Work Text:
Stiles is so ready for winter break. Sure, he loves studying at the FBI, especially now that he’s starting to have more specialized courses to become a member of the Supernatural Task Force, but after exam season the idea of taking some time off and spending the break with his whole pack sounds very appealing.
He’s excited enough at the prospect of his dad waiting for him at the airport to forget his plane jitters, at least until it’s time for the landing.
Having survived the whole ordeal with his life and his luggage intact, he tries to spot his dad amongst all the people waiting at the gate. It’s easy because Scott is right next to him, almost jumping up and down like an excited puppy. In moments like these he can’t believe he’s set to become the next big alpha, because he looks more like a pup with golden retriever energy.
He hugs them both and then they start to catch up while walking to the car. Scott’s flight arrived about an half hour earlier than his, so he’s had a chance to catch up with his dad already, which means that Stiles is more than happy to carry the conversation.
They pile in his dad’s cruiser, Stiles in the front and Scott in the back, and head for Beacon Hills. Melissa should get home from the hospital right around the time they’ll be there, which keeps Scott excited and awake, but Stiles has no such incentive and so falls asleep pretty fast, only waking up when they stop to drop him off at the McCalls' house.
From there to their house the trip is short, so he tries to make some groggy conversation with his dad, but he’s pretty tired. As soon as they get home he heads for his room and in no time at all he’s under the covers of his childhood bed, sleeping the night away.
The next day it’s right to business. He’s feeling refreshed after a full night of sleep, and with his dad at work and all his friends (minus Scott) arriving between today and tomorrow he’s left with some free time.
He decides to go look around at the Christmas market the town puts up every year, searching for inspiration for some last minute gifts and also for something to bring to the Hales tomorrow evening as thanks for hosting the pack dinnner. He gets a bit carried away with the shopping, and ends up with more packets and boxes than he can comfortably carry in his arms.
He’s a bit distracted, looking at a message Lydia sent him on his phone saying she has landed safely, when someone crashes into him, making him drop the stuff he had haphazardly piled in one arm to be able to look at his phone.
«I’m so sorry, I totally wasn’t looking where I was going.» He says guiltily.
The stranger slightly cocks his head, a small frown between his eyebrows. He looks vaguely familiar and definitely hot, somewhere in the mid-thirties range.
«Well, yes,» his face smooths in an ironic smile as he starts picking up the fallen presents, Stiles copying him automatically, «I would suggest distributing your things evenly between both arms next time, if you're so against using a bag.» He piles the last package in his arms with a smirk. «Have a good shopping session,» he says, then he just sidesteps him and continues on his way.
Stiles frowns, trying to think of why the man looked familiar, but the growling of his stomach brings his mind back to more pressing matters, convincing him it’s time to go home. By the time he has sorted all his purchases and masterfully reheated some Chinese leftovers, he has forgotten all about the handsome stranger.
Come evening the next day, Stiles is really looking forward to catching up with the whole pack. Lydia comes to pick him up and then they swing by the McCalls house, chatting a bit while they wait for Scott to come out. When he gets in the car he looks even more like an excitable puppy than usual.
«Guys it’s snowing outside!» He almost screams in lieu of a greeting. Stiles shoots him an unimpressed look.
«You could at least choose a believable lie if you want me to get out of the car to steal shotgun.»
«No, I think he’s right.» says Lydia, who has sensibly rolled down the window and is sticking a hand outside to check. «Look, it’s even starting to stick a bit on the windshield.»
Stiles looks, and lo and behold he can actually see snowflakes falling on the glass and sticking there for a moment before being melted by the heat. What the fuck? Winter hasn’t even technically started and yet it’s snowing? In the middle of California? Stiles is at a loss for words.
Before his mind can go down the path of ‘which supernatural creature could cause this?’ Lydia elbows him lightly.
«Hey, relax, it’s just snow. Just because it’s rare to see it here doesn’t mean it has to have a supernatural origin.» If Stiles didn’t know very well what her powers are from firsthand experience, he’d think her a telepath.
Still, her words have the desired effect, and by the time they get to the Hale house he’s able to enjoy the slight dusting of white that is already sticking to the trees without overthinking it.
When they get inside mostly everyone is already there, split between the kitchen and the living room, so they do a round of greetings and then split to catch up with different people.
Stiles is talking with Derek and Laura about the differences between east and west coast interpack relations when someone behind him cuts in with «Talking politics at the family gathering? Dangerous choice.»
Stiles whips around, sarcastic answer on the tip of his tongue, but the words get stuck in his throat when he recognizes the man from the Christmas market. Suddenly it clicks: that’s why he was familiar! He’s Derek’s uncle, the one that moved out of Beacon Hills. It had happened when Stiles was still in middle school, but even before they never interacted much given the nearly fifteen years gap between them, which is why he hadn’t recognized him yesterday. But seeing him here, right next to his niece and nephew, makes it really easy to see the similarities.
Stiles tries to remember why he had left in the first place. He recalls Derek saying something about him being different and not really fitting in, but he was too young to really understand the reasons. Now that he thinks about it, the most likely explanation is that he was born human. Otherwise he would have seen him at least once during all the full moons he has spent with the Hale’s pack. Stiles knows that Talia’s father wasn’t a born wolf, so it’s not unlikely that one of his children was also born without the more… animalistic tendencies. And he knows firsthand how hard it can be to be the only human in a pack. It’s probably even harder when said pack is also your family. He doesn’t know why he wouldn’t take the bite, but then again Stiles hadn’t either, despite being offered, so he probably had his reasons.
Still, all of that doesn’t really erase the bad impression Stiles made in the market due to his clumsiness. If anything, it adds to it, because the other had probably recognized him from the time he and Scott spent in the Hale house as kids. Stiles can’t even remember his name.
When Derek starts introducing his uncle he snaps out of his thoughts, his jaw clicking shut, but he can tell his space out has been noticed by the smirk on the man’s face.
«Stiles, you might remember my uncle Peter, he’s my mom’s youngest brother. He’s here for the holidays.» He doesn’t sound really happy about it, but then again Derek rarely sounds happy about anything, so.
«Actually, I’m planning to stay. I’m setting up my very own firm for supernaturals here in Beacon Hills» Peter looks disproportionally pleased with this. Stiles isn’t sure if it’s due to the firm or getting to annoy Derek, who looks like he just drank a glass full of pure lemon juice and is trying to smile through it.
Just when Peter turns towards him, surely ready to let everyone know of their meeting in the market, Talia announces that dinner is ready. Stiles makes sure to sit as far from the man as possible, and pushes the whole thing in the back of his mind in favour of spending time with his friends.
A couple of days later, Stiles is in the town square wondering where they found the budget for the enormous Christmas tree right in the middle of it while waiting for his friends. While they all want to spend time with their families, this is the one time a year they can all catch up with each other, and so they decided to add to their traditional friendsmas costume party at Hale's house an outing with just their original group. Ice skating won, and so Stiles now finds himself under this botanical monstrosity trying to pass the time until someone else gets there.
Unsurprisingly, Lydia is the first to arrive, in a warm but stylish outfit. Allison and Jackson arrive togheter a couple of minutes after her. They all have to wait for a while before Scott and Isaac show themselves, also arriving together.
Once they’re all there they head for the skating rink. It’s so cold outside that they probably need minimal power to keep it running. The whole town is still covered in snow, much to Stiles’ befuddlement.
They have been skating for a while before Stiles starts feeling observed. It takes a few more loops of the rink for him to spot the source of the feeling. Peter is already staring at him, clearly judging his life choices. Stiles tries to have twice as much fun just to piss him off.
After a bit the not supernaturally enhanced members of the group, which is to say Lydia, Allison and Stiles, are quite tired, and since the weres don’t show any sign of stopping they decide to call it a day and just watch from the sidelines for the rest of the afternoon. After they’ve returned their skates, Stiles elects to reintegrate his energy and warmth with a hot chocolate, while Allison and Lydia decide to opt out and go to the side of the rink to talk and watch their friends.
While he’s waiting in line at the food stand to order his drink, Peter ambushes him. He actually jumps when the other greets him, thinking he had already left.
«Hello Stiles.»
«AH! You almost gave me a heart attack. They should put a bell on you, warn people you’re coming.»
«Where would the fun be in that?» He smiles sardonically.
«Why were you watching us? Don’t you have anything better to do? Gifts? A job?» Stiles changes the subject. Peter’s smile doesn’t falter. In fact, it looks bigger.
«Well, I was mostly watching you. I wanted to see if your lower body coordination was better than your higher half. I have to admit I was surprised.»
Stiles starts to splutter and hopes the cold covers his blush. Before he can form a coherent answer, his turn comes up. He orders his hot chocolate with marshmallows, whipped cream and extra sprinkles and then goes to the side to wait for it. He’s surprised when Peter joins him, receipt in hand. He didn’t picture him as a hot chocolate kind of man.
He gets proven right when their drinks are called, a glorious cup of sweet heated nectar for him and a hot apple cider with cinnamon for Peter. Still strangely christmassy for someone that doesn’t really look like he enjoys the holidays, but much more plausible.
Stiles asks about his work out of politeness, and they end up talking about supernatural rights for almost an hour.
They’re having a really interesting conversation about ethical wendigos’ diets when Stiles' friends catch up with them, the enhanced ones also having exhausted themselves.
Seeing Isaac in the group, Peter offers him a ride to the Hale house, where the boy is also staying for the holidays.
Stiles is a bit unhappy that their conversation got cut off, but it’s already pretty late and he has promised his dad he’d be home for dinner, and so he ends up following the others to the parking lot. All in all, it was a good afternoon.
The next morning a panicked Derek calls him, asking for help with their family’s traditional Christmas cookie bake. Stiles knows that it’s the favourite activity of the younger members of the family, and that Derek is very good with children, so he supposes his help is required more for the baking side of things. Which is great, because he’s not really good at dealing with groups of children. They never listen to him.
He takes his dad’s civilian car, which is an old, used model he has been using to get around during the holidays, and fiercely misses his Jeep.
He misses it even more when the car breaks down at the edge of the preserve. He gets out to examine the engine, years of experience with the Jeep leaving him confident he can fix whatever broke down, but before he can even pop the hood open the sound of a car horn makes him jump and turn around.
Out of a car he doesn’t recognize comes Peter, tastefully dressed with a long grey coat and a blue scarf. Stiles feels underdressed and also cold in his Lacrosse hoodie, since he’s still not used to how freezing the weather is this year.
«What happened? Are you okay?» Peter asks when he gets closer, sounding a bit worried.
«I’m fine, the car just stopped I guess. Probably didn’t like the cold too much, not that I can disagree.»
Peter looks him up and down, taking in his totally-not-appropriate-to-the-weather clothes, and then declares «You’re waiting in my car with the heating on while I see what I can do to fix this.»
«Excuse you, I’m perfectly capable of fixing whatever’s wrong.»
«I don’t doubt it, but I see no reason why you need to race against hypothermia if I’m here. Now off you go.» He shoos him away, and Stiles is left speechless. The nerve, the audacity of this man! He wants to argue more, but a full body shiver stops him in his tracks. He stomps to Peter's car, to let him know he’s doing it unwillingly, and tries to ignore the chuckle that comes from under the hood where the other is already working.
The interior of the vehicle is actually much more warm and comfortable than standing outside in the snow, and Stiles relaxes while watching Peter work.
He doesn’t have to wait long, because less than ten minutes later Peter comes back towards his car, Stiles’ keys in hand. He tosses them to him and then gets in.
«I’m afraid it can’t be fixed right now. A piece just broke, so it would be better to bring it to a mechanic. I can call one while you’re baking and then I can give you a ride home when you’re done.»
Stiles thinks that his Jeep would never have abandoned him like this, but he’s also secretly glad it happened because he gets to spend a bit more time with Peter. Not that he has ulterior motives, it’s just… nice to spend time with him, and to have a chance to get to know him better. No other reasons. Nope, none at all.
Anyway, the ride is way too short to have an actual conversation, and a couple of minutes later they’re parking in front of the Hale house.
As they get out of the car, Stiles notices Derek cutting some wood at the edge of the treeline. It wouldn’t be weird at all, if it wasn’t for the fact that his whole upper body is naked save for the Santa hat on his head. Stiles will never understand how weres' thermoregulation works. He decides to just ignore the whole thing for his mental health, and makes a beeline for the warmth of the house. Peter follows him in, but immediately goes up the stairs, while Stiles heads for the kitchen.
He’s a bit sad Peter won’t be joining them, but he understands why he might not want to deal with the chaos. Plus, he had promised to sort his dad's car out.
While waiting for Derek to come back inside, he starts looking for ingredients and making the dough, prepping everything for when the children will get there.
Less than twenty minutes later the dough is in the fridge and Derek is in front of him, chest covered and hair slightly damp from the shower, christmas hat still firmly in place. Before either of them can say anything, they hear the door open and the group of Hale children swarms the kitchen and living room, filling it with chatter.
They're followed by a very worn out Laura, who only waits for a nod from Derek before fleeing to the higher floor.
The kids are all very excited for the cookies, so Stiles introduces himself and then they immediately get to work, with him supervising the rolling and cutting of the dough and Derek coordinating the children.
Two hours later, Stiles and Derek are exhausted but they have enough cookies to feed a small army, all thoroughly decorated by the kids.
Right as they’re finishing tidying up, Peter appears in the kitchen and sweeps a cookie, earning a double set of glares which he masterfully ignores.
«Your car is dealt with,» he immediately addresses Stiles, not even acknowledging his own nephew. «They said they only needed to switch out the broken piece, and that you can go pick it up tomorrow.»
«Thanks.» Stiles nods, grateful that he doesn’t have to do anything, Peter having already handled the whole thing. «Can I cash in my free drive right now?»
Peter shrugs. «I’ll grab my coat. You should also grab one, it hasn’t gotten any hotter.»
He comes back with the same grey coat from this morning and another, shorter, dark blue one for him.
«Bring it back tomorrow before the party. I’m stuck on babysitting duty anyway.»
Stiles raises an eyebrow at that. «Well, I’m so glad a responsible adult will be there to watch over us.» His words drip sarcasm.
Peter just shrugs, and then he’s out the door. Since Stiles has some manners, he says goodbye to Derek and the children, who are now all sat in front of the tv watching a Christmas movie, before following him.
When he gets outside, Peter has already turned the car on and is impatiently waiting for him. Stiles rolls his eyes and takes his time to get to the passenger side, walking as slowly as possible just to see if he can piss off Peter some more. When he finally gets in Peter shoots him an unimpressed look but doesn’t say anything, simply putting the car on drive and heading for Beacon Hills.
The following evening it’s finally time for their friendmas party. This year the theme is ‘Slutty Christmas’, which sounded very funny when they chose it back in August but is less so in the cold December reality. Mostly because slutty means underdressed and they've been getting snow for the past three days.
His costume pick was a sexy elf so he’s decked in green, with short shorts, a crop top gilet that doesn’t actually close and a santa hat all in the same shade of the color.
He looks very good, if he does say so himself, but now the problem is getting all the way to the Hale house without freezing to death. He’s gathering the courage to just open the door and run for it when his phone buzzes with a notification.
It’s Peter reminding him to bring back the coat, which is double lucky because one, he was about to totally forget it, and two, it’s the perfect answer to his problem. He shrugs on the coat, grateful that it’s of the fancy, longer variety. Even if it doesn’t really cover his calves, it’s still a great improvement, and it allows him to get to the car without his blood freezing over.
After the familiar trip, he gets to the Hale house. From the outside nothing has changed, but inside most of the furniture has been moved to create more space, and the Christmas decorations have absolutely gone haywire.
He’s greeted at the entrance by Peter, who seems to appreciate him wearing his coat. He feels a bit self conscious about taking it off in front of the fully dressed man, but keeping the coat inside would just be weirder.
When his costume gets exposed Peter eyes him up and down appreciatively, but before he can make any inappropriate comment and kill Stiles via embarrassment he activates panic mode and, spotting Derek in the kitchen, calls to him way too loudly.
«DEREK! Do you need a hand with anything?» He basically teleports to the kitchen counter, completely bypassing Peter, a forced grin on his face.
«Uhm, you can take out the appetizers from the fridge?» Derek offers, brow furrowed but clearly deciding not to ask questions. Stiles thinks it's a smart move.
He has just put down the first plate of food on the counter when Derek’s costume finally registers. In some way it makes him feel better about his own, because the werewolf only has a pair of red and white Santa shorts and a christmas hat on.
«How long have you been dressed like that for?» Stiles asks, perplexed. The party won’t start for another twenty minutes, and if he was the one hosting he’d get ready as last minute as possible.
Derek shrugs, but Peter's voice comes loud and clear from the top of the stairs «Too long!»
Stiles wonders how he was able to hear them from the next floor over. He decides to drop the costume thing in favour of helping Derek set up the food and the last details.
People start to trickle in around fifteen minutes later, with most of the pack arriving a bit earlier. They always try to make this party as big as they can, so basically everyone under 25 in town is here tonight. They do try to limit high schoolers to only seniors, but they don’t always succeed. Teenagers are sneaky little shits.
After a couple of hours Stiles has a slight buzz going on and is having a lot of fun with his friends. He goes to the kitchen to make himself another drink when a guy he vaguely recognizes from high school approaches him. He starts shamelessly hitting on him, which makes him flattered, but he’s just not his type.
«I know age is just a number, but I prefer it in the silver fox range.» he cuts off the guy. He gets a grimace and a side eye for that, but at least he leaves him alone.
The whole thing distracted him, and so he’s not really sure what he has already put in his drink. Shrugging, he adds more alcohol, deciding he can’t go wrong with that.
About an hour and several more drinks later, he’s definitely drunk. He’s kind of conscious about it somewhere in the back of his mind, but he’s thinking more about dancing than he is about the hangover waiting for him in the morning.
Just then he spots Peter at the base of the stairs, looking out of place with his v neck in the middle of a mostly naked crowd. His brain isn’t braining much at all right now, so when Peter stares back he just starts heading towards him for no reason at all, because fuck it we ball, mostly.
When he gets within shouting distance, he notices the other looks very annoyed with the crowd and the music and just the party in general. He really doesn’t know who thought it a good idea to leave Peter instead of one of the weres to watch over them all. The most he could do in an emergency is probably call an ambulance.
Before he gets the chance to shout something probably inappropriate and very embarrassing, Peter grabs his wrist and starts threading the crowd, heading towards the back door.
When the cool evening air hits his face, and most of the rest of his body, Stiles shivers.
«It’s cooold» he whimpers, walking closer to Peter to take advantage of the heat he gives off.
He never noticed Peter runs this hot, but it might just be that he’s freezing right now and so everything feels warmer.
Peter hands him the same blue coat he has arrived in, which apparently he's had in his hand until now, without turning. Stiles takes it, but his right wrist is still stuck in Peter's hand and so he awkwardly puts one half of it on, leaving the other one to trail behind him on the ground.
Peter brings them to the side of the house, which is cold and dark and therefore void of partygoers.
«Do you bring all your prospective kills here, or am I special?» Stiles giggles at his own joke, and then sways a little when Peter lets go of his arm. He must be more drunk than he had thought.
«Stiles, look at me.» Peter’s tone is so serious that Stiles feels compelled to obey. «Did you drink anything from the fridge?»
«Uh, like, only a beer. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was your personal stash.» He doesn't think he's really sorry, actually.
«Stiles, the drinks we put there were all spiked with wolfsbane.» Well, that is a good way to make him sober up.
«What? And you didn’t think to tell me? Or any of the other human guests?»
«I thought Derek told you while you were setting up. And none of the non-pack humans would take anything from what is very clearly our personal fridge, I hope.»
«So now what, am I in timeout?» Stiles pouts.
«I’m not any more happy about this than you are, but since Talia expects me to show at least some responsibility we’re stuck here until you get better.» He gives him a warning glance, as if that will get him to behave.
«We? You’re staying with me?» Stiles tries to mask his excitement with annoyance, but judging from Peter’s face he’s not really successful.
«I’m not really inclined to trust you’ll stay here on your own, and I really don’t feel like searching for you all throughout the preserve.» Peter tries to sound bored, but Stiles is pretty sure the other doesn’t mind his company that much.
They stay quiet for maybe ten seconds before Stiles perks up.
«Thanks for the coat by the way, came very in hand this afternoon.» he closes it tighter against himself, grateful for the warmth.
«Yes, I can imagine. I don’t think you’re allowed to just wear your costume outside.»
Stiles shrugs. «It’s a lifestyle.» He pauses for a beat, grinning mischievously. «I bet you like me better without the coat anyway.» He has no idea where the courage to say that came from. It’s probably the wolfsbane.
«Well, I have good taste.» Stiles doesn’t understand if Peter’s being ironic or not, but his mouth moves before his brain gives it permission.
«Surely better than mine. Sarcastic old men are so last year.» He blames one of those teen movies Scott made him watch for that particular turn of phrase.
«I thought you liked men in the silver fox range?»
Stiles gapes «You heard that?» He almost screams.
Peter shrugs and doesn’t answer. After another thirty seconds of silence, Stiles' brain switches gears again, the previous subject already forgotten.
«My hands are cold.»
«Oh I’m sorry, let me melt the snow and bring out the sun for the elf princess.» Peter’s words drip sarcasm, which combined with the cold makes Stiles pout.
«You’re hot, just heat me up with your body.» He retorts.
Really, it’s so simple. He’s not sure that was what he was supposed to say out loud though.
«Sure, and how would you suggest I do that?» Peter has an eyebrow raised, but Stiles doesn’t care about sarcasm, or words, anymore, so he just shoves his hands under Peter’s thick shirt, resting them on his stomach. The man hisses, displeased, and tries to wriggle away.
Stiles’ hands chase him, but the rest of him forgets to and so he faceplants in the snow. He feels Peter silently judging him from where he’s now standing near his head.
«Ok, I think it’s time for you to go home.» Stiles turns his head, studying Peter's shoes.
«Whaaat? The party just started.»
«It has been going for more than four hours. Almost everyone has already left.» Now that Stiles is paying attention to it, he can’t hear the low thrum of the music anymore.
«Well, if you want me to leave so much, you can move me yourself.» The impact of his threat is a bit diminished by the fact that he’s still sprawled across the ground and one of his cheeks is squished against the snow-covered grass.
Instead of replying, Peter starts pulling him towards the front of the house by his leg. Stiles immediately scrambles to his feet, not really looking forward to being dragged through the snow.
When he stumbles, still a bit unsteady on his feet, Peter’s hand is immediately there to stabilize him.
«Y’know,» Stiles tells him as they’re walking towards the front door, «It would have been sexier if you carried me princess style.»
Peter levels him an unimpressed look «Well, you have the wrong costume for that.»
Stiles pulls a face but remains silent until they’re back inside, the very wet blue coat once again in Peter’s hands.
«Lydia said she'll bring you home, but text me when you get there so I know you haven’t died of aconite poisoning.» He spots the girl in question in the living room, gathering her things.
Stiles whines a bit about the decision but he knows Lydia is the right choice. She is responsible, knows how to deal with him and has been sober ever since the nightmare that was her seventeenth birthday.
She drags him to her car and makes sure he’s strapped in before hitting the gas.
«So, Peter Hale?» he can see the mirth in her eyes even if she’s watching the road. He shrugs.
«Peter Hale what?»
She shakes her head but lets the subject drop, and they spend the rest of the drive in amicable silence.
Stiles starts feeling more and more tired by the moment, barely registering Lydia’s goodbye when she drops him off. He stumbles to his room, miraculously avoiding waking his father up, and by the time he has hits the covers he’s already asleep, costume still on and everything. He dreams of never-ending snowstorms, giant Christmas trees and one Peter Hale.