.”

Stiles closes his eyes and looks mortified, a blush on his face almost immediately.

“But if you want to go there, that’s…”

“I’ll get you a shovel, then?” Stiles interrupts, not looking at him. 

Derek spends most of his time out of school at his house, rather than Scott’s. He practices with Isaac, pushing him to be better and better every day, and he gets the added benefit of spending quality time with his son.

Erica tries to avoid him most of the time, but Derek is slowly trying to get her away from Aiden. According to Isaac they hadn’t been dating for that long, but it still riles him up the wrong way. Derek knows that if it were anyone except Aiden, he would probably be happy for his daughter. But Aiden has been the source of Isaac’s torment for several years now, and she doesn’t even seem to realise it.

Spending the time helping Stiles with the garden just makes Derek’s love grow. He lets Stiles boss him around and he’s more than happy to do it, because it means that time with his mate that he would never be getting if he were himself.

He hasn’t seen this side of Stiles in a long time, the side where he’s so easily baited into joking around… Derek has missed all of him so much.

The first time it happened was when Derek had let the hose off at the ground where Stiles was standing, resulting in his shocked and affronted face. It led to Stiles sneaking up (as only Stiles could) on him and shoving a handful of dirt down the back of Derek’s shirt. One thing had led to another and Stiles had ended up soaking from head to toe from the hose, and Derek had been pushed into the mud.

Stiles had made him go take a shower afterwards, but he’d given Derek his clothes to wear while his own were in the wash. Derek had to control his heartbeat until he was in his own clothes again, and the washing powder that Stiles used had made him feel home again, wrapped in warmth and his mate’s scent.

Being Isaac’s friend meant studying together too, which meant more time around the three of them.

It had all been going fine until he had gone back to Scott’s one night after basketball practice, only to see Stiles’ jeep sitting out in the driveway.

Derek knew he had no real reason to fear Stiles coming to Scott’s house, because they were step-brothers. But it still worried Derek.

He was Daniel to Stiles, not Derek. And if Stiles was looking for him as Derek, then he’s in a worse mess than he was before.

Derek pauses when he passes the den, where Stiles’ scent is the strongest.

Guilt hits him hard, seeing Stiles curled into Scott’s body like he is, quietly talking to his brother on the sofa.

“De– Daniel, you’re home,” Scott says awkwardly, eyes wide.

Stiles looks up and sniffs, wiping his red nose on his sleeve. “Hey, Daniel.”

“Are you alright?” Derek asks, feeling like he’s frozen to the spot.

Scott shakes his head subtly to try and get him to leave, and then Stiles gives him a brittle smile. “I’m fine.”

Derek doesn’t need to hear his heartbeat to know it’s a lie, and he nods and walks to the spare room he uses as Daniel, so they wouldn’t mix up his clothes in case a situation like this occurred. Derek doesn’t mean to listen in, but whatever is hurting Stiles obviously has to do with him. Derek has to make it right.

“Is it another omega? I can handle it. Tell me the truth, Scott. Please.” Stiles asks quietly, sniffing again.

Derek grits his teeth as his eyes flash at the question, sinking down onto the bed and letting his head fall into his hands.

“I haven't heard from him, not really. But Stiles, you have to know that Derek would never–”

Scott can’t lie to Stiles, which just makes this so much harder to hear when Stiles’ voice cracks.

“Wouldn’t he? Did he even tell you where he was going?”

“He just said… He just said he was going to make things right,” Scott answers. “For all of you.”

“So, what? He just leaves?”

Scott doesn’t have an answer, and all Derek wants to do is run down there and tell him everything will be okay when Stiles starts letting out little choked sounds.

 “If you do, please have him call home. For the kids, if he... I'm running out of excuses–”

Stiles is crying, and Derek presses his palms against his eyelids hard so that he sees stars rather than acknowledge the wetness of his palms from his own tears.

Derek is ecstatic.

“Did you see the look on Aiden’s face?” Derek asks.

He and Isaac are laughing as they walk into the house, Isaac shaking his head even though he smiles.

“I said we could do it,” Derek tells him, knocking their shoulders together.

All that hard work and helping him train to get better at basketball, it had paid off. He could feel the excitement coming off his child, so glad that he hadn’t ruined another thing in Isaac’s life.

“Isaac?” Stiles calls, coming out to see them. “What happened at tryouts? How’d it go?”

“It was good, Daniel had a great tryout,” Isaac nods, looking down at his feet. “He played great.”

“Oh,” Stiles says with a grimace.

It wasn’t the news he was expecting, but then Isaac grins. “So did I, I made the team.”

“Really? That’s so good, I’m so proud of you!”

Stiles beams as he wraps Isaac in a hug.

Derek is caught up in the moment, the joy and the contentment coming off of the two of them that he wraps his arms around Stiles and Isaac, closing his eyes to the scent of his mate and his kid.

“Me too,” Derek sighs. “He did great out there.”

“Uh, Daniel, that’s super inappropriate.” Stiles shifts uneasily, and when Derek opens his eyes he realises he’s pressed against Stiles’ back.

He jerks away as fast as he can, forcing himself down onto the couch so he doesn’t make it worse than it is.

“Good job,” Stiles says to Isaac quietly, ruffling his hair.

“Thanks, Pa.”

Stiles smiles before he turns to the both of them. “I want to show you something. Come on, I want to show you guys.”

He’s already moving in that way that he does, slightly clumsy from his excitement that he never lost after everything. Derek and Isaac follow him through the house and out to the backyard, and Derek feels like he’s staring at a dream.

The water is running in the pond, and there are fairy lights hanging from the trees overhead.

“You hung the lights,” he says quietly.

“Yeah.”

All the hard work they’d done, and Stiles had finally made it happen.

“Wow.”

“Wow, Pa,” Isaac says. “This is amazing.”

“I wanted you guys to be the first to see it. Erica’s already seen it,” Stiles smiles at the two of them.

“It’s so good,” Derek murmurs.

“It really is,” Isaac says.

Derek can’t take his eyes off of Stiles, the soft look on his face when he looks out at the garden.

“Daniel, we should go practice,” Isaac says, getting his attention. “The game is on Friday.”

“Yeah,” Derek nods, watching Isaac go inside.

He doesn’t want to leave Stiles yet, not when this is something so huge. He has to make him understand that he means it, in a way he never did when he was normal and they were together. Derek is entranced by him, the way the lights make his pale skin look like moonlight, how there’s a wistful look on his face that makes Derek want to kiss his moles one by one. He hasn’t counted them for a long time.

“What do you think?” Stiles asks quietly, not looking at him.

“I think it’s beautiful.”

Stiles ducks his head before he turns to look at him, a pleased smile on his face.

“Really?”

“When people see how talented you are, you’ll be designing gardens all over the city,” Derek says, leaning close.

“Thank you, Daniel. I really mean that.”

Stiles’ eyes flick to his lips and down to Derek’s neck before he turns away, blush high on his cheeks.

Derek hates he forgets himself when he’s around Stiles, how it feels like he’s in his old body, not this one that Stiles doesn’t know as his. By now Stiles wouldn’t even recognise his scent is anything but Daniel’s, because he hasn’t seen Derek in weeks.

Derek hates that he forgets how confusing this has to be for him.

“Shit, I have to go get ready,” Stiles swears, but Derek follows him back into the house. “I have a date tonight.”

Derek’s glad that Stiles’ back is turned so that he doesn’t see Derek’s reaction, because he knows it’s bad. It’s like a blow to the chest, but to Stiles he’s just a seventeen year old boy who probably reminds him too much of his husband. Ex-husband.

“You… You have a date?” God, he sounds pathetic.

Get it together, Hale, he thinks.

“I’m going dancing,” Stiles says. “Which is ridiculous because I’m a terrible dancer.”

“You’re an amazing dancer,” Derek fights on reflex.

“What?” Stiles stares, eyes flicking over his face before he shakes his head.

“I just meant that you look like you can move,” Derek tries casually, a smirk growing on his face.

“I’m going to go get ready, so… Have fun with Isaac, Daniel.”

Stiles is closing his bedroom door on Derek’s face before he can get another word in.

When Derek comes in from practicing with Isaac, Stiles is standing in front of a mirror in the living room, watching himself dance. Derek has to try cough over his laugh, because he loves Stiles’ dancing, even with how lame it can be.

Stiles pauses, catching sight of him in the mirror.

“What are you looking at?” He asks, straightening up his clothes.

It takes Derek a second to realise that Stiles is wearing one of his shirts under his jacket, one that Derek had thought had went missing at Scott’s. The fact that Stiles took one of his shirts from Scott’s house gives Derek a shiver of hope that Stiles will still want to be with him after he gets turned back.

The soft blue material is hanging loose on his body and framing the mating bite scar on his neck in a way that makes Derek stare. He has to force himself to keep his eyes on Stiles’ face or anywhere that isn’t his body, because Derek knows that he wouldn’t be able to handle that.

“That was great,” Derek offers with a smile.

Stiles raises an eyebrow, turning to face him. “That was the snake. It was a very hot dance when you were one.”

Derek is about to call him out and say that it was when their parents were young maybe, and that it was Claudia who had been the one to show it to Stiles when he was a kid, but then the part about his age makes him keep his mouth shut.

He had to be careful about what he said, because Derek doesn’t want to lose this now that he has it again.

“Teach it to me?”

Stiles tilts his head and smirks. “I can’t. It’s a very advanced step… Which I know is hard to believe because I made it look effortless. That’s the secret to all great dancers.”

Derek smiles and steps closer to him, and Derek notices the way that Stiles goes still before he passes him in favour of the phone dock. He doesn’t have to scroll far, smiling to himself when he presses play.

“Try me,” Derek dares, turning back to him.

The moment the song comes on, Stiles is watching him. The way Stiles looks at him, has been looking at him it’s like he’s a puzzle that he can’t solve, no matter how hard he tries.

“Why did you pick that song?”

“I don’t know.” Derek shrugs, trying not to look smug when the lyrics to Hungry like the Wolf start up. “It just kind of spoke to me.”

“That’s funny,” Stiles says suspiciously. “That’s the song that my husband snuck onto the playlist at our wedding.”

Derek acts surprised as he tries not to smile, because Stiles’ reaction had been worth every moment when it had happened.

“A man of good taste,” Derek says, cursing himself when he lets his eyes drift to the mark.

“Want me to show you some dance moves?” Stiles asks, drawing his attention back up.

“I’d love to,” Derek smiles.

“That I learnt at my wedding,” Stiles reminds him again.

“Great.”

Stiles looks like he’s biting the inside of his cheek as he takes Derek’s hand to move him into position next to him. “Okay, you stand here, like that, and I’ll stand here–”

“No, you stand right there,” Stiles says when Derek steps closer and brushes his waist. Stiles shakes his head at the way Derek has raised his eyebrows in question, gently pushing him back into position. “Right there. Ready?”

Derek nods and watches Stiles, who is looking pointedly ahead at the living room.

“So, you go right foot back and then left foot back. Quick right, left, right, left, right. And then– oh.”

Derek turns and catches Stiles’ hand on the spin, one hand coming to rest on his lower back and the other sliding into his hand. Stiles’ eyes are on him as he goes through it slower than he knows, but it’s still easy after so many years.  

“And left, right, left– that’s good,” Stiles says slowly, right before he pulls Derek’s hand higher up his back. Derek turns him, but he can feel himself start to drift standing so close to his mate, his scent so close and real.

“That was really good.” Stiles pushes his hand back up again, seeming flustered as Derek lets his eyes drift over his face. “You’re picking that up pretty quickly.”

“So you mentioned your husband,” Derek says casually, trying not to think about the things he overheard at Scott’s house.

“Mhm.”

“Do you think you guys are ever going to get back together?”

He has to stamp down on the hope he wants to feel, because Stiles looks away from his face and his jaw clenches. “I don’t think so.”

“Why are you so sure? Maybe– maybe there’s something he could do to fix things.”

Like he’s trying to right now.

“I love my mate and I care about him.”

He can smell Stiles’ hurt, and suddenly he hates that he asked the question. Stiles looks back at him, his lips thin.

“But?”

“But sometimes that just isn’t enough,” Stiles tells him quietly. “If he wanted to try fix things, he would be here and he would be trying harder, not vanish off the face of the earth.”

Derek just wants to shake him and tell him that he’s trying to make it better.

“Well, he blew it,” Derek says quietly, fingers pressing gently on Stiles’ back as they start to turn. “Spin.”

Stiles turns against him, pressing up close when he comes back in and Derek knows he’s staring, wanting to lean in, but Stiles’ eyes don’t meet his. He staring at Derek’s lips, looking dazed and Derek sees his nostrils flare as he takes in his scent–

“Pa?”

They jerk away at the same time, both turning to look at Isaac.

“Hey, Isaac,” Derek sighs, watching Stiles’ reaction carefully.

“Pa?” Isaac asks again, looking between the two of them.

“I’m your pa,” Stiles says slowly, more to himself than to anyone else, but then he turns to Derek defensively. “I am Isaac’s father, Daniel.”

Derek grits his teeth, trying not to react to Stiles’ tone. He was so close.

“Your date is here,” Isaac says slowly.

“Huh?” Stiles asks, tearing his eyes away from Derek.

“The front door. Your date.”

Stiles’ eyes go wide and he starts to rush through the house, the two of them following him. Derek can feel his defensive instincts raise their head, but he has to push them down.

“He was nervous,” Derek tells Isaac easily, glad that his son can’t listen to his heartbeat as easily as Stiles. “It’s weird, right?”

“Little bit,” Isaac mutters.

“He’s so old, it’s like…” Derek can’t finish the sentence, because he’s just making it worse.

“Dance with all your friend’s parents?”

“Pretty much,” Derek gives in.

Stiles opens the front door after taking a moment to himself.

“Hi, Stiles,” he hears, and the hopeful smile on Stiles’ face makes something inside Derek twist.

“Jordan, hi.”

Derek leans against the wall, arms folded against his chest as he watches him step into his home.

“Wow, you look amazing,” Jordan says, holding a bunch of flowers for Stiles. “For you.”

“Thanks,” Stiles smiles politely, but it makes Derek grin.

Stiles hates carnations.

“Carnations,” Derek snorts. “What a douchebag.”

“Daniel,” Stiles hisses.

“No, that’s okay,” Jordan nods, looking between them.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles goes to apologise.

“I’m a single dad too. It’s totally normal for sons to feel weird when their parents date. I mean, he’s an alpha, he’s stepping into his dad’s shoes and those protective instincts come out–”

“He’s not my son,” Stiles corrects awkwardly.

“Oh. Then that’s weird,” Jordan nods.

“It is, yeah.”

They look at each other for a moment and Derek feels his hackles rise when Jordan’s eyes drift to Stiles’ neck.

“Do you want to go?” Jordan asks.

Stiles nods, looking at the flowers. “Let me just go put these in some water.”

“Oh, come on,” Derek whispers as he follows Stiles towards the kitchen.

“Hold these, please.”

“This guy?” Derek asks, taking the carnations from him.

“You’re being rude,” he snaps.

“You’re going from m– Uncle Derek to this guy?”

“Be quiet,” Stiles hisses, shoving the flowers into a container of water.

Derek follows him as he walks back through the house, but then Stiles swears and disappears into the office before he comes back with a yellow envelope.

“He’s a tool!” Derek protests.

“Shut up, give this to Scott, okay? To give to Derek. It’s our divorce papers. And remind him that he needs to be there on the twenty seventh. Please.”

Derek stares at the papers, wishing that they would burst in to flames, but he takes them and forces himself to nod. Stiles hesitates, but then he gives Derek a quiet thank you before he turns away.

The moment Stiles is gone, a motorbike pulls up and Erica is rushing out of the house.

“Where are you going?” Derek calls after her.

“Tracy’s party!” She shouts, climbing on to the bike and wrapping her hand around Aiden’s waist.

They’re off within a second, and Derek is calling for Isaac to get in the car.

The bowling alley is full of teenagers, and Isaac is sticking to Derek’s side like glue.

“Seriously, I can’t be here. Do you know how many dangerous and hurtful things Aiden could do to me here? Have you ever had your head shoved in a ball return? Because it’s not a massage, Daniel,” Isaac demands sarcastically, trying to pull him back outside.

“Isaac, you’re on the basketball team now, okay? You deserve to be at a party like this.”

Isaac turns to glare, but then his eyes go wide and he rubs the back of his head and averts his eyes. “There she is, oh god. There’s Allison.”

“Which one?” Derek asks, turning to look.

“She’s right there. You’re looking at her. My three o’clock, your two,” Isaac rambles, sounding panicked. “Daniel, you’re looking right at her. Stop it.”

“Calm down,” Derek says slowly, looking back to Isaac. “Jesus, you’re worse than I was.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Derek mutters, looking back at Allison. “Go talk to her.”

“What? No. She’s not going to like me, I’m a loser.”

“Why? Because Aiden says so? Do you really think he has any idea of what life is actually like? He’s going nowhere. Aiden isn’t going to be anything after high school, trust me. Just go talk to her.”

“She’s an alpha.”

“So am I? Seriously, stop worrying. Anyone, alpha or omega, would be lucky to have your attention.”

“Yeah? And what do you know about omegas?”

“What do I know about omegas?” Derek frowns and looks down at his feet. “I… I used to date the most beautiful omega at my last school. I let him slip right through my fingers without realising it, but I’m not going to let that happen to you.”

Isaac smiles sadly at him, looking back to Allison. “You’re right. I should just walk up to her and say hi.”

“You should.”

“Tomorrow at school.”

“Isaac.”

“Or the day after. Or never.”

“Just go talk to her,” Derek orders.

Isaac sighs and nods before he squares his shoulders and walks over to her.

Derek starts looking for Erica when he hears Isaac say hi, but instead he finds her friends.

“Have you seen Erica? I can’t find her.”

The three of them share a look which scares Derek a little, and he has to awkwardly defend himself from three teenage girls trying to flirt with him. He ends up locking himself in one of the bathrooms to get away from them after they lose sight of him.

It was probably a wiser decision to just try and listen for Erica’s voice and familiar heartbeat, but Derek didn’t think of that. So when he does, he ends up overhearing his other kid’s conversation because he’s so used to finding the one closest to him.

“And, um, I just want to tell you that you look like my dog.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean– I meant your hair. Because it looks soft. And she’s soft too, well she was but she’s dead now–”

Jesus Christ, Derek thinks. Definitely the same as when he first tried to talk to Stiles.

“I remind you of your dead dog?” Allison asks, and Derek bangs his head against the bathroom door.

“No! I’m sorry, I’m just really nervous, you make me nervous and I’ve wanted to talk to you for ages,” Isaac rambles. “Oh god, I’m sorry, I'm rambling. My pa does the exact same thing when he’s nervous and–”

“Isaac, you’re on fire,” she says suddenly.

“Really?” He asks hopefully.

“No, Isaac, your pants are literally on fire,” she repeats, sounding concerned.

Derek can hear Isaac swear and flee to douse himself, and Derek emerges awkwardly from the bathroom. He should give him some grace period to recover his dignity before he finds him again. 

He sees Aiden minus one Erica nearby and heads in the opposite direction, darting into the stairway to avoid him. It’s there that he can scent Erica the strongest, and he follows it until he’s up in the small room overlooking the bowling lanes.

“There you are,” he sighs.

Erica’s eyes dart from her phone to the doorway before she rolls her eyes. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk about Aiden,” Derek says gently, sitting down next to her.

Erica raises her eyebrows and waits, her red lips twisted in annoyance.

“Why are you dating him?” Derek asks. “You know he’s a shitty person. He’s a fucking prick.”

“Don’t say that about him,” Erica snaps. “You don’t even know him.”

“I do, though. I really do.”

“I know him better than you. Besides, we’re moving in together after graduation.”

Derek’s mouth hangs open in shock, staring at her. “Aiden got in to Harvard?”

“What? No. Aiden got on the management track at Target, and I’m going to Beacon Hills Community College to stay close to him,” she says proudly. “He’s my forever.”

Derek is still staring, before he lets out a laugh of disbelief, shaking his head. “No. There is no way in hell that is happening.”

“Excuse me?” She growls.

“I said, ‘there is no way in hell that that is happening.’ You think I’m going to let you throw away your life like that? All that hard work and everything that you’ve accomplished for some… psychopathic beta who doesn’t care about you?”

Erica is staring at him with murder in her eyes, but Derek isn’t letting this happen to her.

“I forbid you. I forbid you to see him anymore.”

“Wow,” she yells, shoving him away and staring at him like he’s crazy. “Who the fuck do you think you are, my dad?!”

“Don’t walk away from me!” Derek calls after her.

“You’re a freak!”

“Erica Stilinski-Hale!”

Derek loses her almost immediately in the crowd. It would be easy to find her again, but it’s just too draining. How does Stiles deal with this every day?

Isaac walks up to him with a grimace.

Grace period must be over.

“Hey, how’d it go?”

“Fantastic,” Isaac snarks.

“How’s your leg?”

“I hate you sometimes.”

Isaac’s first basketball game, Derek is determined to get him the ball so he can score a three-pointer.

It’s half time and they’re winning, but Derek hasn’t been able to get Isaac the ball yet.

Derek knows that Stiles is in the stands with Jordan Parrish, and although he tries not to let it get to him, it had turned out to be a good motivator to run faster and take more risks.

"What's wrong? You look uncomfortable,” Derek hears Parrish ask, and Derek knows where he’s sitting, know that Stiles can see him on the bench.

So, he tilts his head to the air and exposes his neck, taking a long drink of water and delighting in the pause of Stiles’ answer.

"No, I’m fine,” Stiles tells him. “I was just thinking that the last time I was here… My husband asked me to marry him."

It hadn’t been officially, but he did say something along those lines and wanting to stay with him for the rest of his life. He’d done it better the second time.

"Wow. Tough to compete with that," Jordan answers awkwardly.

Score: one Derek, zero Jordan.

They go into the third quarter and Derek finally gets Isaac the ball.

He scores.

Many times.

The next day at school, Isaac is like a different person after the attention he’d been getting.

“I’m telling you, Daniel. I totally missed it. She came right up to me after the game and I froze. I should’ve kissed her.”

“We’ll get you another chance,” Derek reassures him.

“How? How are you going to do that?”

Derek stops in his tracks, watching as Scott gives him a thumbs up as he walks with Principal Yukimura to her car. If Scott finally got that date he wanted, that means there’s an empty house. A big empty house.

“Victory party at my house!” Derek shouts.

Isaac is staring at him like he’s crazy but he’s also laughing, so Derek considers it a plus.

“I’m going to go tell your sister.”

Isaac nods and says goodbye, and Derek tracks her over to the empty bleachers out by the field.

“Erica?” The first thing he smells is her tears and despair, and Derek feels himself crumbling as he sits down next to her.

“Erica. Hey, Erica,” Derek asks softly, and she sobs into her knees.

“Go away.”

“Hey, what happened?” Derek tries again.

She looks up and her eye makeup is all smeared and Derek’s jaw tightens.

“What do you want? To rub it in my face?” She sneers. “Say, ‘I told you so’?”

“No,” Derek says quietly, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “I really don’t. Tell me what happened.”

“Aiden dumped me,” she says with a hitch in her voice.

“Aiden dumped you? What? What happened? How–” Derek can’t be pleased about it, not when she’s like this. “What did he do?”

His question sends realisation through him and he’s frightened about the answer. Not his baby girl. “What did he do?”

“After the game– we… He took me behind the quad and we…”

“I can’t hear this,” Derek says to himself. “Erica, he–”

“No. That’s why he dumped me,” she admits, wiping her runny nose on her sleeve. “Because I wouldn’t.”

“Erica, hey, hey, it’s okay,” Derek pulls her tighter against his side, tucking her head down onto his chest. “It’s okay. You know… When you’re young, everything feels like the end of the world. It’s not. It’s just the beginning.”

“It doesn’t feel like the beginning,” she murmurs.

“When you get to college… You’ll meet a lot more jerks because there are too many in the world. But one day, you’re going to meet a boy, and it doesn’t matter what they are, because they will treat you the way you deserve to be treated,” Derek says, resting his cheek against the top of her head. “He’s going to treat you like the most important person in his life, because to him, the sun rises and sets with you.”

Erica is silent as she considers his words, and then her voice is quiet. “Do you really think so?”

“I know so.”

She pulls away to look at him and Derek smiles softly, and he’s so thankful that she won’t have to go through this alone if he’s her friend.

“That’s so sweet. You’re the sweetest,” she says, leaning in.

Derek hugs her tight, which he hasn’t been able to do since she was a kid and was suddenly too cool for her parents to hug her.

But that’s when Derek gets a scent off of her that he should never be able to smell.

Teenage lust.

He’s made a terrible mistake.

That’s the thought that goes through his head when he leans back, smiling politely and hoping she doesn’t take it in the way he thinks she will.

“Anyways, I came over here– uh, I was looking for you. I wanted to invite you to my party. I don’t know if you want to come…?”

Erica nods immediately, a delighted look in her eye. “Yes. I would love to.”

“Yeah,” Derek nods, but the smell gets worse.

“Great. That’s exciting, thank you!”

“I know, great, ha. I’ll see you tonight,” Derek says as he detaches himself from Erica.

Or, he tries to. The girl is like a damn octopus.

He manages, though. Doesn’t look back when he’s free.

The party was a terrible idea.

That’s the thought that’s running through Derek’s brain as he tries his hardest to remove expensive things out of drunken hands and hiding them away so they won’t get picked up again.

Scott is going to kick his ass if he comes home to this.

Derek is rushing about like a mad chicken, but he keeps checking in on Isaac and Erica with his hearing at all times.

And maybe partially avoiding Erica, but he doesn’t want to revisit that scent.

No dad should have to smell their child’s attraction to them.

Ever.

“I’ll try not to light myself on fire tonight,” he hears Isaac say, both proud and mortified.

“I’ll keep a fire extinguisher handy,” Allison laughs, and Derek peeks his head around the corner of the kitchen.

Isaac’s eyes flick to him over her shoulder before he looks back and smiles. “Do you want to sit outside?”

“I’d like that.”

Derek sees Allison nod, but then he’s moving when he hears Aiden’s voice.

He finds Erica out by the pool area, Aiden leaning close before she shoves him away.

“I was upset. I’m sorry, okay?” Aiden tries to lean in again. “I need you to show me that you love me. And that way, we can get a place together.”

“Stop it,” Erica snaps, her eyes glowing. “Look, whatever. I’m with somebody else now.”

“What?”

“Party’s over, Aiden. Get out of here,” Derek orders, putting some power into it.

“Who’s going to make me leave? You?”

“You know I could,” Derek shrugs. “But I can smell the alcohol on you, so I think I’m just going to call Erica’s grandpa instead. You know, the Sheriff?”

Aiden growls and stalks towards him, sneering. “You can have the omega. She doesn’t put out anyway.”

Derek’s eyes red flash as Aiden passes him, but he doesn’t lash out like he wants to.

“Fucking knot whore,” Aiden snarls.

On second thought, he lashes out.

Derek’s head is pounding and the smell of omega and family surrounds him, making him groan. He doesn’t want to open his eyes, because the light will just make it worse, he knows it.

“I just had the craziest dream,” he murmurs. “I was seventeen and I was back in high school. God, it was terrible, S.”

“S? I don’t see an S.”

His daughter’s voice makes his eyes shoot open and blink through the harsh lights, trying to subtly move away from where she’s lying next to him on the bed, stroking his hair.

Why is this happening to me, is the main thought running through Derek’s head, followed by overpowering fear and panic.

“Look, I know why you didn’t want me to be with Aiden,” Erica says gently. “It’s because you wanted me.”

Derek scrambles off of the bed when she leans forward, but the sudden movement makes him dizzy and he fumbles slightly. “No, Erica, this isn’t right.”

She’s not listening to him though, and it’s like trying to put a diaper on her and she’s constantly running away, but so much worse.

“You want to play games? I can play games.”

“No, no, no, no,” Derek pleads, holding his hands up.

It doesn’t stop her, but it ends with Derek being chased around the bedroom, trying to evade her. “Erica! No, Erica, stop this, stop it. If you knew how highly inappropriate and dysfunctional this– you’d be– Erica! Please. I’m not the person you think I am!”

“Yes, you are,” she fights, staring at him with wide eyes.

“No, I’m not,” Derek denies, shaking his head.

 “You’re right, you’re good. You’re not like the others at all.”

“Fuck, okay, you’re right, I’m not like the others. I’m completely different from them, so different that we could never ever, ever, be together.”

She tries to bite her teeth playfully at his hands and Derek pulls them back as quick as he can.

“Stop biting,” he growls, eyes glowing red.

She goes still, and for a moment Derek thinks she’d figured out that he’s her dad. The red eyes and the growl, he knows that that’s something she couldn’t miss.

“Oh my god.”

“What?”

“I get it now,” she says, looking at him in understanding. “And your hair is always perfectly coiffed! God, it makes so much sense.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Daniel, your jeans are really tight.”

He didn’t need the hand wave towards his pants, and he groans when he realises she doesn’t understand.

“Jesus Christ,” Derek says to himself, sitting down on edge of the bed. “Erica, I’m bi–”

She opens her mouth but Derek shakes his head.

“That’s not– I’m in love, Erica. I’m in love. I’ve been in love. I’ve been with the same omega since I was seventeen.”

A predatory look comes over his daughter’s face and Derek takes a step back.

“Do they go to our school? Do I know them?”

“No–”

“Tell me their name,” Erica demands, trailing her hand up Derek’s arm. “I want to know their name.”

“No,” Derek says, flashing his eyes again. “Erica, no.”

Erica steps back and tilts her head to the side with a smile. “Okay. You tell your omega that they better keep a close eye on you.”

She winks at him when she closes the bedroom door behind her, and Derek is pleading to wherever his spirit guide may be that Erica never finds out that Daniel is actually him.

Derek has managed to avoid Erica since escaping the spare room, but that’s when the smell of his mate reaches him. Derek hates being a teenager again, he really does.

“Excuse me,” Stiles says, and Derek follows the sound of his voice through the house.

“Stiles?” Derek calls, pushing past people. “Stiles?”

“Daniel,” Stiles sighs. “Hi.”

“Stiles, what are you doing here?”

“You mean what am I doing in my brother’s house?” Stiles asks with a squint. “My brother’s house which is probably never having a party again?”

Derek makes an apologetic face and Stiles rolls his eyes with a smirk. “I’m looking for Isaac. He’s not picking up his phone and it’s past his curfew.”

“Isaac is great,” Derek grins. “He’s fine, believe me. With the way things are going… I think he could have a girlfriend by the end of the night.”

“Isaac has a girlfriend?”

“They’re sweet, let me show you.”

Stiles looks at all the high schoolers partying around them and sighs. “Where?”

“Up on the balcony, I’ll show you,” Derek grabs his hand and leads him without thinking about it, just glad that the smell of Stiles can cut through the smell of alcohol and hormones and lust.

The balcony is the quietest area of the whole party for some reason, and Derek heaves a sigh of relief and fresh air.

He leads Stiles over to the side and searches for them before he finds Isaac and Allison sitting together quietly, pointing them out to Stiles.

Allison throws her head back and laughs at something Isaac said, and Derek smiles when he sees how well he’s doing.

The way he’s leaning against the railing gives him the perfect position to watch Stiles too, soft smile on his face and the way his eyes shine in the moonlight.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Stiles asks, looking back to him.

Derek nods, wishing he could say he’s always cared.

“Yeah, I do.”

“That’s really nice of you, Daniel. He really needs someone he can look up to that isn’t family.”

“He’s a good kid,” Derek says quietly. “They both are.”

Stiles smiles at him in a way that so soft and private, Derek feels like his heart is going to beat out of his chest.

“I think you’re a great father.”

Stiles’ lips part as he stares, looking down at his hands.

“Ever since his dad disappeared–” Stiles cuts himself off, his hands curling into fists.

Derek takes Stiles’ hands and uncurls them, trying not to frown when he sees the difference between Stiles’ long, thin fingers, and Derek’s still-maturing hands. Stiles always did love to smooth out his brows when they were younger.

“This has been a really tough time, and I’m really glad you’re here. You… You feel like part of the family,” Stiles admits, his thumb stroking the back of Derek’s hand.

“You have no idea how amazing it is to here you say that, Stiles.”

Derek is already so close, holding his mate’s hands in his, and it’s the most normal thing for him to do when he leans forward and presses his lips to Stiles’.

For a second, just a few seconds, Stiles kisses him back the way Derek has been dreaming of.

And then he’s being pushed away and Stiles is staring at him with such a hurt and betrayed expression that it just makes everything worse when he turns his back and starts climbing down the stairs.

Derek doesn’t even wait, he’s following him and everything comes rushing out in an attempt to keep him close.

“Stiles! Stiles, I’m not Daniel, okay?” The bitter laugh from Stiles doesn’t give him confidence at all. “I’m him, I’m me– Stiles. Stiles, I’m your husband. Your mate–”

“Will you stop?” Stiles yells as he keeps walking.

Derek manages to catch his wrist and try and pull him back to at least listen. “Stiles, please, if you’d just listen to me, I am the father of your children! S, let me–”

“Don’t call me that,” Stiles yanks his hand away. “Don’t you call me that, you weirdo little man child!”

“If you give me two seconds, I can explain–”

“Leave me alone,” Stiles demands, and then Derek has Erica standing in front of him.

From her expression, she definitely saw what happened.

“Erica–”

Derek’s face stings and he’s staring at a wall before he processes that his own daughter just slapped him, hard, and then she’s following Stiles out of the house, which Scott and Principal Yukimura just walked in to. 

“Scott, I’m sorry. I had no idea it was going to get so out of control.”

“Really?” Scott asks, eyeing the mess of the house.

It hadn’t been an easy night for Derek. He hadn’t slept at all, because whenever his eyes drifted shut, the whole thing would just replay in Derek’s mind.

He’d ended up getting out of bed and starting on the clean-up of the house before the people that Scott called would arrive.

“You know I’m here for you, no matter what happens.” Scott says, hugging him awkwardly.

“I lost my family.”

It hits him fully now that the sun has risen, that he’s never going to be able to see them again.

“Derek, I know I’m not great with giving you positives, but… I think you really did help your kids. You did your job. Now the hero can move on.”

“I don’t want to,” Derek admits. “Maybe they don’t need me anymore, but I need them.”

“I don’t want to cut you down any more than you are, but you’re due in court in like, twenty one minutes.”

Derek feels his stomach twists when he realises it’s the twenty seventh. “Scott, I need more time. I have to stop this.”

“Get in the car,” Scott orders, grabbing his keys.

“Wait, Scott.”

“Yes?”

“Put some pants on.”

“I should have pants on,” Scott nods, throwing Derek his keys.

The drive is one of the most stressful things that Derek has experienced, but it probably ranks under getting married and both of his kid’s births.

That was happy stress.

“–The whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

Derek’s eyes go wide when that’s the first thing he hears as soon as he steps out of the car.

“I do,” Stiles says.

“You request a divorce by the state of California, thereby nullifying your mate bond, citing irreconcilable differences. This is correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Is Derek Hale present?”

Silence.

“I take his absence as agreement to the orders of the divorce.”

Scott doesn’t bother trying to get the room number because Derek is already charging forward, but Scott shoves in front of him. It would probably look better like that anyway, Derek knows.

“You are not requesting sole custody?”

“No, Your Honor,” Stiles says, right as Scott pushes the doors open.

Derek feels like he’s trying to swallow a brick when they burst into the court room.

“I object!” Scott shouts.

“What?” The judge asks, staring at the two of them.

Derek’s eyes go to Stiles, whose jaw ticks when he realises it’s him.

“I’m sorry, I panicked,” Scott says, looking at Stiles with hopeful eyes.

“Who are you?”

“That’s my brother, Your Honor,” Stiles sighs. “He’s my husband’s best friend.”

“You a lawyer, best friend?”

“Yes,” Scott nods.

“No,” Stiles says loudly.

“Well… I believe the law degree in my pocket says so. It’s smudged because I sat on it, not because… of anything else.”

Stiles growls under his breath as he stares at the table, and Derek just wishes he would look at him.

This could be his only chance, he’s not going to waste it.

“Alright, let’s pretend that’s real,” the judge looks at the two of them, like she’s trying to decide if it’s worth her time. “Want to explain what you’re doing?”

“We– we are stopping a gross miscarriage of justice!” Scott yells, and the judge shakes her head at the bailiff.

“Wait! If I could– I can explain this, please, just listen!” Derek shouts when they start to pull Scott away, and Stiles looks up at him. “I’ve got a letter from Derek Hale, he’s the mate in this case!”

“Son, we’re in the middle–”

Derek looks to Stiles desperately, pleading silently that he listens.

Stiles stands quickly, turning to her. “Your Honor, if I could– I’d like to hear the letter? Please?”

The judge sighs and waves her hand, and Derek pulls out the piece of paper that he had written the directions to the courthouse on.

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Stiles says as he sits back down.

“This is a letter from Derek Hale. He wanted me to read it...” Derek takes a deep breath and speaks to Stiles, because this is it. This is the chance he’s been wanting. "Stiles, before you go through with this… I want to remind you of the fifth of June, twenty years ago. It was the first time that I saw you.”

Looking at Stiles is just making it worse.

“You were reading Lord of the Rings. You were wearing a Captain America T-shirt, and your hair was still in a buzz cut. I'd never seen anything so perfect. I remember thinking that I had to have you, or I'd die,” Derek blinks against the sting in his eyes, and he has to force himself to look down at the page.

“Then you whispered that you loved me... The day before the homecoming dance, when I had taken you on that picnic by the pond, just the two of us. And I felt so peaceful… And safe. Because I knew that no matter what happened from that day on, nothing could ever be that bad.”

But it is, Derek knows. It is all bad.

“Because I had you. Uh, and then I grew up. And I lost my way. And I blamed you for my failures, which I can never apologise enough for. And I know that you think you have to do this today. I don't want you to. But I guess, if I love you, I should let you move on,” Derek's voice breaks as he finishes, dropping the paper onto the chair beside him.

He has to rub his hand over his face to take a moment to himself, and the soft voice of the judge is was pulls him out of it.

“All right, son, you need to go now.”

Derek nods and lets himself be escorted of the room with Scott, only looking back at Stiles for a brief second.

One last time, is what Derek tells himself, just one time to look at Stiles before he’s gone from his life forever.

“Your Honor?” Stiles asks through the hitch in his voice. “I’m sorry, would it… Would it be okay if we postpone this just for a little while? Is that okay? I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

“Postponed thirty days. Next case.”

Derek’s not entirely sure what Stiles does next, because all he hears is a quiet gasp and quick stutter of his heart before Derek tunes it out.

“I haven’t seen you practice this hard since school,” Scott says from the balcony, watching Derek dribbling and shoot continuously.

“You know, if I want to impress these college scouts, I need to stay focused,” Derek grits out, but then his claws jerk out and he kills another ball.

“Wait– you’re trying to get a scholarship? I thought we were over that plan, Derek! You’ve got to be careful. You do not want to get off the spirit path.”

“There is no path, Scott!” Derek shout, throwing the deflated ball to the ground. “There’s no path! I can’t do it, I just made it worse for them. I fucked it up, and I can’t make it worse for him than it already is, okay?”

“Derek…”

“My mate is happier, everyone is happier with me out of the picture, Scott. It’s time to move on.”

It’s the last game of the season and Derek has been in the gym for hours shooting hoops. The final basketball game he’s going to play before their graduation and Derek is shooting hoops in an attempt to calm himself.

“McCall, save some for the game!” Finstock shouts as the team filters into the gym behind him.

Derek throws the ball in his hands and sinks it in the hoop. “Just warming up, Coach.”

Finstock takes him over to the side, looking slightly wilder than usual, and Derek feels the déjà vu more intensely than he’d like. “Listen, the scout from Ohio State is back, and the coach is with him. You play half the game I know you’re capable of… And you’re playing ball next year.”

“That’s the plan, Coach.”

“Give me the ball. All right, jockstraps, gather up! Picture time,” Finstock orders, lining them up for the photo. “Try not to break the camera.”

Isaac won’t look at him.

The crowd is gathering, and Derek hear Scott arrive more than he sees it, because he’s too busy waiting for Stiles and Erica to arrive. When they do walk in, Derek feels like he’s been hit by a bolt of electricity. Seeing Stiles for the first time since the court session, there’s been an ache that he hasn’t been able to get rid of.

Both of them notice him, and Erica turns away with a sound of disgust while Stiles has to take a moment to breathe before he follows her up the stairs. 

“I can’t wait to go to Harvard and start dating college boys,” Erica complains as they take their seats. “I thought Daniel was hanging out with Isaac to get to me, not you.”

Stiles gives her a look that makes her shift closer to him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. Derek has to tear his eyes away when Finstock calls them in, and Isaac is still refusing to acknowledge his existence.

When Derek is getting into place on the court, he looks back to where Stiles is sitting, thankful that Stiles is looking at him, at the very least.

He blows the kiss to Stiles, the one he hasn’t done in years, and he throws it into the imaginary hoop before he turns to get into position.

“Oh my god,” reaches Derek’s ears, right as the game starts.

“Pa? Are you okay?” Erica asks, and Derek has to concentrate on the game.

“I can’t be here again,” Stiles whispers, drawing Derek’s attention as he stands and turns to Erica. “I have to go.”

As Stiles is rushing down the stairs and into the hall, Derek feels like he can’t breathe as he intercepts the ball.

He staring at where the door has swung shut behind Stiles, and he can hear Finstock yelling, but everything is just rushing through Derek’s head, every look Stiles has given him, ever breath of air and touch of love–

But the game– that’s your future.

No, you’re my future. This is our future.

That’s crazy. I can’t let you throw this all away. I won’t let you.

High school star. Never quite lived up to your potential.

Of course I want to live in the past. It’s better there.

I’ll bet you wish you had it to do all over again.

You do not want to get off the spirit path.

Derek, what are you doing?

Stiles, I love you.

Derek is running up to the bench, taking in Finstock’s manic face and ignores it, heading straight for his son. Derek presses the ball to Isaac’s chest, and he doesn’t care what happens next, he has to find Stiles.

“It’s your turn now.”

Isaac is left staring before Finstock shouts him on, and Derek is spirting after Stiles.

The hall is dark, but Derek can smell him close, so he can’t have gotten far.

“Stiles!” He shouts as he runs down the hall. “S?”

Derek is fighting for control when he reaches the end of the hall and doesn’t see Stiles walking down the adjoining halls, but then he starts to feel pinpricks all along his body. He's changed back, he knows it.

“Stiles?” 

There’s a quiet, shocked gasp behind him and Derek whirls around immediately, watching Stiles walk out from the shadow of the alcove.

“It is you,” Stiles breaths, his eyes never resting from where they trail over Derek from head to toe.

“Hi,” Derek says quietly, stepping towards him cautiously.

“‘Hi,’ he says,” Stiles huffs.

“I can explain.”

“You can?”

For a moment Derek is afraid that Stiles is trying not to look at him, but then he realises that he’s staring too. Just not at Derek’s face. His neck.

“Is it back? Derek whispers, and Stiles nods, meeting his gaze. “And no, I can’t explain it. Not really.”

“You didn’t have to come after me again,” Stiles says slowly, like he can’t believe that he would. “You could have had your dream again.”

“Yes, I did. Because I love you, Stiles. You’re my mate, and you’re the best decision I’ve ever made. I just forgot, and I was so caught up in blaming you that I didn’t remember until it was almost too last. And I don’t want to talk about being seventeen again, because it falling off the bridge and everything that followed was the single worst experience of my life.”

Stiles makes a face and Derek smiles, lifting his hand to trace the scar on Stiles’ neck.

“If you let me, I swear, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. All I want is a second chance with–”

Stiles grabs his face and pushes the skin around, shaking his head. “That is still weird.”

Derek smiles and Stiles’ face breaks into a grin, surging forward to kiss him. Derek wraps his arms around him and holds him close when the kiss breaks. Derek rests their foreheads together and inhales his scent freely, the smell of Stiles and family and home.

“I missed you,” Derek sighs, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of Stiles’ mouth. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Stiles smiles.

Derek takes his hand and starts walking with him, needing a change of clothes before he goes back in to watch Isaac’s game.

“You know, Scott was telling me about how Kira is looking for a new gym teacher soon,” Stiles casually mentions.

Derek squeezes his hand, feeling more content that ever.