Curled Up
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Day one: Alpha Peter or AND Creature Stiles
Ao3 Link
“Uncle! I’m home!” Cora sang as she loudly barged into the once quiet house.
“Ah my favorite niece has returned from prison.” Peter said with faux cheer making Laura elbow him hard in the gut.
“I don’t know why you expected for that to go over well.” Derek chuckled from the dining room table.
“I am your alpha and this is how you treat me? I never!” Peter crooned, a hand placed dramatically over his heart.
Saturday nights with nieces and nephew around him and a book in his hand was not the way he had envisioned spending his adult life, but Peter wouldn’t trade his boring life for anything. His parents had died when he was twenty-three leaving him an alpha, and his sister a grieving mess. Talia had handled her grief by hitting the road; her husband had left to go find her, yet neither had returned. Laura had been six at the time and the only one that still has memories of Talia and Joseph. Every year the kids got postcards and presents for their birthdays and Christmas, but each year the gifts only seemed to highlight the emotional and physical distance between them and their parents. Peter considered himself a great surrogate father, but those first few years had been incredibly hard. Laura had blamed him for Talia and Joseph’s absence; Derek asked every morning and every evening when his parents were coming home, and Cora had been just a baby at the time. Peter had only thought vaguely about having his own children when he suddenly had three to take care of all on his own.
Looking back now, past all the struggles and hardships, Peter was almost glad Talia and Joseph had left him with the precious gift of their children. These kids had changed him into a much kinder man, one that lived a quiet happy life, and Peter was forever in their debt for the joy they gave him.
“Oh cool a snake!” came Cora’s excited voice from the patio, alerting Peter that he had approximately two seconds before Derek and Laura were going to freak out.
Peter clapped his hands to his ears and shot off the couch in time to miss Derek’s full bodied tackle and Laura’s ear splitting scream as she too launched herself in the direction of where Peter had been sitting.
“Now children! Calm down!” Peter shouted over the yelps of the eldest Hale children as he sent soothing thoughts down their pack bonds.
“Oh shit. Uncle come here! I think it’s hurt!” Cora’s voice was frantic, yet wet like she was already about to cry.
His sweet, kind hearted bad ass niece couldn’t stand when animals were hurt and it made his heart warm and break everytime she cried over an innocent creature. He left the quietly panicking young adults and made his way out to his brave Cora-baby and the wounded snake.
He froze as his eyes adjusted to the light and he saw that the snake was curled in Cora’s lap and blood was covering her legs where the poor thing was laying.
“I’ll call Deaton. Can you tell what type of snake it is?” Peter said calmly.
“Uncle, I think he’s a shifter.” Cora breathed.
“What do you mean he’s a shifter?” Peter asked as her stepped closer to sniff the air around his niece and the snake.
“He isn’t acting like a normal snake. He let me pick him up and look at his wounds, he came out of the woods and headed directly for me. He hasn’t hissed at me once. And the way he’s looking at you makes me think he knows you’re an alpha.” Cora’s words were calm and her body didn’t move at all just in case she was wrong and really did have a wounded animal in her lap.
Peter yelled for Laura to call Deaton before crouching down to look the snake in the eye, “Can you flash your eyes at me, sweet thing?”
Peter had never met a weresnake before and so he expected either beta orange or the more yellow-orange of the only other shifter he’d met who was a coyote, instead he was greeted with a gold like burnt honey. He gasped in the face of that bright beauty before he collected himself and slowly reached a hand out to touch the snake’s small body. The wounded creature did not move away or try to strike out, but instead slowly, painfully, lifted its head to meet his hand. Such a beautiful, strong little thing. Peter felt himself drawn to the strength and intelligence he saw in the snake’s gaze.
“It’s called hypermelanism.” Cora’s voice jarred Peter from the almost trance like state he’d been.
He made a questioning sound as he finally gently placed his hand on the beautiful scales and started drawing out the poor thing’s pain.
“His scales. I have been searching the internet while you two were communicating or whatever, and I’m pretty sure he’s a chocolate morph California Kingsnake with hypermelanism. The chocolate scales with only a splash of copper on his belly that gives him that metallic look is very distinct so it didn’t take long to figure it out.” Cora explained.
Peter hummed an agreeing sound, too caught up in the tidal waves of pain he was draining to speak.
-
“I did not scream.” Laura demanded with a childish stomp, “Besides, he’s a person! I’m not scared of a shifter.”
“So you admit you were scared of a snake?” Derek asked with a smirk.
“I remember you jumping around with your underwear in a twist with her nephew dear.” Peter reminded him from the kitchen.
Derek flushed a bright red, mumbling “Well at least I'm not a snake nerd that figured out the breed and morph before the vet even arrived.” before crossing his arms and making his exit.
“Such a spoilsport.” Cora laughed.
Peter hummed in agreement before asking, “Do you still have all the snake stuff from the last time you found one?”
Cora nodded before she ran up to the storage room, that had once been the master bedroom.
“Can you manage to go buy this guy some mice? Deaton said he has to be with an alpha to help the healing, but he’s going to need some food soon. I can’t take him with me to go hunt.” Laura gave him a disgusted face, “Fine. I’ll get your baby sister to do it so she can mock you for being a scaredy wolf again. Your call darling.” Peter knew Laura would fold under the threat of more ridicule, and she did.
“I feel weird about putting him in the tank, he is a person too.” Cora said as she entered the kitchen again.
Peter looked at the sleeping creature in his lap and sighed, “I know baby, but he’s injured and the last thing he needs is to get trampled by one of us because he can’t move fast enough to get out of the way. He blends in with our floors, so we’d never see him and you know that. We don’t have to put the lid on it though since he isn’t a normal snake. We’ll set him up on my desk by my bed so he stays close to an alpha through the night, but other than that we have to treat him like a regular snake until he’s healed or shifts back.”
He reached out a hand and gently rubbed a circle on Cora’s back before continuing, “He’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to him Cora-baby.”
-
A weird fluttering motion on Peter’s cheek had him cracking open a tired eye to look into the snake’s smiling face. Peter hadn’t even known snake’s could smile, maybe they can’t but it sure did look like a smile.
“Good morning little one.” Peter’s voice was a low grumble and the snake squeezed his arm in greeting.
He had no idea how he hadn’t woken up when the little devil snuck out of his tank and wrapped himself around Peter’s arm.
“How are you feeling?” Peter asked knowing the snake couldn’t verbally reply, but hoped it could make some kind of body motion to tell him if the poor thing was still in pain.
The snake squeezed once again, which Peter took to mean he was feeling better. Good.
Peter tapped one thick finger on the snake’s head and said, “You shouldn’t have exerted yourself by sneaking out of the tank you little devil.”
The snake pulled it’s head back and tilted it as if asking “How could you accuse me of that?”
Peter snorted and rolled his eyes, “Come on, I bet you’re hungry.”
“Jesus fucking christ!” Laura shouted, dropping the rag she had been drying her hands on.
“Nope. Just Uncle Peter, but thanks for the warm welcome, Laura-darling.”
“Oh shove it Peter.” Laura grumbled under her breath, earning herself a light punch to the arm as Peter passed her.
Peter grabbed one of the mice from the cage Laura had brought in and placed it in the sink before gently guiding the snake onto the counter.
“Jesus. Fuck. I didn’t need to see that this early.” Derek groaned from the entrance to the kitchen, his hair still standing up ridiculously.
“Contrary to popular belief I’m just your Uncle Peter. Good morning to you too, nephew dear” Peter smiled at his sleepy nephew and offered the boy the mug of coffee he’d poured for Derek.
At the sound of thundering steps coming down the stairs Peter lifted the lunch box, that he packed Cora’s breakfast and lunch into, and the purple thermos full of coffee into the air, only to be snatched out of his hands immediately.
“Thanks! Gotta go! Love you!” Cora called over her shoulder as she raced out of the house, followed by a chorus of “love you too”s.
“Thank god we aren’t in highschool anymore.” Derek sighed, leaning his head onto his sister’s shoulder as he sleepily ate his pancakes.
“Do either of you work today or are you just going to laze around the house?” Peter asked, one eyebrow raised in judgement.
“We get it Uncle Peter.” Derek sighed.
“Yeah, we know.” Laura frowned, faux irritated.
Brother and sister joined forces to say, “When I was your age I was raising three kids on my own and trying to write a novel!” dramatically and in sync.
Peter just waved away their playful mocking, “If you can repeat that back to me then the meaning should be clear by now. I just want you two to find your passion and run with it. We have the rare privilege of being able to chase our dreams. Don't waste it my loves.”
Almost identical faces nodded solemnly at his words, their minds wandering to questions of the future.
“Well we know what Cora will be doing at least.” Laura said with a fond smile.
“Ah yes. Speaking of our little veterinarian in the making I need to go check on our new friend.” Peter remembered the snake he’d left on the counter to eat his breakfast.
“That's my cue to leave.” Laura said hurriedly as she pushed her chair back and rushed to the door.
“Have a good day Laura-darling. Love you.” Peter called from the sink, Derek yelling something similar.
They heard the faint “love you too" Laura yelled from the driveway before getting in her car.
Peter had been slightly worried that the snake would be too injured to handle live prey, and was relieved to see him curled happily in the corner of the sink, swollen where the mouse was digesting.
-
“Uncle! I’m home!” Cora sang as she barged into the once peaceful house.
“How was jail?” Peter asked from his place on the couch.
“Hi home, I’m Derek.” Derek called out from the kitchen before giving a loud snort of laughter at his own joke.
“Fucking nerd.” Cora mumbled as she set her bags down by the door.
“It seems our little devil missed you.” Peter said with a smile as the chocolate snake that was curled around his forearm began slithering up his arm and across his shoulders to flick its tongue out in greeting.
“Hey there little guy. How ya feelin’?” Cora murmured to the pleased snake.
The snake slid up onto Cora’s outstretched hand and curled himself around her arm.
“He’s physically healed by now, so when do you think he’ll be okay to shift back?” Laura asked more likely out of a desire to not see a snake every day than concern for the creature’s well being.
“He can shift back whenever he wants. He should’ve finished healing earlier today.” Peter informed with a shrug.
Cora laughed as the little devil let out a quiet hiss in Laura’s direction before moving across her shoulders to watch Laura haughtily.
-
Peter woke up wrapped too tightly in the blankets and burning up. He cracked his eyes open and was met with messy brown hair and pale skin instead of his navy comforter. His brain was instantly running at normal speed, shaking off sleep quickly. The snake had finally shifted back, but was it on purpose or did he shift back in his sleep? If Peter spooked him he could easily shift back and remain a snake until he was comfortable again.
Peter decided to slowly wake him up and try to keep him as comfortable as possible. The boy was completely wrapped around Peter; one leg hiked high on Peter’s hips, the other was hooked around Peter at their ankles. He had one arm across Peter’s chest, his hand gripping Peter’s collar bone, and one arm curled around Peter’s arm that was between their bodies. The boy’s head was resting on Peter’s chest and tilted away from view, so Peter still had no idea what he looked like or how old he was.
Peter slowly reached with his free hand and started rubbing slow circles up and down the boy’s arm before he mumbled lowly, “Little devil. Wake up my little demon. It’s time to get up honey.”
The most gorgeous boy Peter had ever seen blinked sleepily at him and let out a questioning hiss, giving Peter a wonderful view of the boy’s pouty mouth and sensuous tongue behind pretty teeth.
“You shifted back Little devil. Can you talk yet?” Peter murmured lowly, still rubbing slow circles on the boy’s arm.
The boy blinked again and looked down at his pale arm that still rested on Peter’s bare chest. He slowly looked back up into Peter’s eyes, amber meeting oceanic blue, before letting out a yelp and shooting off the bed.
“Oh god I’m so sorry!” The boy started panicking, his heart beat loud in the once quiet room.
Before Peter could try to calm the boy down his bedroom door burst open and a frantic, half awake Cora was in his doorway shouting, “Is everything okay? Why are both of you freaking out?” a pause as her eyes caught up with her mouth, “You shifted back! Hello! Did Uncle freak you out?”
The boy didn’t even have time to blame Peter before Cora was hitting him on the shoulder with more force than necessary.
“I haven’t done anything. Our guest here has only just realized he shifted back in his sleep.” Peter explained calmly, standing up to put on clothes.
“How did you hear our hearts?” the boy inquired, his panic giving way to curiosity.
“Our Cora-baby here has the best hearing, but she apparently didn't have the frame of mind to recognize that two human hearts were racing.” Peter answered, raising one eyebrow at Cora for not realizing the snake had shifted and that was why he was panicking.
Cora gave a weak, awkward laugh before mumbling, “Well I’ll leave you two alone to talk alpha to snake or whatever.”
Peter smiled at the closing door before tossing the boy a shirt and a pair of basketball shorts.
“You can put those on if you want.” Peter sat on the bed before continuing, “What’s your name sugar?”
“Stiles.” The boy answered quietly as he pulled the shorts on.
“Hello Stiles. My name is Peter and I am the Hale Alpha. Do you have a pack or family I should contact?” Peter asked, getting the formalities out of the way.
“No.” This reply was quieter.
“Okay, love. How old are you?” Peter asked finally turning to look at the now dressed boy.
“I’m twenty.” Stiles replied, this one at least was a normal response.
“So you’re in between Derek and Cora’s ages. That’s good. Why were you hurt?”
“A werejaguar hunted my family, and I was the only one able to escape.” The words a whisper in the quiet room.
“Why would it do that?”
“My father is a sheriff and had connected her to several homicides. She killed him first. My mother and I were on the run for two years before she found us two towns over. I’m harder to track and fight when I’m shifted so I ran after she-” Stiles broke off as tears began falling down his face harder than before.
Peter approached the boy slowly and pulled him into a tight hug, one hand softly rubbing circles in the boy’s back. He didn’t know who this boy was, who his parents had been, but he was going to end his suffering so that the boy could have peace and justice for his parents.
“You’re safe now. I’ve got you.” Peter mumbled into the boy’s hair, gently rocking them side to side.
Stiles slumped further into his arms and sighed “Werewolves are so warm.”
Peter smiled and continued to comfort the boy until he realized the boy in his arms was asleep.
“Well that’s one way to calm down.” Peter chuckled to himself before swaying them over to the bed and laying Stiles down.
-
“As long as he doesn’t get his weird snake body on me I am happy.”
“Oh shut up. He probably doesn’t even want to touch you to begin with.”
“Children. Please.”
“I’ll be happy to have him Uncle Peter.”
“Thank you nephew dear. Girls?”
“You know I’m in Uncle!”
“Yes Peter.”
“Good. Now if you’re finished listening in, Stiles, please join us.”
Shit. He’d been caught. Of course he’d been caught they were werewolves, and he knew that at least one of them could hear his heartbeat across the house in Peter’s bedroom. Stiles hung his head guiltily as he entered the living room where the four werewolves had been discussing something about him. He hoped they were discussing keeping him, not eating him or something.
“Hi.” was all Stiles could say as he sat down next to Peter in the only available seat.
“Hello Stiles.” Cora chirped with a cheery wave.
He smiled at her before turning to look into Peter’s very handsome face. He tried to push down the memory of Peter’s stirring dick against his thigh when he’d awoken and realized he was naked and sprawled atop Peter’s only slightly more clothed body. When he was shifted he knew he prefered Peter’s heat and arms to Cora’s, but both human and snake had always been a fan of thick meaty arms. It’d been so long since Stiles had been able to actually think about love and sex and ending up in Peter’s lap, literally and metaphorically, had been a blessing because the man checked every single one of Stiles’ boxes.
“I didn’t hear much.” Stiles mumbled, unable to look into Peter’s intense eyes.
“That doesn’t bother me sugar. Listen to anything you want. We hear everything anyways.” Peter used two fingers to lift Stiles’ face to look at him properly before continuing, “I have something to ask you sweet boy.”
Stiles immediately flushed as ideas of things he wished Peter would ask him flashed through his mind.
“Shoot.” was all he could force out without risking saying something embarrassing like “Yes I will go down on you.”
“Would you like to join our pack? We can protect you and I can help you get justice for your parents. I want to help you Stiles, and my pack has agreed that we want you.”
Stiles was speechless. All thoughts of sexy time with Peter were drowned out by the wave of grief he felt at the mention of his parents deaths, but then that too was replaced with bright, shiny hope as he realized just how much protection he could have if he was surrounded by four grown werewolves. Peter was giving him a boon and Stiles was floored by his generosity.
“You don’t have to reply right-”
Stiles cut Peter off by hurriedly saying, “Yes! Yes Alpha Hale please accept me into your pack.”
“With pleasure sweet boy.” Peter’s grin was so blinding in its beauty that Stiles almost didn’t hear the happy words the Hale betas were saying to him.
-
“Thank you Peter.” Stiles knew it was the fifth time he’d thanked his alpha, but he honestly wasn’t going to be stopping anytime soon so he didn’t feel bad about it.
“Anything for you my sweet boy.” Peter spoke lowly, his voice a rough whisper across Stiles cheek as his hands came up to cup Stiles’ face.
“You’re so good to me.” Stiles whispered, closing his eyes against the intensity of Peter’s gaze.
“You’re good to me too, love. Have been since that first night. I sleep better with you in my bed. I breathe better with you in the room. I am better with you in my life.” Peter’s confession left his lips and wrapped itself tightly around Stiles’ heart much like the many times he had wrapped himself around Peter.
“You’ve saved me.” Stiles breathed out his eyes still shut tight against his and Peter’s feelings.
“I will always make sure you’re safe. You’re mine, little devil” Peter only used the name he’d give Stiles all those months of pining and sexual tension ago when he was just a nameless injured snake that Peter had protected.
“Will you be mine, Alpha?” Stiles asked, finally opening his eyes to look at Peter’s blood smeared body, knowing it matches his own, and his heated gaze.
“Whatever you want my sweet little devil.” Peter whispered before closing the gap and kissing Stiles beside the cooling corpse of his parents’ murderer.