AU where Stiles is blind and all his other senses are heightened because of it.
He starts dating Derek and things are great. Amazing actually. Because Derek is warm and strong and assertive and incredibly attuned to his needs. Sure he can get a bit possessive and jealous at times but Stiles actually loves that about him and he becomes such a happy pillow/ passenger princess because Derek loves the role of protector/provider.
The alpha thrives from taking care of his mate. He’s happiest when he’s spoiling Stiles. Loves that he can watch over him without the other knowing and feeling like a burden, loves that the beautiful human is snarky but compliant. Fierce but needy. Whiny but loyal. And it takes absolutely no time for the two to become obsessed with one another.
Derek introduces Stiles to his pack and nearly melts in happiness when Stiles fits into the slot of alpha mate like a glove. Because of his other heightened sense he’s actually more wolf than the bitten betas. His sense of smell outshines Isaac’s. He’s able to tell who’s in the room with him just by scent alone and with his sharp hearing he can pick up the sound of footsteps much faster than a normal human. Even his reflexes are sometimes faster than Erica’s. He’s able to stop, grab, abort movements like it’s a literal dance and Derek is PROUD. The betas become just as enamored with the human as he is and they all work incredibly hard at keeping the werewolf thing a secret because NO ONE wants to ruin this.
It’s not until Stiles moves in with Derek that the problems start. When Stiles wakes up cold one night/early morning, which never usually happens because Derek always burns unnaturally warm. He lays in bed listening to Derek’s steps on the stairwell, assuming he probably got up early for a run and Stiles is about to fall back asleep when the pair of footsteps suddenly gets drowned out by 4 smaller ones.
Stiles’ eyes widen as he sits up in bed, thinking he probably dreamt it, but no… paw steps? It sounds like a dog. A big dog. But he’s not able to discern anything else before the door to the loft closes and it goes quiet.
And usually that wouldn’t be a problem, except Derek doesn’t have a dog… but that’s ok. Because maybe he’s pet sitting a neighbor’s and forgot to tell Stiles? Except, Derek claimed he was allergic and sadly couldn't go near them…but it’s fine. It’s fine. Derek will come back and he’ll ask him about it and it’s probably something super simple. Derek’s never lied to Stiles before and there’s got to be a reasonable explanation.
Stiles stays awake, running his hand across the braille in his book until he hears the loft door open. It’s just two footsteps again and he stands, ready to go out and greet Derek when he smells it…
Blood.
A lot of blood.
He freezes. His whole body screaming that’s something’s not right. And when he expects Derek to walk into the room, he doesn’t. Instead he heads straight to the bathroom, the sound of the shower turning on fills the heavy silence.
Stiles doesn’t know how to bring it up. Especially when Derek meets him in the kitchen, now smelling of soap and cologne and deodorant and he slides up behind him like he does every morning when they stand in front of the coffee maker; wrapping his arms around Stiles’ waist and nipping at his neck.
Everything falls back to its normal rhythm and Stiles is almost willing to let the whole ordeal go until it happens again the next morning. When he wakes to the sound of foot steps disappearing under the paw steps. The sound of claws clacking down the staircase. And Derek returns an hour later, smelling heavily of blood.
Stiles starts freaking out. The man of his dreams starting to turn into an enigma to him. What even is happening?
He starts snooping through rooms, looking for some kind of explanation but nothing ever really seems out of place and Derek doesn’t change his attitude at all. And it probably wouldn’t be too bad. Weird maybe. The fact that Stiles hears a fucking Great Dane trampling through the loft in the early mornings but he could live with a secret pet. What he can’t deal with is the fact that it never returns with Derek and Derek always smells like blood after. Was he… killing the dogs?
He starts creating the worse case scenarios in his head, loosing sleep and obsessing over the fact that the love of his life could be a psycho until he finally can’t take it anymore.
Stiles stays up all night, just waiting until he feels Derek wake in the early hours of the morning to slip quietly out of bed and he launches up, startling his partner so bad Derek practically yelps.
“Stiles? What the fuck-“
“Where do you think you’re going!?” Stiles demands.
“What?”
“You leave every morning. With a dog. Where is it? Where are you hiding it?” Derek’s stomach drops and he clams up, stuttering and grasping for a lie when Stiles face becomes guarded. “Oh my god. You’re not denying it… You really have dogs hidden somewhere here don’t you? Holy fuck.”
“Stiles—“
“Is there like a hidden door or something? This place isn’t big enough otherwise. The bookcase? Holy shit do you have like a secret lair?”
“What? No!—“
“Is it… animal trafficking? Exotic pets? Organ harvesting? Fuck, do people pay for animal organs too?”
And Derek is freaking out. Not sure what to say but Stiles’ scent is becoming more and more distressed. His heartbeat vibrating against his chest with grief and disappointment and betrayal lacing through his body. “What do you do with them Derek? Like… sell them for meat?”
“No! Of course not—“
“So it’s just for fun? Why do you always smell like blood?”
And Stiles sounds so brokenhearted, so full of sorrow and betrayal Derek can’t stop himself.
“I’m a werewolf!” Stiles falls quiet, because out of all the possible reasonings Derek could have given him he had not prepared himself for this.
Derek pushes on, laying all of it out in a panicked storm of word vomit. Because he loves Stiles. Loves him with his whole heart. There was still the trauma of Kate and another list of terrible, toxic lovers in his past. Stiles is by far the healthiest, warmest relationship he’s ever been in and he’s his mate! His true mate. Obviously it could never have stayed a secret forever and Derek would rather Stiles leave him for the truth than whatever terrible serial killer idea he now has of him. And Stiles listens intently. To the explanation of born wolves, of alphas and packs and betas and full shifts. And just when he’s about had enough and is ready to snarl out the biggest “bullshit! We're through!’ he can, Derek takes his hands and places them along his face as he half shifts and Stiles’ breath hitches in disbelief.
“Y-you—“
“I wanted to tell you. I just… I didn’t want you to be afraid of me. I’d never hurt you Stiles. You’re my mate and we… my kind, we mate for life. I love you. I love you so much and I can understand if you hate me now. I just—“ But then Stiles is grinning. Grinning! His entire body sagging in… relief? And Derek is so incredibly confused until Stiles falls against his chest.
“Thank fucking Christ! I thought you were some sort of psycho animal abuser who got off on killing dogs. You scared the fuck out of me.”
“You’re happy about this!” Derek stutters out in shock.
“I can work with a protective boyfriend who happens to have a selective tail Derek. I can’t work with an animal abusing psychopath…As long as the blood smell doesn’t come from actual human bodies…?”
“W-We go hunting. Our instincts are still there and it’s calming to run in our wolf forms. Me and the betas... well, it’s duck season now and its best to go in the mornings. We take what we catch to a butcher friend in town and he donates the meat to the soup kitchen…”
Stiles laughs. His head tilting back and tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. And Derek watches for a long moment until he starts laughing too. The both of them gripping onto one another in happiness and relief and Stiles pulls him into a deep kiss.
“You’re an idiot!” He says fondly when they finally pull apart. “My big, strong, supernatural idiot of a mate.” Derek’s face flushes.
“I don’t think you understand what that means.”
“Werewolf married.” Stiles says with a nod. “My numero uno, soulmate, love of my life. Non-animal abusing Sourwolf. I still expect a ring though buddy. I don’t care what kind of canine traditions you have, I get a wedding band too.” And Derek has never felt this amount of happy in his entire life.
“Whatever you want.” He promises.
“A house. Pack house? Somewhere where my little idiot ducklings can come over. I honestly thought you all were in some sort of poly relationship that you would eventually try to bring me into if I’m being honest. You guys are always touching and holding and nuzzling each other. I probably wouldn’t have minded, I don’t really feel attracted to them but I knew how much they mean to you and I do love them but this makes so much more sense. You always seemed like more of a father figure to them. That’s the alpha-ness, right?”
Derek can only nod in disbelief because he never, ever thought he could ever be this lucky. To have a mate, a human mate, be so open to this life.
“Alright, go on. Go get your morning duck run in. Tell the three stooges the cats out of the bag and then bring them home. I’ll have breakfast ready for you all.” Now Derek is the one pulling him into a kiss and though he’s a little late in meeting up with the betas, he’s instantly forgiven when they all feel the extra pack bond settle in their chests.
