#whenwordsmakesense

"Well, my choice in a date clearly wouldn't be a snob like you, so it wouldn't matter to them if I'm dressed like this or in a suit." he shoots back, and realizes his mistake just as he's faced with his dad's full-tilt grin.

"Oh? A snob? Then I guess I imagined you having a crush on one Lydia Martin all these years."

Stiles has no out, and he knows this, his dad knows this, and they both know he's done lying at this point. Sure, there was a time when Stiles would have run circles with his words and confused his dad, but ever since the werewolf secret was revealed the Stilinski men have made a pact to always be honest with each other. Or, at least, not actively lie.

Omitting certain details though? That's fine.

So, Stiles confesses:

"Actually, dad, I did have a date."

"Bingo!"

"But it wasn't before me coming home." He scratches his neck, suddenly shy. He can feel his cheeks heating up, the memories of last night once again rushing through his mind.

"I take it was good, whenever it was. But wait, where were this afternoon then?"

"Oh, dad, don't ask. It was a terrible day, I tell you! Erica and Lydia wouldn't leave me alone until I told them every. Single. Detail."

His dad raises an eyebrow. His voice is stern as he speaks. "Young man, you're seventeen. I know you think having sex is the pinnacle of teenage—"

"No! No, no, no!" Now he's blushing for an entirely different reason. "No, definitely not! De- date and I definitely didn't have sex last night." Oh god, kill him now. "It was just a dinner and movie date and it was cliché but... Dad, it was so good."

His dad smiles. Asks him if he's had dinner yet, and when he says no, tells him to tell him everything over dinner.

"Not everything," he clarifies quickly, "Just parts you're comfortable sharing with me."

Stiles loves him so much. He hugs his dad, tells him so, and starts to do just as he was asked to — he heats his dinner up, his dad having already cooked and eaten, and then both of them settle on the dining table chairs.

Stiles tells him things.

How much he loved how his date came to pick him up from Lydia's, because she was the one who dressed him. His dad laughs at that part, and Stiles points his fork at him, trying to shut him up, but only succeeds in joining in on the laughter fest.

How much he loved the flowers he got, and how his date was a gentleman all night long. Opened all the doors for him, pulled out his chair at the restaurant, and even let him eat off of his plate. Didn't even tell him to shut up when he kept babbling at the cinema.

"I'm going to pause you here and ask — you're dating a guy?"

"Not dating dating, since this was our first date, but... yeah." His dad knows he's bisexual, has known for a while, but this is the first person Stiles is dating ever and it's a guy.

He waits for his dad's reaction.

"You want to go on a second date with him?"

Stiles blows out a breath. Toys with his food a bit. The only thing he doesn't want to do in this moment is grin like a lunatic.

But he fails.

His dad holds his gaze and tells him, "Any person who makes you this happy, they get my approval."

"Dad," Stiles says, overcome with emotions. "Thank you."

"Always, kiddo. Your happiness is what matters to me. That being said, you need to do your laundry, and I'm going to go sleep. Night."

"Oh, come on! We were having a moment, and you totally ruined it!" He yells at his dad's back, which is shaking with laughter.

He yells good night, then thinks of his dad's reaction when he learns his date was Derek.

*

"I want to tell my dad."

This is their fifth date.

They're in a coffee shop a few towns over, just looking at each other, talking about this and that. About what Stiles wants to do after he completes his senior year, what Derek's plans were and what he ended up doing. It's a quiet environment, not many patrons here besides them, and they are in their own little bubble here.

Which pops rather loudly as Derek looks at him with the widest eyes he's ever seen.

Stiles tries not to laugh. He really, really does.

He ends up laughing, the other patrons and the waitstaff looking over at them at the sound.

"Are you scared? Of my poor ol' dad?"

"Your dad who is the Sheriff!" Derek hisses, trying to not let more attention come over them. "And I'm dating his underage son. Stiles! This is not funny."

"I'm sorry," he isn't, "But the Alpha of Beacon Hills is scared of an old man? That is funny as hell, Der."

"Stiles!"

"Darling," he tries to calm himself down, and looking into Derek's eyes has that effect on him, "It's okay. We don't have to tell him yet. It's just an idea, okay? We can wait until you're ready."

Derek takes a moment to process and reply. "Didn't you say he approves of your boyfriend?"

"My boyfriend who he probably thinks is my age, or like, maybe two or three years older. Not six."

Derek takes one look at him, at the hickey he's marked on his neck, and shakes his head rather aggressively. "No."

Stiles laughs and keeps laughing, until Derek shuts him up with a kiss.

*

The police station is nearly empty when he enters. It makes sense; it's lunch time and recently there hasn't been anything big. Which is good, really good.

It means he gets to finish his last year in school in peace, and he doesn't have to worry about his dad working himself to death.

It's a good time in Beacon Hills.

Stiles thinks so, right until the moment he's on his fifth bite of burger and his dad's staring down his own.

"You know, son, one day you are gonna have to make your boyfriend meet me."

Stiles chokes on his burger.

"If you can't eat the rest of it, maybe I can—"

"It's not healthy for you!" He shouts when he's feeling okay, and then, "Also, I could have died right now. Were you not worried?"

"I've seen you trip on air and gracefully fight off a rogue werewolf, Stiles."

"And?"

His dad just rolls his eyes, picks up his own healthy burger, smells it, and puts it down. "Smells nasty,"

"Good for your health," he sing-songs. And then, "It's only been a month, dad, jeez! Let us live a little. Plus, he's scared of you-" Fuck. His dad is looking at him weird.

"He's scared of me?"

"I mean, you're the Sheriff, so." He shrugs. It's totally a valid reason to be scared.

"Hmm. And there is no other reason?"

"Nope, not at all!"

"Right."

Stiles stuffs the rest of his burger into his mouth to avoid further questioning. His dad sighs, clearly thinking he's raised an animal, and attempts to eat his own lunch.

By the time he's done, he's licking his fingers.

"Told you it tastes better than it smells."

His dad meticulously wipes his mouth, his fingers with napkins. Stiles is drinking his banana smoothie.

"And I told you I want to meet the boy who has got you so chipper."

Stiles ends up snorting the smoothie out his nose.

"Oh, lord."

His dad is clearly questioning Stiles' existence. At this point, Stiles is doing the same.

*

His dad doesn't leave the issue, and after continuous requests — orders, more like — Stiles breaks down in front of Derek.

Derek, the pure, innocent soul whose color leaves him the moment Stiles tells him of his dad's demands.

"I need to create a will." Is what Derek answers with.

Stiles agrees, and adds, "Erica will be a good Alpha, I think."

They both hold each other, then, fearing the worst.

*

Stiles tries to soften the blow by providing his dad with unhealthy food for three days straight.

Three is his limit.

"Derek, I'm sorry, but I can't do this any longer."

Derek accepts his fate rather bravely. Eyes steeled with determination, he walks into the Stilinski home, and Stiles follows, once again rehearsing the speech in his mind.

Dad, I know this isn't what you were expecting. But this is my boyfriend. Derek Hale. Yes, I know he's 23 and I'm 17, but dad. I like him so much. And he likes me that much back. We are good together. You know I have been happy, and dad, Derek has been too. You know because I know you have seen him around. Dad—

Turns out, he need not have prepared the speech.

Because his dad? Is kind of an asshole.

The very first thing he sees when he enters the living room is Derek's back, because he's frozen in the middle of the room, eyes locked on—

The banner.

That reads WELCOME DEREK HALE.

"You knew." He looks at his dad, who is smiling smugly.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I think you are forgetting, kiddo, but I'm a cop."

"But you- the steaks! Dad!"

His dad doesn't even have the decency to fake remorse.

"Come on, Der, we are leaving."

He tugs on Derek's hand, makes him move back out the door. Derek follows, but only after saying:

"Thank you for not killing me!"

"You're welcome, son!" His dad yells back.

The son sends a warmth through Stiles' entire being, the easy acceptance of Derek into their little unit of family a welcome gift. When Stiles looks at Derek, he sees his boyfriend reflecting the same emotions.

*

Later that same night, his dad calls to tell him this —

"Stiles, I love you, kiddo. And I want you to be happy. And I guess your happiness is with Derek. It was hard to digest at first, but then I saw you both at the bookstore." Stiles remembers that day — it was their second date. "I knew you were dating someone, a boy, and I connected that information with what I saw, and I came up with my son dating an older boy. It angered me, concerned me. But then I saw past that, because I saw how he was with you and you with him.

It was like watching the past. I won't call this young love, because clearly this is more than that. I'm not sure how you would feel about this years down the line, if it will even be true, but I have a conviction that a decade from now, maybe even sooner, I won't be calling my son and his boyfriend, but my sons. My son, and his husband."

Stiles has tears in his eyes, but it is okay, because Derek does too. And from the way his dad's voice cracks, so does he.

"I love you, Stiles."

"Love you, dad. So much."

His dad hangs up the call, and Stiles buries himself into Derek's chest.

"Your father is a good man," Derek tells him, and Stiles nods. "I won't let him down. I won't let you down."

"I know."

Stiles tilts his head, and Derek tilts his, and they kiss, a gentle, soft kiss that conveys the conviction of his dad's words, and their hope of its truth.

(It's true. His dad even recounts this tale at the wedding reception — how he knew and he played on Stiles' fear to eat unhealthy food for three days straight.

Everyone laughs, and then Stiles has to suffer as his husband — husband! — gangs up on him with his dad.

*

He wakes up floating in the air. He screams, because he can see the forest floor below him, and he's definitely gonna fall so he needs to brace himself—

"Where the hell are my legs?!"

"Gone," the genie giggles. She's blue in hue, white jewels around her white eyes, and she has her teal long hair in knots the same way Stiles' stomach is now. Stiles gulps. She laughs. "You wished for this, Stiles."

And with that, she's gone.

Stiles doesn't fall, but he wishes he had. Especially when he sees his dad trudging through the forest with K9 dogs, unaware of his existence even though he shouts, cries, and yearns.

His dad looks up, but never at him. He tries to touch his dad, make him aware of his existence, but all his dad does is look terrified of something Stiles doesn't know of and unaware of Stiles' mere existence.

Finally, his dad leaves, muttering, "Stupid teenagers and stupid games."

Stiles follows, because that's the only thing he can do right now.

*

Turns out, this isn't 2013, and this isn't post senior year. He's in 2011, and this is the morning after Stiles and Scott had found Laura's body and Scott had gotten bitten. Except, in this freaky world, Stiles doesn't exist.

Why would Scott even go to the forest at night if Stiles didn't force him? Scott's said it himself, that if it wasn't for him Scott never would have had to endure the life he has. He could have been normal. If only Stiles wasn't there.

And in this world, Stiles wasn't.

He gets the answer the same time Melissa gets it, her mascara smudged, wedding ring on her finger, matching his dad's, both of them sitting on the couch of Stiles' childhood home.

"We haven't located him yet," his dad is saying, voice tinged with regret and fury. "That kid. What could have been so important that he went to the forest in the middle of the night? And after I told him about the body!"

So Laura is still dead, huh. He wonders why even this world is taking from Derek, but that's forgotten when Melissa says this —

"Did you ask Jackson? He knows everything that Scott does. He must know where our son is!"

Jackson and Scott are friends in this world? What even? Stiles had always believed that he was the only thing keep Scott from being cool and popular, and now he knows this to be true. If Stiles never existed, then Scott would have had a much better childhood. And much cooler people to hand out with.

"I did. He says Scott was terrified of the killer and had wanted Jackson to come over for a sleepover, but Lydia didn't let him." At least those two are still together. "And that was the last thing Jackson and Scott talked about."

Melissa looks up, staring straight at his dad. "And?"

His dad never beats around the bush. As a cop, it's much better to be blunt than to dance around the truth, and right here, right now, he's a cop delivering a bad news to a woman whose child is missing.

"And Scott had a fight with Lydia over that, apparently, and he went to cool down at his favorite spot in town." His dad pauses, and Stiles' stomach drops out.

"Where, John. Where?"

He says in sync with his dad, "In the preserve." And then in sync with Melissa, "Damn it Scott!"

*

Scott comes home in the evening, unscratched and alive, and it seems like he hasn't been bitten, and Stiles is glad for a moment, but then he sees things. Like Scott scrunching his face on the second floor when the main door opens and shuts, Melissa leaving for work, her worries for her son soothed. Like Scott laughing at seemingly nothing, but then Stiles goes down and sees that his dad's watching a rom-com in the living room. And most damning of all, the next day, Scott does the thing with the pen. He gives it to Allison right as she enters the class, like he heard she forgot hers — even with multiple walls and a good amount of distance between where that conversation happened and where Scott was sitting in the class.

And then Stiles realizes, he never had anything to do with this. It was Scott's destiny to become a werewolf, and it doesn't matter if Stiles is there or not. It's Scott's destiny.

"His destiny was always to become a True Alpha."

He's in his not-bedroom, sitting on Scott's bed, contemplating his original wish. He was upset at the time; Scott had reinforced his belief of Stiles ruining his life, and he'd just found out about the genie lamp Lydia ordered from... somewhere. It was like fate, him wishing to never exist, so that the people in his life could have a better life without him.

He's contemplating whether or not that wish was even warranted, and what are all the implications of him never existing in this world, what else changes, and if it doesn't really; that's when the genie decides to come back, a somber look on her face.

"He wasn't."

She scares the shit out of him, her hand on his knee, comforting but cold. He shrieks, and she gives a little smile, shakes her head. Repeats, "He wasn't meant to be an Alpha."

And Stiles tells her everything.

"Me being there... it doesn't matter. He became a werewolf in this world, because it was destiny." And, "I don't impact the people around me." And, "Nobody would miss me. Nobody. I'm just a nuisance. It's great for them that I don't exist in this world."

The genie looks at him sadly. "No, Stiles," she cups his cheeks, and he lets him, lets her wipe his tears with her thumb. It's comforting, like his mother's voice or her laugh. "That's not true. You matter. You matter in ways you don't even realize."

"Do I, really? Do I?"

"Yes. Scott was never meant to be a True Alpha, but you know who is? This person." She snaps her fingers, and they're in the charred remains of the Hale House suddenly, sitting on its burnt floor. Stiles' heartbeat quickens, and he sees him then — sad, angry, and terrified, all at once, all of it in his eyebrows, his face a marble statue carved out of a constant state of paranoia.

"Derek."

"Derek Hale," the genie agrees.

"He was...? But he gave up his powers. To save Cora. And then—"

"And then Derek's power weakened. It didn't vanish. For any other Alpha, the spark would have been depleted completely, but not for Derek."

"Not for Derek?"

"Not for the greatest Alpha to walk this land since the very first Alpha that ever existed." Stiles is too stunned to speak. All he can do is look at the Derek sitting in the corner of the destroyed living room, gripping a folded photo in his hands, looking so young yet so old. Wracked with guilt and pain, so much pain.

The genie continues.

"He is Destiny's Child. The Seed of Power, The Bloom of Prosperity. He is The Phoenix, risen from flames of blood and death and betrayal. He is the True Alpha, and for him, the power would have come back."

"Then why didn't it?" His head is spinning with all the titles, his mind hysterical over them. But he's sitting with a genie in a world that isn't his own, his legs turned to a single tail like a mermaid floating in air, and he believes now.

"Because where there is light, there is darkness. Deaton used nefarious ways to steal that Alpha Spark from Derek, and with Julia's sacrifices, the Nemeton was a powerful conduit for his malpractices of magic."

"And he gave that to Scott. But why?"

"Stiles... Derek is Power. And you? You are Knowledge. You know why."

"Seed of Knowledge... He's the brawns and I'm the brains? Geez, you make it sound like we're the two sides of the same coin." The genie just looks at him, her white eyes sparkling. He decides to not focus on that, instead thinking of an answer to his own question. And then he gets it. "Having power is great... but controlling it is even better."

"One makes you accountable, the other makes you the master."

Stiles has to admit, "Deaton is smart. Shit, does this mean Scott was manipulated all this time?"

"Perhaps. But right now, I want you to focus on this: What is your destiny? You said it youself, you're the two sides to the same coin. You, my child, were correct."

"Like I always am?"

"Like you always are," she agrees, and then they're shuffling through scenes of Stiles' life like it's a goddamn movie.

Every scene is Stiles saving Derek. Or being there for Derek. Being Pack.

When Stiles spent nearly a whole day with a dying Derek in his Jeep, and almost chopped off his arm save him.

When he let Derek lay low in his own room.

The pool.

After Boyd's death.

The time he spent the whole day at Derek's loft, deliberate and silent, a shoulder to lean on, the day of the fire's anniversary.

And on and on and on.

"That's you two, existing, side by side. Now look at this."

She shows him this world's Derek. His fate.

Derek dies by Kate's bullet, untrusting of Scott to go ask for help, and too stubborn to not haul ass into the Argent's mansion to go look for the bullet himself. Unfortunately for him, Grandpa Crazy was there, too, enjoying his meal. And then later...

"I don't- I can't- Not him, please, He can't die, I—"

They're back in his not-bedroom.

"Why would you show me that?! Why the hell would you—"

"Because you matter. Humans interact every day, and maybe sometimes those interactions mean nothing. But you and him? Each one of your interactions does mean something. Your Destiny is intertwined. You are the brain to his brawns, the brawns to his brains. You're strengths of each other in a way that Ares himself envies, that Apollo sings of, that Eros prides himself on."

"What are you saying?" This is getting too much for him, now. It's one thing to be there for each other, for him to mean something in someone's life, in Derek's life... but this? Too much.

The genie smiles, teeth and all. She has vampiric teeth, except all her teeth are long-fanged. "You are each other's."

Stiles pauses. Thinks through everything that has happened between him and Derek. They're friends. Derek is a beta and he's still the annoying human, and they're always circling each other, joking and ribbing and fighting and slamming each other into surfaces. Well, the last part Derek does to him.

They're close.

They're not in love.

"Not yet,"

"Don't tell me you can fucking mind-read." He only gets a smile in return, the full-fanged one. "Okay... moving on. What do you mean not yet? And you didn't actually complete your sentence. We are each other's what?"

"You are each other's everything." The words echo all around him, inside his skin, in his bones. They hold a weight, bearing down on his chest, arms around his body, like a tight, vicious grip, and the genie repeats, "Everything."

And that's the last thing he hears out of the genie before waking up on the preserve floor, Derek staring down at him, his eyes flashing red.

Stiles blinks up at him.

"Stiles, what did you do?"

He gulps.

"Technically, I didn't do anything,"