When Derek is born, there is an earthquake. Beacon Hills is many things, but it is not a place of earthquakes. This is an anomaly, this sudden shaking of the land, and Peter watches Talia go through the pain of birthing a cub, and he makes note of how her cries resonate with the moving earth. As the baby is brought to the world of the living, the earth shakes more; giddy, Peter thinks of the land. Giddy at this baby's birth. That's what it is.
The town reels with the destruction, however minimal it seems to be. It is the strangeness of the earthquake that has the people in a panic, and it takes two days of Mayor Yukimura calling for council meetings and community barbecues that they begin to somehwat calm down.
The baby is named Derek on the first day itself, born underneath the Nemeton, his pale blue eyes reflecting the moonlight in silver hues. Talia sobs with relief, Nathan beside her, stroking her hair. Laura is back at the pack house, safely tucked in the bed, the rest of the pack members keeping watch. Talia had wanted to bring her with them, fearing the worst of the anomaly, but their mom had convinced her to not do it. The birth of the Alpha's cub is a big deal, but it is also private: only the Mate, Emissary and Left Hand are allowed to be present, for comfort, safety, and protection, respectively.
It has been tradition since ages, and Talia is the last person to break it.
Derek is a calm baby. Sleeps through the night, doesn't cry for attention. Only does it for feeding, his survival instinct as strong as his lungs. Peter adores him, even if he may never admit it to anyone.
He is also curious about the boy. Why an earthquake? It cannot be a coincidence. Truly, he wonders how some people can be so dumb. Calling it a coincidence is insulting to the Powers That Be, which must have called upon such a natural reaction of the land for a reason. Derek is a special boy, and Peter vows to find out how.
Besides his incredibly compassionate heart, that is.
It is in his eyes, which have slowly turned into a kaleidoscope of colors, the kindness of him. Derek's trust is not so easily earned, but once it is, it is extremely difficult to dislodge it.
Derek is a boy destined to become a kind man, one that will be an Alpha with mercy in his heart but cunning in his mind. Peter sees the makings of it right from the beginning, the way the boy will procure solutions to his own problems as well as those he deems important to him. Laura is the first born and thus has the claim to being the next Hale Alpha, however Peter knows, somehow, perhaps instinctually, that Derek will be the Alpha.
Another piece of the puzzle falls in place when their emissary falls pregnant. She's an amazing woman, Claudia. Peter likes her wit and humor, and he enjoys the perspective of her husband, the deputy, and if luck is on his side, soon-to-be Sheriff of Beacon Hills. Peter is happy for the couple.
He is, also, astonished to see an almost five-year-old Derek climb onto Claudia's lap one morning, his small fists rubbing against his eyes, and his nose scrunching determinedly to find a scent.
Peter remembers the conversation well.
"Derek, honey? What are you trying to find?"
"Mine," is what Derek growls in reply to Claudia, and shoves his nose against her barely-showing belly.
Peter's laughing figure is shot out of the end of the couch and onto the floor by Claudia's impeccable throw of one of the decorative pillows from said couch.
Thereafter, it was peculiar but not unseemly to find Derek following beside Claudia, his whole little being focused on the life forming inside her. And when the night came, Peter wasn't at all surprised to witness the thunderstorm.
Claudia had plans of giving birth in the hospital, but due to miscalculated steps, or simply because of reasons not privy to them, the best possible option left for her seemed to be below the Nemeton.
John had lost his damn mind at the prospect. "It's raining! Heavily!"
"Talia gave birth in an earthquake," Claudia says through gritted teeth, "And the baby doesn't care, nor do I, John. It is—"
Her words are cut off by another scream, and she is right, of course. It is time.
Talia, John, and Peter are the only ones who should go with her, but Derek, the little sneaky wolf that he seems to have become, follows them. It isn't until halfway through that John, the human, realizes his presence first.
They move forward with the determined little boy, who is all sopping wet in his wolf onesie, and really, this is no laughing matter. Except it is.
Claudia is brought below the Nemeton, and the tree, big and branching and beautiful, hums in their presence. The canopy of it sheds them some, but not completely.
And so, under hard rain and sharp thunderstorms, Mieczysław Stilinski is born, his little body almost white under the moonlight, and his eyes, when they open, a shock of topaz, like a glinting jewel; a fallen angel, Peter thinks.
Derek carefully wraps the baby in the blanket Talia removes from the packed bag, her movements locked onto her son's and the baby's, while John tends to his wife.
Peter watches. He notes the way the baby is calmest in Derek's arms, the way Derek is mesmerized.
This is more than just being True Mates.
True Mates itself are the rarest of occurrences, but something tells him this is more than that. The earthquake, and this sudden rain, in April of all things, simply cannot be coincidence. There must be a reason, one that Peter must uncover.
In the coming years, he dedicates his time to the quest, and finds that, oh, this is something unique indeed.
Unique to the point of legend.
Of course, he gathers facts before telling anyone. Derek's control goes onto the list, as does his ability to switch between his shift as easy as breathing. Having such control at the age of seven is almost impossible, but he has it without the growing ego that would have inflated anyone else's with the amount of praise he gets.
Stiles, as Derek had nicknamed Mieczysław almost immediately post his arrival in the world, is no human. His mother's line has some pretty strong magical abilities, but the kind of power that this boy exudes surpasses imagination. Nobody notices at first, not even Peter, until Stiles is a couple of months past his third birthday. It truly isn't until Derek, almost nine, comes down from his room one day into the kitchen, says, "Which packet, Stiles?" that they realize it.
"Honey, he isn't a wolf. He cannot hear you," Nathan tells him, but Derek just shrugs.
"He is for today."
Peter hears the, "Blue one! Blue one! Blue is sooo pretty, Derek!" from Stiles, who is definitely sitting in Derek's room, upstairs.
Derek grabs the blue packet and goes upstairs, and Peter follows, followed by Talia and Nathan, who beckon Claudia as well.
Stiles sitting on the floor, a myriad of toys around him, while the packets of chips sit beside him, torn open, evidently by Derek's claws, who himself is playing with Stiles.
And they're both being fed flying chips.
The three wolves turn to Claudia as one. Her shaking head and awed face is enough to clue them in, and really, Peter thinks, this is fucking incredible.
Powers don't manifest as early as this in magic wielders. They're more of the puberty package, tied to emotions at the beginning rather than will.
This is... defying it.
Peter loves to see when the next piece of the puzzle will fall.
And it does oh so enticingly.
Years later, when Derek is fourteen and Stiles is almost nine, comes the first trial. The Alpha Summit & The Argent Treaty.
Peter doesn't believe Gerard's words to do no harm, so he sets up precautions in place. It pays off, because during the summit, he almost ends up blinding Deaucalion — something that could have turned super bad if left unchecked.
Gerard's attack is met with swift retaliation, but somehow, only his goons end up dead. Gerard himself remains free, and through sheer will, maybe, the old man manages to kidnap Laura.
By the time the adults sniff out their cub, they're too late.
Not in the sense of Laura being hurt, but in the terms of missing the action, somewhat.
When they enter the warehouse, they are faced with Gerard being held down by a black wolf, fangs around his neck, the eyes of the creature a deep, ruby red. Deeper than Talia's. At first, they all assume it to be one of the visiting Alphas, but then they realize Stiles' presence, too, and it clicks.
Stiles frees Laura from the painful looking electric rod, and comes back to Derek, coaxes him back to his human form as Peter and Nathan take care of the psychopath.
Laura lets Talia mother her, and then says, "We'll have two Alphas."
Talia looks at the now human Derek, and eyes shining with pride, she nods. "Come here, both of you," she beckons, and the boys run, Stiles' chattering a comforting sound for all of them.
A few weeks later, Derek admits to everyone he has a new friend, and talks about her often. Paige this, Paige that. Laura teases him, restrained in her words, trying not to upset Derek's control. Even Cora pulls back. Stiles, though, is almost worse.
He riles Derek to the point of him using his Alpha voice to shut up, and the whole Pack silences itself, even Talia. Stiles, though — an exception to all things sane — doesn't back down. The voice doesn't work on him, and Derek isn't phased by it. However, the smell of guilt filters through their home, and Stiles' sigh is followed by comforting words. There is no apologizing though.
Soon, they'll learn from Derek himself that he hates that everyone is walking on eggshells. That is why he kept bringing up Paige, so that someone would tease him, uncle Peter, Laura, Cora. Or that Stiles would rile him up.
"Why would he, though? He should be happy for you. I am." Cora's words are met with a laugh from Derek, and a groan of embarrassement from Stiles.
"He's weirdly possessive — don't push me, you know you are."
"Alright," Stiles sighs, "I am."
"And Paige is a great friend, but I don't nearly think about her as much as I might have let you all believe."
And that is when Peter sees it. The blink-and-you-will-miss-it purple flash of Stiles' eyes. Peter doesn't put thought into why now; he simply focuses on completing the puzzle.
And he does. True Alpha and Purple Eyes? That's easy.
That's legend.
Set in stone as the first Alpha and the first Emissary as well as Spark, who, arguably, also set in stone the sword of Excalibur.
That part of the legend has questionable sources, though. Sure, Merlin Emrys is, as per theories, the most powerful sorcerer of all time, and Arthur Pendragon the greatest ruler, the once and future king, but it doesn't have as much merit.
What Peter is sure about is that somehow, the Powers That Be decided that this is the pack to send these two to.
He watches Stiles argue about the best type of pasta with Derek, and thinks, suddenly, that perhaps this is their happy ending. What legends end happy? None. So this must be their time to be happy.
Peter vows another quest, then. To always protect Derek and Stiles.
something so incredibly funny about stiles being the first and only person to notice that he's possessed. just walking around like guys i think i'm acting weird. guys do i seem like i'm acting strange and evil and not normal to you. hello. guys i think i might be doing some strange and evil things behind your backs. can anyone hear me. and then he has a full on breakdown then goes missing and does some evil shit and then comes back mysteriously and is like yeah ok fine maybe i WAS possessed but i'm good now anyways anyone wanna retrace my sexy evil steps with me and not tell my dad? and everyone immediately trusts him again. just such a strange and yet still deeply normal guy that no one can even fathom stiles not being stiles until he's got a sword through scott. backbone of that squad not in a weird pack mother way but in an always-there-and-always-invested-'and-you-still-got-me!' kind of way even though he's so incredibly weird. worst possible choice to be their normal guy rock.
I have no many feelings about this. Derek immediately knows the epi is no good as a weapon if they’re trying to drug your opponents to give yourself the advantage–but Peter immediately hears that and sees an opportunity to weaponize it by drugging himself. It’s a gorgeous display of complementary thinking, of defensive vs. offensive, that not only highlights where their heads are respectively at in a fight, underscoring the different ways their personalities and trauma play out, BUT ALSO how quick both of them are in a crisis. They’re not panicking, they’re assessing–it’s how they’ve both survived this long.
If you are in the Tampa area in Florida or in any other place that will be affected by the hurricane, please stay safe ❤️🩹💞 my heart is with you all 🫶🏻
#the worst thing is nONE OF THESE LOOKS ARE MANIPS#NONE OF THESE LONGING#INTENSE#HEART BREAKING#SOUL REVEALING#FUCKING /PLEADING/ LOOKS#NONE OF THEM#ARE FABRICATED#THIS IS IT#THIS IS THE SHOW#THIS IS THE SHIP#THIS IS STILES THINKING DEREK WAS GOING TO DIE#UNDERSTANDING HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE#BEING A SARCATIC LITTLE SHIT THAT DEREK CAN’T KEEP HIS EYES OFF OF#PLEADING WITH DEREK WITHOUT EVEN OPENING HIS MOUTH TO SPEAK#BEING THERE FOR DEREK EVEN WHEN HE DIDN’T KNOW IT#AND THINKING DEREK WAS GOING TO DIE /AGAIN/#what a pair#what a fucking great pair via (x)
I don’t get people who don’t understand why people ship Sterek. If these looks were between people of the opposite gender, it’d be quite clearly romantic interest.
pixelskylines
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