“I think it’s about time we stop avoiding the obvious.” Stiles/Danny
Of All the Residents Halls In All The WorldRead on ao3Stiles didn’t think he’d know anyone at George Washington University, he really didn’t think he’d run into anyone he’d known from Beacon Hills. Enter Danny Maleahani.This got a little out of hand. I hope you like it!
There were a lot of different kinds of of people Stiles expected to run into in DC, protesters, politicians, maybe even his one cousin he hadn’t seen since his mom died because their family lived in Baltimore. He never expected to run into Danny Maleahani.
He especially didn’t expect to run into Danny on his floor outside of his dorm while Stiles was coming out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He took a deep breathe, knowing there was no way to avoid seeing Danny, who was standing directly in his path.
“Stiles?” Danny said, looking as surprised as Stiles felt, his eyes a little wide.
“You know Stilinski?” Mark from Stiles’ floor asked, sounding a little suspicious, which was valid, it was only the third official day on campus, classes hadn’t even started yet. And the more Stiles looked at the two of them, the more he could see that Danny was clearly leaving after a hook up.
“We went to high school together,” Stiles said, avoiding looking at Danny’s tight shirt and broad shoulders, “Until Danny moved.”
“Long time no see,” Danny said with a bright smile that took Stiles back to high school in a way he hadn’t expected it to, “I’ll text you Mike.”
“It’s Mark,” Mark said dully, side eyeing Stiles for a second and letting out a breath.
“Right sorry,” Danny said offering him a smile, “I’ll text you. See you around Stiles.”
“Sorry for interrupting,” Stiles said, walking passed Mark and into his own dorm room where his roommate was still sleeping.
He flopped back onto his bed, still damp from the shower, and wondered how he had just run into Danny fucking Malaehani of all people. A big reason he had picked GW (well besides the full ride and being accepted into the pre-FBI program) was that he wouldn’t know a soul.
Craig, his roommate, snored loudly at that moment, jarring Stiles out of his thoughts. Instead of laying in bed like he wanted to, Stiles got up, got dressed, and quietly left his room to explore the city.
There hadn’t been much time for outside exploration in the three days he’d been on campus because orientation had filled up so much time, but yesterday had been the last day of that, so there were two full days off before classes started.
“Well look who it is,” Danny said as Stiles stepped onto the elevator. He had changed into another sinfully tight shirt and he had a messenger bag slung around his shoulder.
“I didn’t know you went to GW,” Stiles said, sticking his hands into his pockets. He wasn’t sure why seeing Danny was affecting him so much, sure it was surprising but Stiles had lived in a world that was nothing but surprises for almost three years.
“Sure do,” Danny said with a smile that made Stiles stomach flip just like it had in high school, “It’s kind of far for you though, I figured you’d have stuck closer to home what with all the werewolf drama.”
“That’s kind of why I left,” Stiles said honestly, letting out a breath he didn’t realize that he had been holding.
“Me too,” Danny said, “Well that and my dad got transferred.”
“Right,” Stiles said, “Well you missed a whole lot of drama, so you lucked out.”
“I guess so,” Danny said, “But I did miss you growing up, which you did quite nicely, might I add.”
Stiles felt himself blush, “You didn’t grow up too bad either.”
“Of course I didn’t,” Danny said with a charming smile, “Are you off to somewhere important? A hot date?”
Stiles snorted, “No date, I was just going to go explore the city a little, see what’s out there.”
“Well you shouldn’t do that alone,” Danny said, falling into stride next to Stiles as they stepped off of the elevator, “And if just so happens I was going to do the same thing. Mind if I join you?”
“I still talk a lot,” Stiles warned him, “All of my quirks still exist. All the reasons you didn’t like my in high school are still here.”
“I liked you just fine in high school,” Danny said, offering Stiles a private smile that he had never been on the receiving end of, “Maybe I liked you too much.”
Stiles tripped over his own feet at that comment and Danny grabbed his arm to steady him. “Are you telling me you, you, had a crush on me?”
“Yeah,” Danny said evenly, not looking at Stiles, “You were sarcastic and smart and always putting your damn pens in your mouth.”
“But you didn’t like me!”
“I thought you knew I had a thing for you and that’s why you were always asking me if you were attractive to gay guys,” Danny said, “I thought you were being an ass.”
“No,” Stiles said, heading into the Foggy Bottom metro station, “I genuinely wanted to know, because I was discovering my own bisexuality.”
“That explains so much,” Danny said with a laugh, swiping his Metro pass and waiting for Stiles to swipe his own, “And here I thought you just got off on the idea that someone was lusting after you.”
“What? Lusting?” Stiles sputtered, “After me? You know that I kind of looked like an alien until I grew my hair out right?”
“I was really into syfy for awhile there,” Danny said with a wink and Stiles’ jaw dropped. Danny was flirting with him. He had watched Danny leave after hooking up with a guy on his floor this morning and here he was, flirting with Stiles. “Where are we off to on this adventure?”
“I was thinking about going to the Air and Space Museum,” Stiles said, “I’ve always liked rockets.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Danny said, settling into the seat next to Stiles, his arm pressing against Stiles and he didn’t move it.
They ended up spending a solid two hours at the Air and Space Museum, followed by two hours wandering around the National Mall and hitting the nearby monuments. They even took the very cliche picture where they pretended to touch the top of the Washington Monument.
For the first time in a long time Stiles felt light and carefree. He didn’t have to worry about any supernatural attack, he didn’t have to watch what he said about Beacon Hills because Danny knew about most of it, and he wasn’t pretending to be something he’s not.
“Do you think they have burgers in the dining hall?” Stiles asked as they walked back from the Metro station, “I would kill for a burger.”
“I think the dining hall is closed,” Danny said with a smile, “We could go to that burger place a block up.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Stiles said bumping his shoulder against Danny’s as they walked.
Danny insisted on paying for both of their meals, so Stiles decided it was probably a date. “I meant to ask you, what ever happened with you and Lydia? I saw you went to prom together.”
“We tried dating,” Stiles said with a laugh, “And the first time we made out we realized we were definitely better as friends. It felt like kissing my sister, which she might become because her mom is dating my dad.”
“Huh, I figured you’d never give up on her,” Danny said, “I’m kind of glad you did though.”
“Yeah, whys that?” Stiles said, knowing he was flirting with Danny. He had been flirting with Danny all day. In retrospect he had been flirting with Danny since he had seen Danny take his shirt off in the locker room freshman year.”
“Stiles, I think it’s about time we stop avoiding the obvious,” Danny said, getting out of the elevator on Stiles’ floor.
“Obvious?”
“I’m interested in you, I’m pretty sure you’re interested in me,” Danny said, leaning against the wall next to Stiles door and Stiles’ fumbled with his key, “And I’d like to come in, maybe watch a movie and make out for a while, maybe go to breakfast together tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not that easy Malaehani,” Stiles said, finally getting the door open, “But yeah, you can came in. I have all of the Marvel movies on my laptop.”
Danny stepped into the room and smiled when he saw the Captain America comforter on Stiles’ bed, “First things first,” Danny said before he leaned in and kissed Stiles softly.
Stiles’ lips parted easily as Danny kissed him. His hand found Danny’s lower back and he held on for dear life. He let out a soft moan as Danny grabbed him by as ass and lifted him onto the bed.
“Okay I might be that easy,” Stiles said, then remembered Mark, “What about Mark?”
“Mark left his phone in my room on purpose last night so he’d have to see me again,” Danny said, “We didn’t hook up.”
“Oh, well in that case continue,” Stiles said, kissing Danny again.
Stiles’ poor roommate came back an hour later to find Stiles and Danny both naked and asleep in Stiles’ bed, the blanket thankfully covering any not safe for work parts. They instated the sock on the door rule after that.
Stiles tried not to use it too often. He failed, but it isn’t his fault, he’s finally got to have sex with Danny Malaehan, and cuddle him, and tease himi, he wasn’t going to waste a second.
For @inell who asked for "Sorry, were you sleeping?" - stiles/danny
Read on ao3
Stiles lay in the dark, the only light in the hotel room came from under the door that lead to the hallway. He wished he was rooming with Scott, he could wake him up and they could talk, but he was rooming with Danny and he wasn’t going to wake him up, Danny already didn’t like Stiles much.
Which hurt Stiles feelings a little because he had never done anything to Danny, well besides asking him if he was attractive to gay people a few times. It had been a real question, though Stiles wasn’t so much concerned with ‘gay guys’ as he was with one gay guy.
He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. It wasn’t loud, but he heard Danny stir and the yellow light of a cellphone meant that he was awake.
“Sorry, were you sleeping?” Stiles asked quietly when he heard Danny roll over on the bed next to his.
“Nah,” Danny said, the outline of his body a slightly darker shape than the space round him, “It’s hard to sleep in hotel rooms, it’s too quiet.”
“I get that,” Stiles said rolling over so he was facing Danny. He couldn’t see him properly, though he wished he could. Danny had been the catalyst for Stiles realizing he was bisexual. “Sorry you got stuck with me.”
“It’s alright, Jackson snores,” Danny said and Stiles could hear the smile in his voice.
“Scott talks in his sleep,” Stiles told him with a little laugh, “I’m glad I’m not in that room.”
“I have a feeling Coach will regret putting his co-captains together,” Danny said with a little laugh. It made Stiles’ stomach flip.
“If they live to see tomorrow they might kill each other on the field,” Stiles said honestly. Scott hadn’t been excited about rooming with Jackson.
“i’m glad I’m not in there,” Danny said with a laugh, “I’m also glad I’m not with Greenberg. He kept hitting on me last time I got stuck rooming with him.”
“You must get hit on all the time,” Stiles said honestly. Danny flicked on the light and Stiles covered his eyes, “Ow, what the hell Mahealani?”
“Sorry, I, I thought I was dreaming for a second,” Danny said, lowering himself back onto his pillow.
“Dream about me often?” Stiles joked, trying to break the tension that had suddenly filled the room, but by the look on Danny’s face it was the wrong thing to say. “Because I dream about you, well I mean, I have before. Not in a weird way, just in a um, bisexual way?”
“You’re bisexual?” Danny asked and Stiles felt something settle in his stomach. He had never said it out loud before, but now that he had it felt like there had been a weight lifted off of him.
“Yeah,” Stiles said with a little smile.
“You made so much more sense now,” Danny said, “Wait, when you asked me if you’re attractive to gay guys, did you have someone in mind?”
“Um, well, maybe.”
“Who?” Danny asked, leaning forward so he was almost hanging off his bed. He looked like he was almost excited for the answer.
“I think you know that answer,” Stiles said, blushing and wishing the light was off.
“Sit next to me on the bus tomorrow?” Danny asked, smiling his 10,000 watt smile, “Grab dinner with me when we get back to Beacon Hills?”
“Like, on a date?” Stiles asked, sounding giddy even to his own ears.
“Yeah Stilinski, like a date.”
“I thought you hated me.”
“I thought you were asking me if you were attractive to gay guys because you knew I had a crush on you and you were just being mean,” Danny said honestly, "Not that that stopped my crush, I must have poor taste in men."
“You had a crush on me? And hey! I'm great, you have great taste in men,” Stiles asked in awe, “I have a crush on you. Wait you said had.”
“Have.” Danny said firmly, “I have a crush on you.”
“Cool, cool, cool, cool,” Stiles said, smiling so hard it hurt his face, he couldn't believe that Danny had a crush on him, “I’ll sit with you and get dinner with you.”
“Great,” Danny said, still smiling.
“I have a fan app, on my phone.” Stiles said, not wanting to stop talking, but suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the day all at once, “So it won’t be as quiet.”
He turned the app on and Danny flipped the light off and bit back a yawn as he said, “Night Stilinski. Sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight, don't let the bedbugs bite,” Stiles said, thoughts of a date with Danny dancing through his head as he drifted off to sleep.
Danny ended up kissing him before they even made it to dinner the next night. It turns out he had been crushing on Stiles for just as long as Stiles had been crushing on him.
Summary: Danny finds a neglected toddler and, realising she will need a temporary guardian, he steps up. Somehow building his own impromptu family in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 9
Danny watched sullenly as Stiles and Scott talked monsters on the sofa. Scott had been here for two hours now. Kira had joined them in the research but she was mostly just curled up on the armchair reading trough one of the old books. Scott was still sitting on Danny's shirt but he'd gone to the bedroom and pulled on another one rather than ask Scott for his back. Stiles kept sending him apologetic looks but he continued working with Scott anyway.
Danny didn't realise how long he'd been standing there staring at them until a tiny hand curled around his fingers and he looked down to realise Mina was done with her nap already. He picked her up and let her snuggle in on his shoulder. There was no point trying to talk to her when she was still bleary eyed. Mina was never as chipper waking up from her nap as she was when she woke up from a full night’s sleep.
Danny took her into the kitchen and grabbed her a cup of juice, sitting her down on the counter top to drink it. Mina bought his arm close and kept putting her cup down to grab him even though she still needed both hands to drink. Danny smiled at her antics and played with her hair while she drank her juice, keeping in contact to keep her happy. When she was done she put down her cup and held up her arms again. He picked her up and kissed her nose, smitten with his sweet little girl. She snuffled into his neck and signed for her Pops. Whenever she did that he would either take her to him or explain why Stiles wasn't home, so Danny automatically headed over to the sofa he'd been avoiding for hours. He set Mina down on the arm and let her slide into Stiles' lap.
Stiles put the book in his hands aside and wrapped her up with an enthusiastic cuddle and a lot of silly kisses all over her face that had her giggling like a maniac.
"Stiles, we have to focus man." Scott pointed out and Danny scowled over at him.
"She just woke up; she's getting her daily dose of love. You can't tell me not to cuddle my kid." Stiles pointed out.
"I'm not saying that. Obviously I'm not. I'm just saying maybe now's not the best time." Scott got a little defensive at the way Stiles worded that. Danny felt and odd sort of vindictive pride at the wounded look on Scott's face and actively had to pull back on his thoughts. This is Stiles' best friend and Danny needed to find a way to deal with him not make the whole situation worse.
"Mina is always going to take priority, Scott. We only get a couple hours a day where she naps. Those hours are over." Danny pointed out gently as he could, trying not to be rude about it.
"Well, yeah but can't you take her upstairs or something?"
"No," Stiles snapped out, "This is her home. I'm never going to make her feel like we don't want her around. You left off this research the other week to go on a date but today you interrupted what little private time Danny and I get and now you're trying to get me to send away my daughter on one of the few days a week when I get to spend a proper amount of time with her. She goes back to day care next week, Scott. I know this is important but nothing's more important than my family."
"I thought I was your family." Scott pointed out.
"You are!" Stiles' voice showed just how much that comment cut and Danny sat down on the arm of the sofa to put his hand on Stiles' shoulder.
"Low blow man. You don't get to guilt him out of a family just because you're not used to sharing."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Then what did you mean? That Stiles can do whatever he likes so long as he still does everything for you and risks his life all the time and fits into your little cookie cutter idea of what he should be? He's one of the smartest kids in the grade and he doesn't want to go to college because he wants to stick around here and do something that will help you out with your little supernatural club. He's risked his life so many times. He and his dad and even his car have literal scars from what you put them through. I told you from the start that if this affects my daughter, you are done. You don't get to take away one of her parents."
Scott looked like a kicked puppy. An actual kicked puppy, he was sad but somewhere along the way he'd wolfed out while Danny was speaking. Stiles gently handed Mina up to Danny and Danny smoothly stood and carried her into the bedroom. Stiles kept himself bodily in front of Scott the entire time. Danny felt like an idiot. He'd yelled at a dangerous creature and expected him to just take it. Hell, he'd threated Scott outright. He could hear Stiles and Kira out there talking him down and Danny felt nothing but guilty that in the end, he was the one that had put Stiles in danger.
Mina rubbed her little hand against Danny's cheek and he smiled down at her, trying to hide his worry. They didn't play in the bedroom. The bedroom was for sleeping and Mina had just woken up so she was confused about why she'd been bought in here. Danny put her down on the edge of the bed and sat to face her. He explained that 'Uncle' Scott was a little bit sick in a way that sometimes caused him to do odd things and maybe accidentally hurt someone so they were in the bedroom until Scott started to feel better.
Mina, of course, immediately asked if her Pops was safe and Danny sadly told her that he didn't know. She stared at him a moment like she was waiting for him to take it back and tell her he was joking but when he didn't her face broke down and the sobbing started. Danny gathered her up and kept apologising over and over even though she couldn't hear it. She was breathing in big wet heaving gasps and Danny felt a horrible churning in the pit of his gut that he had caused this. It was all his damned fault. He hid his tears against Mina's hair and tried to take a deep breath to pull himself together but his breath shook and he strained his ears to find out what was happening beyond the bedroom door.
Stiles crashed through the door a moment later, eyes wide.
"What is it? Why's she crying?" he asked in a panic, clearly unbothered by whatever was beyond the door.
"She didn't know if you were safe and she got worried." Danny explained, carrying her over to her Pops. The moment she realised he was there she started struggling to get to him and Stiles wrapped her up in a hug before she could get out of Danny's arms. He plucked her out of his arms a moment later but Danny stayed close, holding them both.
"It's fine. Everything's fine." Stiles cooed. The words were pointlessly for Mina but Danny was grateful to hear them too.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should never have provoked him. He just... I'm sorry." Danny apologised into Stiles' shoulder.
"No. You didn't say anything wrong. He usually has much better control than that but he would never hurt me and Kira was there to calm him down. You didn't need to worry. But he shouldn't have done that. I sent him home and I've put a barrier at the door so no more creatures can walk through until I remove it."
"Are you sure the barrier works?"
"Yes but you can invite Jackson over to test it if you need to see it with your own eyes. I promise we're okay."
Danny sagged against him and wiped the tears from Mina's cheek, "I'll trust it. I don't want this place to smell like more werewolves than it already does."
Stiles nodded and kissed his hair.
"We only have three books of lore that reference stuff that might be this thing and I've read them all a bunch of times. There's no point trying to find more so why don't I give up on the research for a little while and we'll play a game of memory?" Stiles suggested. Danny nodded and they pulled away enough to tell Mina they were going to play her favourite game and sent her off to get the cards. She didn't want to go though so they all headed to the toy box together to pick up the cards and start setting them out so Mina could whoop their butts at figuring out where all the matching pairs were.
Mina played the entire game from Stiles' lap. Danny had to point at random cards and wait until she nodded at one of them to turn over for each of her turns because she couldn't reach them all and wouldn't get up to play properly. Danny fully supported her clingy-ness and indulged her as much as he could. Hell if he'd been able to sit in Stiles' lap for the whole game he would have too.
Afterwards Stiles got back to work with his books set up at the dining table but Danny joined him with his laptop to work on some layout issues for one of his websites and Mina was set up between them with her colouring books. Mina took her colouring very seriously and insisted that she had to use the black crayon even if the lines were already black because it made the yellows and greens look prettier. Taking it that seriously meant that she wasn't too bothered by the furrowed brow on her Pops as he worked along beside her. That didn't stop it from bothering Danny though.
Eventually he fixed his layout issues and Danny got up to start on dinner, slowly letting himself relax into the possibility that they might all stay safe through to dawn. But then, as the pulled pork was nearly ready, Stiles had a break through and started furiously texting and sending photos of the pages he'd been reading. There was a lot of flailed limbs as he moved to the far side of the apartment to pace around while he talked frantically on the phone.
Mina watched it all with amusement on her face, thinking her Pop was just being silly. Danny tried not to do anything to correct her misassumption. Danny found himself plating up dinner as fast as possible to try to get him to sit back down. He knew, objectively, that Stiles was doing this to help save lives. That this was big and important and necessary. It might be the difference between people like Jackson being alive or dead. And still all Danny wanted was for it to have absolutely nothing to do with Stiles.
With dinner on the table and Mina already tucking in as she always did the moment she was presented with food, Danny stared wistfully at Stiles' turned back.
"Stiles?"
Stiles turned and took in the sight of dinner then held up a finger to hold off a moment and turned back around to whisper furiously. Danny's heart sank at being so easily dismissed. He sank down into his chair and smiled weakly at Mina before picking at his own dinner. He loved pork done this way - the way his grandmother had taught him as a little boy when he used to help her make family meals. He'd never sat down to it and lost his appetite before.
Mina waved her hand for his attention so she could say thank you for dinner and tell him she liked it. Danny perked up and smiled at her manners. She always said thank you for her food, especially when she had watched one of them make it but knowing that she liked it meant that she was the next generation of his family to grow up with a love for this recipe.
"I'll teach you how to make it someday." Danny offered and finally took a bite of his dinner.
What are we learning to make?" Stiles asked as he pulled out his chair and sat down.
Danny started in awe of what he was seeing.
"The yummy." Mina answered and pointed to her dinner.
"Ahh is this your gran's famous pulled pork?" Stiles asked clearly remembering Danny ranting about it while they were doing the groceries the other day.
Danny nodded numbly and took a bite, watching as Stiles did the same and made happy noises around a mouthful. Four hours ago the idea of Stiles enjoying his grandmother's recipe would have made Danny stupidly happy. But seeing him sitting there, phone tucked away somewhere out of sight was so overwhelming that the dinner was almost irrelevant.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Think we've worked it out. They should be okay now."
"You're not... I mean, you don't need to, um...?"
"Nope. You asked me not to do anything dangerous."
Stiles said it like it was the most normal thing in the world and then just went back to eating his dinner but Danny couldn't just leave it at that. It wasn't even a conscious thought, he just found himself out of his chair and wrapped around Stiles' shoulders through pure instinct. Stiles patted his arm and leaned down to plant a kiss on his bicep. Danny kissed his hair and thanked him quietly, unsure how to explain just how much he appreciated Stiles' consideration.
"We should eat before dinner gets cold." Stiles pointed out eventually and Danny reluctantly let go. He moved back to his own seat but Mina watched his every movement with hopeful eyes and Danny found himself stopping to wrap her up in a hug and a kiss to the hair as well. Wouldn't do to have their little girl feeling left out.
"I'm so glad you two like this food. My family always makes it for special occasions." Danny declared to them, trying to hide his earlier worry from their little one.
Mina wanted to know what a 'special occasion' was and when Danny used birthdays as an example, she sadly asked what a birthday was. They spent the rest of the night explaining about birthdays and celebrating the day that someone you love came into the world. They tactfully told her that she was probably too young to remember her last birthdays but that next year, when she turned four, they would make sure that she had a wonderful day.
She got very excited about that and constantly asked how far away it was and when it would get here. They repeatedly explained that it was a long way away. Not until March next year. Eventually they pointed out that they had to get through her Pops' birthday first and that wasn't until after Christmas. That spun off into a whole conversation about what Christmas was and who that was for. She was pretty excited that it was a special day 'for everyone'. So of course they felt the need to tell her about Thanksgiving too. She was so excited about all these things to look forward to that even after they put her to bed she came out six times to ask them questions about all she had learned that night. The interruptions were an awkward disruption to their online shopping but by ten at night she was finally asleep and Stiles had new additions to his wardrobe ordered and payed for. Now it was just a matter of waiting for one of the pack to call and let them know that their drama was over and hopefully that everyone was safe.
With his distractions over, Stiles took to pacing around and occasionally furiously cleaning random parts of the apartment while he waited for the call. Danny had tried to distract him with a bit of alone time in the bedroom but Stiles didn't want to be so distracted that he wouldn't reach the phone in time if it rang.
"What time do these things usually get resolved?" Danny asked eventually while watching Stiles dust the back of the television.
"I don't know. The small hours of the morning? Every situation is different, it's not like monsters run to some universally agreed upon schedule. It'll be okay when it's okay and it if it's not okay then that'll happen when it happens too." Stiles explained with an increasingly panicked tone. Danny nodded at that and kissed his temple. He pulled out his phone and lay his bets on Lydia having the foresight to put her phone on silent if she was in a dangerous situation.
To: Lyds
From: Danny
Are you a part of the
fuss tonight? Any chance
you could give me an
update that would stop
Stiles from pacing around
like a caged animal?
To: Dan the Man
From: Lydia
All quiet. Looks like
they've gone to ground.
BTW -How did you get him to
stay home?
To: Lyds
From: Danny
He loves me. :)
To: Dan the Man
From: Lydia
!!!!!!!!
Really?!?!
Danny smiled at the message and asked Stiles to pose for a selfie with him.
"Why?"
"Because I just told Lydia we're a thing and she seems surprised."
"She said it's all quiet and the thing seems to have gone to ground. There's nothing to distract her from."
"You sure?"
"That's what she said." Danny explained and handed over his phone so he could read it for himself. Stiles read through the messages with an embarrassed little smile then waved Danny over for a photo. He lined it up with their faces pressed cheek to cheek but as he took the photo, Stiles turned and kissed Danny high up on the cheekbone. Danny instinctively lowered his eyes and smiled with a blush. Stiles pulled away and studied the pic a moment then nodded with satisfaction and sent it off to Lydia. Danny had to admit he really liked that photo himself. He had photographic evidence that Iósteinn Stilinski really liked him.
"Thank you" he mumbled and Stiles kissed him again, properly and thoroughly, somehow ending up with Danny pressed against a wall and panting, "Thought you didn't want to get carried away tonight?"
"We're not getting carried away. 'S just a kiss." Stiles explained and went to settle in front of the television.
That was just a kiss? Danny followed him blindly and curled up beside him to await the wee hours of the morning and further updates from the pack's hunt. If he had to wait, at least he got to wait with Stiles instead of for him.
"Thank you for being here."
"Thank you for asking me to be here." Stiles answered and wrapped his arm around Danny's shoulders.
At two seventeen in the morning they were woken by Stiles’ phone going off. Stiles scrabbled for it while Danny blearily pulled himself up and realised they'd fallen asleep on the couch. Danny listened as Stiles grunted responses at the person on the other side of the line. The only words he spoke were "Derek's or Deaton's?" before returning to grunting as a form of communication.
When he hung up Stiles explained that they'd found the thing that turned out to be a family of things. They'd eventually convinced them to leave town without having to kill anyone. But the convincing didn't come without a few injuries. Liam and Isaac had both suffered in some way. They were being taken to Derek's place upstairs so they could metaphorically lick their wounds and recover. Not two minutes after being told, Danny heard the elevator ding and the sound of clacking shoes coming down the hall toward their apartment.
Stiles looked uncomfortable about getting a visitor among this evening's events and went to check the line of black powder that stretched across the doorway. The knock came a second later and Stiles pulled the door open to see Lydia. She looked down at the black line, smiled and stepped across it with a determined sort of preciseness.
"Thank you." Stiles acknowledged and she nodded happily before launching herself at Danny.
"You finally got a boyfriend I approve of!" she declared.
Danny laughed and pointed out that they'd been sharing a pair of twins for a while there.
"Oh please, just because I was using Aiden for his body, doesn't mean I approved of you falling for the bad guy with emotional issues,” Danny snorted at that and did his best not to correct her odd misconception that Danny couldn't ever just have a purely physical relationship, "Besides, Stiles is perfect for you. He knows what's going on, he's smart, he's sweet and he's a really good kisser."
"How do you know he's a good kisser?"
"Ah, well, there might have been one time..." Lydia pointed out shyly.
"I was in the middle of a panic attack. She distracted me." Stiles explained quickly and with a blotchy sweet blush.
"How can you be that good even during a panic attack?" Danny asked, genuinely worried that something had happened between them that they didn't want to tell him. If they didn't want to tell him, then maybe they both still had some feelings to hide.
Stiles just shrugged like he didn't think he was that good.
"Maybe it was just nice to share a kiss with someone who really cared about me." Lydia hypothesised.
"Jackson loves you. Always has, always will."
"Jackson had been gone for a while at that point."
"Just how recent was this?"
Stiles shrugged again, "Last year at some point?" he asked eyeing Lydia like he was waiting for confirmation.
"Mmm-hmm. But now you two are together and I'm honestly so happy for you. You make such a beautiful little family," She pointed out and pulled them both down into a group hug, "I just wanted to see you both and say congratulations before you turned in for the night. I'm going to head upstairs now and check on the wounded blondies. You two enjoy the rest of your night." Lydia said as she finally let them go and strutted back out of the apartment, primly stepping over the black line one more time.
"What does the black stuff do?" Danny asked.
"Keeps out creatures. Werewolves can't step over it. Neither can a lot of other things. Obviously banshees are exempt though."
"Banshees?"
"Lydia."
"Lydia's not human either? What the hell is a banshee?"
"She has premonitions of death and if she screams she can find dead bodies, like some sort of corpse sonar."
"She?... Okay."
"Don't worry, she's mostly unaffected. Sometimes when people start dying she gets weird coded messages from the universe or whatever but she's mostly just a teenaged girl. She's okay. She's safe. And most monsters leave her alone if she screams at them."
"I've learnt a lot today," Danny considered, "But I'd really like for it to be over. Can we go to bed now please?"
"Yeah. Yeah, let's get some shut eye." Stiles agreed as he happily locked up and led the way into the bedroom.
Summary: Danny finds a neglected toddler and, realising she will need a temporary guardian, he steps up. Somehow building his own impromptu family in the blink of an eye.
Author Notes: This took me forever to write and I’m so sorry. Major life upheaval plus season 5 kind of threw me off my game especially since this story is divergent from cannon. Excuses, excuses (basically, please know that I’m aware that I suck)
Previous Chapter
Danny's focus was not on lacrosse. Coach was in fine form, screaming like a sideline banshee, desperately trying to get them into shape before tonight's game. Still, Danny had let about twelve goals get scored that he could have easily stopped if his head wasn't so full of other things.
Danny wasn't sure how he'd let Stiles talk him in to this but it was stupid and pointless. He wanted to be out there helping his daughter not stuck here on a field with a bunch of hyped up dudes worrying about getting some dumb ball in the net. He'd only joined the team because Jackson had asked him too.
"Danny!! What the hell are you doing? Get. Your Head. In the GAME!!" The coach yelled and Danny tried to nod and focus but really who the hell was he kidding.
"Stop!!" one of the players screeched from across the field and suddenly all Danny was aware of was Stiles on the sidelines yelling Mina's name.
Number twelve moved out of the way in time for Danny to see Greenburg trying to put the brakes on his sprint while tiny little Mina ran out onto the field, oblivious to anyone other than her daddy. It was only a split second but it was enough for Danny to realise that this was about to end in extreme disaster. Danny dropped his stick and flung off his gloves as he ran to catch her. There was no way he was going to make it but there was no way he wasn't going to try.
At the very last second when Greenburg's sliding feet were about to collide with his little girl's legs, the new kid Liam appeared out of nowhere and swung Greenburg backwards, out of her path.
Mina kept on running, completely unaware of what had just happened and jumped into Danny's arms. He was so tempted to yell at her and tell her never to run out on the field like that again but honestly he couldn't do it. Not even with the terror that had just about frozen his veins two seconds ago. Instead he just held her to him and tried to calm down. Stiles was there too. He'd reached them barely a second after Danny and was crumpled on the grass beside them trying to get a handle on his hyperventilating.
The coach called for break. Told everyone to stretch and rest and be back in three quarters of an hour for the pre-game warm up. Danny looked over to him, ready to apologise but Finstock just waved him away like he didn't want to hear it and stalked off the field.
Danny finally let go of his little girl to take off his helmet and she started tapping him repeatedly on the arm so he looked up to give her his full attention.
"Daddy! I talked to Grandpa; he said I get to keep you. You and Pop both. Do I really get to keep you, Daddy?" She signed with enthusiasm that he hadn't ever seen before.
"Sure Sweetie. We're yours to keep. For however long you want us and then some. We'll always be your parents and you'll always be our daughter." Danny agreed with a stupid smile on his face.
Mina smiled so hard a little squeak came out and Stiles' face crinkled into a smile at the sound of it.
"Grandpa's awesome." Danny told him as he hugged his daughter.
"Yes, he is." Stiles happily agreed but with tiredness wilting his voice.
Stiles took Mina along with Danny's unneeded padding and helmet off to the sidelines while Danny did his stretches. He finished as quickly as he could before bounding over to where Stiles had set up their dinner. True to his word there were awesomely large sandwiches. One with meatballs, one with chicken and one BLT, all cut down enough that could each mix and match to whatever combo they wanted.
"Dude, you are the best." Danny praised as he bit into his meatball club and sent a sauce coated grin to his little girl.
"I know." Stiles agreed and handed one of the smaller bits of sandwich over to their little one.
"Woah! Stiles, you should come home with me and be my housewife instead. I swear there'd be way less babysitting involved." One of the guys announced as they took in the family dinner, complete with picnic blanket.
"Shove off Harrison. No one would be crazy enough to pick up after your stinking hide."
Harrison laughed and wandered off to loudly announce that they needed to get themselves some wives to take care of them this season. Kira smacked him on the ass with her lacrosse stick for the comment.
The rest of the night went easily enough. With Mina back to her chipper self, Danny had finally been able to focus, he'd managed to get his head back in the game before the stands started to fill up. In fact they managed to win by a pretty dammed good lead. Coach's annoyance at Danny's lack of focus earlier in the day was forgiven on the proviso that Mina not ever miss one of his games. Stiles had promised to make sure that never happened (which led to a whole lot of shit-talk from the team but whatever, he had his family at his back and that's all Danny, and the coach, cared about).
Once they got home Danny's good mood seemed to evaporate though. Mina had fallen asleep in the car and Stiles had tucked her into bed as soon as they got in.
"You alright?" Stiles asked as he came out of Mina's room and sat down by Danny on the sofa.
"No. Yeah, it's just been a long day. I need sleep or something." Danny tried to explain.
"Dude give yourself a chance. I spent half the afternoon crying on my dad. You haven't really had a chance to process everything. You don't need to pretend that you're okay." Stiles pointed out and Danny looked up in shock.
He'd cried? Sure Stiles and his dad and a healthy relationship but Danny hadn't realised that Stiles was so comfortable with Danny to just casually admit stuff like that. Through, more importantly, as soon as Stiles had said it, Danny realised that was what he needed. He gone through a full on emotional rollercoaster today and what he needed was to just get it all out.
"I guess I was all set to be worried and angsty over my kid not trusting me and then you went and fixed it before I'd even had time to process it. Don't get me wrong; I'm relieved and everything. So relieved that she's okay and feels secure here now. But I haven't had time to work through it before all these other things came up. Even just what happened with Greenburg at practice is adding to it. I need to vent or something."
"Endorphins." Stiles replied like that was some sort of an actual answer.
"What?"
"Too many emotions are flooding your system. You need to flush them out, preferably with something positive; Endorphins," Stiles tried to explain but it had been such a long day and Danny seriously just wasn't seeing what he was getting at, “We gotta make you happy, Danny boy. Exercise should do it but I guess you don't get to do all that much during the game itself; goalie is kind of way more stationary than the other positions. So like chocolate or kissing. Or chocolate kisses. Dude, you totally need a Hershey's moment."
Danny nodded vaguely but didn't really get it. Stiles thought chocolate and kissing was going to improve his mood. Well, yeah, technically that's how it works and Danny was never one to turn down chocolate but he was in no mood to run out to the store to get some and he certainly didn't have anyone to make out with. Though... that did sound nice. A slow lazy make out session would be perfect right now.
"Pity I don't have a boyfriend or a chocolate stash then." Danny decided and considered taking a long bath even though he'd showered right after the game.
"Danny, you underestimate me." Stiles teased and Danny looked up at him in confusion.
"What, you're willing to make out with me to boost my mood?" He asked sarcastically, trying so damned hard not to think about impossible fantasies.
"Well, I was going to say that I have a chocolate stash, but I'm game if you are." Stiles threw back at him with a casual shrug.
"Don't joke about that okay. I'm sorry I started it but I am far too tired to tread that line with you today. If you do have chocolate though, I will definitely take you up on it. I'll replace it tomorrow." Danny pointed out.
"I don't have to be joking. If you need the stress relief, I'm happy to help." Stiles was staring at him with honesty written all over his face and Danny just couldn't comprehend it. Maybe that wouldn't be a big deal for Stiles but it would be crossing a line for Danny. He couldn't do that and not mean it.
"Stiles I'm not really up for this. Don't taunt me, okay?" Danny rubbed tiredly at his forehead and got up to head to the kitchen, "So where's this chocolate."
"I'll get it." Stiles offered and passed Danny to open the pantry door and dig around in some secret nook that he blocked from Danny's view. Honestly Danny didn't care if Stiles wanted a secret hiding spot. The kitchen was his domain and Danny wasn't about to hone in on that. Instead he just lent back on the wall between the fridge and their bedroom door, deliberately not looking at wherever Stiles was stashing his chocolate, "Here we go." Stiles announced and held up a mug with a handful of Hershey’s Kisses inside. Danny did his best not to roll his eyes at the fact that they were actually kisses.
"Thanks man." Danny held his hand out to take the mug, deciding he would take them with him to eat in the bath.
Stiles, however, had other plans, moving the mug back out of Danny's reach and stepping forward a little. "You can have them if I can kiss you." Stiles declared
"Dude!"
"No. Seriously. One kiss. It'll make you feel better."
"No, it will make me feel weird. It's not fair that you're always doing stuff for me and I can't do anything for you. I don't want to unbalance things completely."
"What are you talking about?" Stiles genuinely looked confused.
"Stiles, everything went to hell today and instead of losing your shit, you looked after Mina, fixed the issue and made me dinner. Now you want to 'cheer me up' too. Maybe one of these days you'll let me take care of you for once."
"Seriously Danny? I can't get to sleep by myself. I don't even have any parental rights here. You're the only reason I have her in my life, the only reason I'm rested enough to function as a parent. Hell, I'm living under your roof. You look after me constantly. And yeah, okay, I cook and I help out but that's just what partners do. We're equal parents. But all in all, you give way more than I do. You're my sanity these days. So maybe I want to help when you're having a bad day or maybe I just want to be able to kiss you, even just once. Is that really such a bad thing? Can't I do this one thing for you?"
When he put it like that Danny could see himself saying yes. He'd wanted to from the start, hell from long before this conversation but with what Stiles just said, it seemed like it might not hurt him to say yes.
Danny nodded silently and resigned himself to doing something he'd been trying very hard to avoid for a very long time. Stiles jolted when he saw the nod and sort of did a double take.
"Yes?" He checked.
"Yeah, okay." Danny admitted, embarrassed that his voice was so hesitant.
"Okay. So uh," Stiles tried to move in and then took a half step back and looked confused, "You're tall. I'm not used to tall. Could you maybe help me out a little here?"
Danny tried not to roll his eyes. He was already resting with his back against a wall so he just moved his feet further out, sliding down the wall until his eyes were even with Stiles'.
"Better?"
Stiles gave a breathy little "Yeah" and stepped between Danny bracketed legs. He reached up and put the mug of chocolates on top of the fridge and finally moved into Danny's space properly.
They stood there, staring and sharing air, neither moving. The suspense should have been killing him but Danny was used to being close to Stiles now. He understood it and found comfort in it. To be honest, instead of raising the tension, it calmed him. Danny relaxed, mouth lax and waited for Stiles to make his move. Strangely, when he finally felt contact at his mouth Stiles was still a couple of inches away. Danny tried to look down.
"Take the chocolate, Danny." Stiles instructed. Danny opened his mouth and accepted the unwrapped kiss. Did this mean Stiles changed his mind? Was there not going to be kissing? Danny was actually starting to look forward to the kissing and no amount of chocolate was going to soothe his disappointment. But then Stiles was moving in and sliding his lips gently across Danny's.
Damn.
The sweet soft kiss from Stiles and the taste of melting chocolate on his tongue. Yeah, this was definitely a way to improve his mood. Except it didn't stop there. Stiles' tongue swept past his lips and Danny froze as he swiped the chocolate right out of his mouth. Danny fought back instinctively, battling with him to keep the little bud of sweetness and resulted in the pair of the rolling the quickly melting chocolate between their tongues. Danny wanted to be annoyed or focused on the battle but to be perfectly honest all he cared about was the way it felt. An overwhelming, enthusiastic kiss with the kinds of tastes and textures that he usually only associated with spoiling himself.
It was more than he was expecting by a long shot and Danny let himself sink into it. He relaxed totally against the wall, letting it hold him up as the last of the chocolate was lost and Stiles took over completely. He moaned deep in his throat and Stiles pressed in close, chest to chest with strong sure hands at his hips. At the feel of Stiles' body pressing up against him, Danny's hands fell back, his right falling helplessly against the wall by his head. The other fell into the doorway to their bedroom, knocking the door back against the wall and startling them both.
Stiles pulled back and took in the sight. Danny flushed realising what he must look like, splayed loose limbed against the wall and dazed from a truly decadent kiss.
"You okay?" he checked and Danny nodded silently, unable to trust his voice, "You want another kiss?" Stiles pointed up at the mug of chocolate and Danny felt the smile slide over his face as he nodded again. Hell yes, he wanted another chocolate kiss.
Stiles reached up to unwrap another one and Danny licked his lips, realising he could taste the last one there. A small clap resounded down to his left and Danny looked down to see a curious Mina standing there with her purple teddy bear.
"Mina!" Danny called out then remembered to smile at her and wave. Stiles turned to see her and automatically hid the chocolate behind his back like he expected her to know what he was doing with it.
"Are you okay?" She asked with wide eyes.
"Yes, sweetheart. Are you alright?"
She nodded but she still looked confused, "You knocked on the wall." She explained, "You said I should knock on the wall if I needed help and clapping didn't work. Do you need my help, Daddy?" Danny's heart skipped a beat.
"Thank you, baby girl. You're right we are supposed to knock on the wall for help but I knocked the door into the wall by accident. I didn't mean to wake you up." Danny explained, realising he'd done the equivalent of calling out for help as far as his daughter was concerned.
"I love that you came to help us. But it was just a mistake this time. Would you like us to tuck you back into bed?" Stiles asked, already moving to sweep her up in his arms as she nodded and held her teddy bear tightly.
Danny picked himself up and followed after them, fussing over her blanket pointlessly after Stiles had tucked her in. They each kissed her and told her how much they loved her and she was back to sleep in minutes.
They snuck back out quietly and Stiles opened his clenched fist to show a melted mess of half unwrapped chocolate. Danny laughed and watched him go to the sink to clean off.
Danny dropped down onto the sofa and waited. He was hoping Stiles was going to offer that second kiss again. He peered over his shoulder as the water shut off and Stiles grabbed the hand towel to dry off.
"I, uh, I guess I should go have a shower." Stiles announced and Danny did his best not to let his expression drop.
"Oh."
"Unless, you don't want me too?" Stiles looked awkward and kind of hopeful. Danny supposed it was fair enough; Stiles started it last time, maybe it was Danny's turn.
"We could... hang for a while first. I," crap, okay, deep breath, "I kind of wanted more chocolate."
"Yeah?" Stiles sort of bounced on the spot then dashed over to grab the mug of chocolate and bring it to Danny. He dropped the mug on the side table and grabbed another one of the foil-wrapped buds before he came around to sit next to him.
Stiles hesitated when it was half unwrapped and looked up at Danny through his lashes. Danny tried to smile but was barely able to move his lips so he gave a little nod and Stiles' focus snapped back to the foil wrapper as his face flushed pink with those cute little white blotches under his cheek bones.
When the thing was finally unwrapped Stiles hesitated for a moment then slipped it between his own lips. Danny was lost for half a second before his brain caught up and he followed the chocolate straight into Stiles' mouth, pulling Stiles into the kiss with possessive hands. Just like last time the kiss was delicious right up until the chocolate dissolved. It was like the food was distracting Stiles and without it he became single mindedly focused on the kiss in a way that left Danny completely overwhelmed. No one had ever kissed him with such enthusiasm before. He got so completely swept up in it, pulling Stiles to him until Danny realised there was nowhere left to go. He'd somehow ended up laying down on the couch with Stiles on top of him. Not that Danny was complaining as he broke the kiss to take a breath and dove straight back in before he could get distracted.
Stiles made a filthy sound as Danny rearranged his limbs so they were comfortably chest to chest without legs getting in the way. Danny wasn't entirely sure what the sound was for until Stiles shifted his hips and, holy shit, they were aligned perfectly. Danny's breath stuttered to a halt. It's been such a long time since he's been with someone this way.
"What? No, 'sokay, I'm just getting comfy." Danny explained and arched his hips to make his point. Stiles' eyes rolled back at the movement, his mouth falling open and Danny was mesmerised by it. Stiles was enjoying this. Like, really enjoying it. Danny couldn't help himself as he surged up to suck at Stiles' throat. Stiles made that sound again and his hips twitched. Danny's hips moved in retaliation and a chain reaction started as Stiles re-attached himself to Danny's mouth.
They were making out and dry humping like horny teenaged boys. Danny tried to remember why he thought this was a bad idea but all he could remember was how much he'd wanted this ever since he was old enough to know what making out was. The reality was so much more intense than his daydreams had ever been and then Stiles found the sensitive spot on the bolt of Danny's jaw.
"Motherfucker." Danny moaned aloud, embarrassed by the out of character curse.
Stiles chuckled into his neck and mumbled, "More like Daddyfucker."
That awful dad joke should not have done it for him but it totally did. Danny pulled him back to his mouth and wrapped his legs more firmly around Stiles' hips. Kissing gave way to heavily breathing into one another’s mouths while their bodies found a rhythm against each other. Clothing was the only worry in the world that Danny had right now and he opened his eyes and to glare at Stiles' layers of shirts. He could take them off right? They were already this far gone surely less clothes would be okay. Danny eyed them a moment longer and tilted his head as Stiles started mouthing down his neck.
That's when he noticed the movement off to the side. He turned his head and found Mina back out of bed and sitting quietly on the coffee table. Just sitting there, swinging her legs and watching her parents make out like it was a boring everyday thing.
Danny lifted his hand and waved feebly. Mina smiled in acknowledgment and Stiles nibbled on his collar bone.
"Stiles," he tried. Stiles grunted in response and rolled his hips again, "Stiles stop. Stop, please."
Stiles propped himself up on his forearms and stared at Danny, "You okay?"
"Yeah," Stiles smiled sweetly in response and moved in for another kiss but Danny pulled back, "Mina's here."
"What?"
Danny nodded at their little girl and Stiles froze as soon as he noticed her.
"When are you going to come to bed?" she asked, completely unaware of their embarrassment.
"You want to sleep in our bed tonight?" Danny asked, aware that Stiles couldn't sign without sitting up and exposing both their hard ons.
Mina nodded and Danny tried to hide the way his expression wilted. That put an end to the make out session. But he certainly wasn't about to say no to her. Especially not today.
Stiles sat up then, sitting against the back of the couch with his bent knees over Danny's crotch and hiding himself from Mina's view.
"Okay Mina, but we have to have our bath time first. Why don't you go tuck into bed and we'll be there as soon as we've cleaned up, okay?"
Mina nodded happily and slipped off the coffee table to skip into her parent's bedroom. Stiles watched her go then struggled to get off the sofa without kneeling on Danny. When he got up he stood above Danny and held out his hand.
"Join me in the shower?"
"Ah, okay." Danny agreed, taking the hand and allowing himself to be led into the bathroom.
Summary: Danny finds a neglected toddler and, realising she will need a temporary guardian, he steps up. Somehow building his own impromptu family in the blink of an eye.
Author Notes: Huge apologies for the delay with this chapter. Writer's block hit. Huge lifestyle changes are coming up which should result in more regular chapters after the next couple of weeks. (Thank goodness because the next chapter should finally result in some actual physical interaction of the non-sleeping variety)
Previous Chapter
Sunday was spent properly recovering and doing what they could of their homework, realising that this flu had timed itself perfectly for the span of the weekend. Though Mina's nose was still running like a tap thanks to children's medication not being able to include proper decongestants. To be honest Danny still felt like a walking corpse but the other two seemed more chipper and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to push through this and prove his parental mettle. Stiles seemed to see right through it, giving him extra garlic bread with dinner and insisting on Danny being the little spoon once they settled into bed.
School bought a new set of challenges. The moment they walked in on Monday morning it felt like the entire school started staring. He'd overheard people taking bets on his and Stiles' relationship status from at least three different groups of kids. Stiles just snorted and kept his stride, using his locker quickly then taking Mina from Danny's arms so Danny could stow his books too.
"You two are adorable!" a freshman girl informed them as they made their ways through the halls.
Stiles happily agreed with her and kept walking.
"So it doesn't bug you that everyone thinks we're a couple?" Danny asked as they arrived at Stiles' homeroom.
"Are you kidding me?" Stiles asked as he handed Mina over and pulled out a tissue to take care of her nose again, "You are so far out of my league that I take it as a compliment that so many people think it's possible. I mean, I get that you'd be a little insulted but hey, I'm not going to play into it if that makes you feel better."
"Dude, it is not an insult! I just, you know ... you're not gay."
"I'm not straight either and really, who cares. I'm more interested in being a parent that a potential date these days. They can think whatever they want, it's not going to change anything," Stiles then focused on Mina, "Say goodbye to Daddy. We won't see him until third class."
Mina leaned up to kiss him and Danny squeezed tight to say goodbye, kissing her freshly cleaned little nose before passing her back to Stiles.
They continued on like that for the rest of the week, blithely ignoring the rumours and politely accepting compliments without confirming or denying anything. Danny had to admit that Stiles' calm neutrality on the situation was working. The rumours were still flying left right and center but they weren't affecting them as much as Danny expected. It was like being in the eye of a storm, watching chaos all around you without it ever touching you. It was strangely zen-like. Danny had dealt with a fair bit of bullying and rumours when he was younger. It had always bothered him to be the center of attention even when it wasn't negative attention. The idea of just walking away from rumours without letting them touch him was new and kind of revolutionary.
Danny actually started to feel like he was getting things under control. They had their schedules worked out and between him and Stiles their family was operating like a well oiled machine. At least it felt that way until Thursday afternoon.
Stiles had Mina with him, fast asleep for her midday nap while Danny was sitting two classrooms down. He was trying to focus on the teacher's explanation of the algorithm on the board when a nasal scream echoed through the hallway. He was up and opening the door before he even realised what he was doing. He could hear his teacher yelling at him to get back to his seat but he ignored it, choosing instead to stalk up to the Physics room and yank open the door.
He vaguely registered the teacher rolling her eyes and waving him in sarcastically but mostly his eyes were on Stiles bouncing their daughter at the back of the classroom. Danny hurried down to meet them and Stiles looked up has he approached.
"Nightmare." he whispered in explanation as Danny finally reached them.
"She's not hurt?"
Stiles just shook his head and kept bouncing her quietly. Danny moved around to look at her over Stiles' shoulder. Her face was buried against her Pops. He lent forward to kiss her strawberry curls and let her know he was there.
Mina looked up with wet eyes that went wide when she realised her Daddy was there. Her little hand cupping at Stiles' shoulder blade like she was trying to apologise but it was hard to sign with her Pops in the way. Danny shook his head and silently signed back.
"You don't have to be sorry. I'll always come when you need me; you're my most important person, Sweetie."
She looked confused by that and the tears welled up all over again, slipping over and trailing down her face. It broke his heart that she was still surprised by that. He pulled in close and nestled his nose among her curls. Technically that meant he was snuggling up against Stiles' back but so what? When their little girl needed both her parents, that's exactly what she was going to get. He honestly didn't think anything of it until he saw a camera flash from the corner of his eye and a bunch of exaggerated 'Awwww's from the students.
He did his best to ignore it like everything else but he felt Stiles stiffen his back, obviously not as unaffected as he liked to pretend he was. Danny rubbed his thumb back and forth against Stiles' side, doing what he could to calm him out of view of the other students. It didn't seem to be helping so instead he just pulled back to ask Mina if there was anything he could get for her. Mina shyly let them know that she needed a new diaper. She was usually able to get through nap time and even a few nights with a dry diaper but it wasn't a guarantee especially when she'd just had a nightmare. Danny let her know that it was perfectly normal and nothing to be embarrassed about but she still seemed more shy than usual.
"Damned students keep staring at her. It's making her self conscious," Stiles mumbled more to himself than to Danny. He passed her over and directed them to the door, "I'll get her bag and a hall pass. Be out in a minute."
Danny carried her out of the room but stopped in the doorway when he heard Stiles demand someone's phone. He turned around to see Stiles clicking through a bright pink phone with daises on the cover.
"My daughter's nightmares should not be a source of your entertainment." He bit out as he threw the phone back down onto her textbook, scooped up Mina's bag and stalked out of the room. Danny held the door for him and followed him out in awe of his protective streak.
They'd both managed to leave their classrooms without bothering to collect a hall pass but Danny seriously wasn't focused on that right now.
The protective dad thing was really kind of hot. Danny did his best to ignore the tight feeling in his abdomen and keep the pink from his cheeks as he matched stride with Stiles' 'man on a mission' pace.
"You just won the 'Bad Ass Dad' award. It was ... impressive." Danny commented, unable to let that kind of thing pass without some form of acknowledgement.
"I deleted a photo. I wasn't exactly Mr. Kimble."
"Who?"
"Mr. Kimble; Arnie in Kindergarten Cop."
"Right. Why am I not surprised that you liked a movie about a bad ass cop that spends his days with adorable little kiddies?"
Stiles just snorted and opened the door to the bathroom.
They got Mina sorted and Danny cuddled her as much as he could before he had to pass her back and return to his classroom to receive detention for leaving without permission. Stiles had work after school so Danny had a grumpy, sleep deprived ball of misery sulking on his lap while he sat quietly trying to do his homework with the other 'delinquents'. Though at least it made his teacher a little more sympathetic.
He was wiped by the time the day was over and stupidly relieved to see Stiles walk through the door that night with a bag full of Indian food. They'd found out a while ago that Mina was a huge fan of butter chicken and seemed to consider coconut naan as candy. He was clearly spoiling their daughter because she had a bad day. To be perfectly honest, Danny would do the same. Their little girl was due a fair bit of spoilage.
She managed to get sauce stains on everything she was wearing as well as both her father's shirts but they laughed it off and let it slide. She seemed in much better spirits by the time they tucked her into bed. Danny collapsed on the sofa, mentally and emotionally exhausted while Stiles went off to have his shower.
Not ten minutes into trying to watch tv he gave up, completely unable to focus on the plot or even follow the dialog. Stiles emerged from the bathroom just after he'd switched it off.
"Don't look, but there is a very scared face peaking around a bedroom door." Stiles announced to the room at large.
Danny tramped down his instinct to look directly at her door. Instead he stretched while staring at the blank television. "You up for an early night with a wiggling child."
"Always." Stiles answered from the kitchen which was out of sight of Mina's doorway.
"Then go with me on this," Danny requested before turning around to lean on the back of the sofa and start signing as he spoke, "Hey Stiles?"
"Yes, Danny?" Stiles answered, stepping casually back into Mina's eye line.
"You used to have a lot of bad dreams, right?"
Stiles looked a little embarrassed but he nodded and gestured for Danny to continue.
"Well, how do you stop the nightmares?"
"Uh, usually I stop them by cuddling up to you." Stiles answered, face taking on an array of pinks.
"Huh. So do think that maybe Mina would sleep better if we tucked her into our bed tonight?"
"I think it would probably help. Do you think she's still awake?"
"Maybe but she looked pretty tired, she's probably fast asleep. I still need to have my shower before I can go to bed but if you're ready for bed, I can help you could tuck her in with you so we don't wake her then I'll come to bed as soon as I'm clean."
"Okay. I'll put my water by the bed then go to check on her." Stiles agreed and headed for their bedroom.
Danny smiled and got up from the sofa. There was a loud gasp and running footsteps before they heard Mina dive back into her bed. Stiles' face peeked back out to grin stupidly at Danny. Admittedly that was the cheesiest conversation they'd ever had but the fact that Mina knew they were worried about her and chose to fake sleeping so she get carried to bed was adorable.
They snuck in to see their daughter who was lying there, arms thrown wide a very fake deep breaths echoing in the room. Stiles picked her up and carried her through to their room.
Danny tucked them both in the way he did for Mina each night and kissed his little girl's forehead before heading off to the shower.
___
Friday was awful. They walked into the school like a small invasion of zombies. Despite being tucked in with her parents from the get go, Mina had still woken up distraught at least five times the night before. Danny wasn't entirely sure of the exact number since he and Stiles ended up taking turns to comfort her.
Danny honestly couldn't tell you what happened for most of the morning. He went through it all in a daze. All he knew was that Stiles had texted him to meet them at the library as soon as lunch started.
He got there to find Mina with crumbs on her face and drooping eyelids. Stiles explained that he'd given her lunch during third period and reserved one of the study couches near the back of the library.
Danny wasn't catching on too quick and really didn't know what was going on until Stiles got comfy in one corner of the couch and settled Mina against his chest, stroking her hair in a way that generally made her sleepy. Stiles patted the seat beside him and waited for Danny to move. Danny finally realised what this was; family nap time. He eagerly dropped his bag, slipped off his shoes and curled up on the couch with his head of Stiles' shoulder and his arm around Mina's back. He was asleep less than a minute later.
Danny woke up a couple of times when Mina jolted awake but each time she would smooth her hand along one of their faces, like she was checking that they were still there and then would fall back to sleep. Danny refused to think about it at the time, accepting that she was happy enough to nod off again and following her back to sleep.
___
Danny woke up to a hand jostling his shoulder. He screwed up his face but opened his eyes, checking over Stiles and Mina who remained fast asleep.
"It's time to get up, dear."
Danny looked up and found the school librarian standing over him with amusement on her face.
"'S lunch over?"
"Yes well, lunch and fourth period are both over dear. I asked the nurse to excuse you for fourth but you really do need to get back now. The bell's going to ring in a few minutes."
"We slept through class? Geez, okay. Thank you for waking me."
"No worries. I remember when my little ones were that age. Sometimes you just need a little break." She patted his hair and wandered off.
Danny smiled after her and pulled away from Stiles to put his shoes on.
"Whassamatta?" Stiles mumbled, reaching out blindly in Danny's direction.
"Wake up Stiles, lunch is over and we slept through fourth period," Stiles jolted up, nearly dislodging Mina from his lap. Danny's hands shot out to catch her but Stiles had it under control, somehow managing to jump completely awake without disrupting her nap, "Mrs Maine got us excused for one class but we have to go back now."
"Okay. Uh..." Stiles looked around helplessly and tried to wipe the drool off his chin with his shoulder.
Danny pulled his backpack on and gently lifted Mina from Stiles' lap so her Pop could gather his things. He got Mina settled into her stroller and organised her things before checking his phone for the time. There was still a full five minutes 'til class so they didn't need to hurry too much.
He opened a new text message from Jackson and found himself looking at a pic of the three of them fast asleep on the library couch with a note explaining that there were about five different photos being texted and emailed all over the school. Danny wasn't overly surprised and turned the phone to show Stiles. Stiles looked a little apologetic but not bothered by it. They were sort of used to it by now.
To: Jax
From: Danny
Not surprised. Mina's been having
nightmares. Teach excused us
from class to let us sleep.
Having kids is hard.
To: Danny
From: Jax
U poor bby. Wht's the prob? Is
it Stiles? His tragic face
finally had an affect on her?
To: Jax
From: Danny
Too tired for your awful humour &
I have no idea what's upsetting
her. She wakes up & won't go back
to sleep til she touches our faces
Like she's checking we were real.
Cried most of last night.
To: Danny
From: Jax
Hv ppl been saying goodbye 2
her?
To: Jax
From: Danny
Yes it's her last week here.
Why??
To: Danny
From: Jax
DUDE! Last time a bnch of ppl
said bye 2 her she moved house
n got dumped. BIG TRIGGER. wldn't u
frk out if everyone said bye wthout
telling u whre ur going??
Danny stared down at his phone in horror. He'd been texting back and forth as they made their way to class. They were almost at Danny's classroom with Mina still sleeping in her stroller and Stiles about to head further down the hall. He clutched at Stiles' sleeve and held out the phone for him too read. He was too upset to even explain.
Colour drained out of Stiles' face and his eyes started to tear up. He looked up at Danny with the most helpless expression.
"What do we do?" he whispered and stared down at her frowning in her sleep.
"I... We tell her. Tell her she's staying with us and why they're saying goodbye?" Danny wasn't sure. How do you prove to a child that they can trust you when everyone they've ever trusted has screwed them over?
People started pouring out of classrooms and rushing past them, determined to get where they needed to go in the few short minutes they had between classes despite the obstacle of a small family in the hallway. Stiles looked so desperately lost and Danny knew he probably looked exactly the same. Still he waved Stiles off to class; they couldn't fix it right now anyway.
___
Danny spent the rest of the school day feeling horribly clingy. Mina slept through the first half hour of class with her fingers holding tightly to Danny's hand while he took notes one handed. When she woke up and started sobbing quietly he bought her up onto his lap and held her, paying more attention to kissing her hair and wiping away the never ending stream of silent tears than to anything the teacher had to say.
No one pulled him up on his lack of attention. In fact the girl beside him offered to email him a copy of her notes so he could go over them later. It was like everyone else had already figured out what was going on and just sitting around pitying him for not catching on quickly enough.
When classes were done with Danny met Stiles outside the locker rooms as promised. He was with Scott and talking a mile a minute with wild hand gestures. It was clear he was completely freaking out. Scott was doing what he could to calm Stiles but ADHD breeds anxiety and it was definitely in full swing today. Calm wasn't really an option.
"Stiles?" Danny announced his arrival, ready to skip lacrosse practice in favour of taking his family home and having some sort of intervention.
"I'm okay. It's fine. How is she?"
"Miserable. Her eyes are too wet to see what I'm trying to say to her. I'm going to skip practice so we can take her home and talk to her."
"First game of the season?!" Scott asked loudly.
"My daughter's more important that lacrosse."
"Not when Couch finds out." Scott pointed out and and took himself into the locker room.
"For the record: that's the kind of thing that makes me dislike him." Danny pointed out as he handed Mina over to her Pops.
"It was a joke, Danny."
"I know but I'm not in a joking mood. Lets just go home."
"No, Danny. We can't put our lives on hold for this stuff. It's not ever going to stop. We need to work around it and I need to calm down a bit. You go to practice, Mina and I will go to visit Grandpa. Dad will help me get my head around this and maybe the uniform will convince Mina it's the truth when we reassure her. We'll meet back here to watch the game and we can have a proper talk to her when we all get home."
"The game ends at eight. She'll be fast asleep by the time we get home."
"Somehow I doubt that but if she is, then we have time to get our wording right and we'll talk to her tomorrow. There's no way to fix this but to tell her she's safe and wait for her to realise it's true. No matter what we do, it's going to take time. There's no point putting things on hold. Go to practice."
"But..."
"Go to practice Danny. She just needs time. I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"I... okay."
"I'll bring you dinner before the game and we can talk to her then if you want. You want anything specific to eat?"
"At least half an hour before the game?" Danny pleaded.
"Sure. What do you want?"
"Subway?"
"Subway's a waste of money. I'll make you a couple of real sandwiches."
"Big ones?" Danny pleaded, feeling like he was six years old and asking his Ma for a treat.
"Yes, big ones. Go be a teenager." Stiles directed with a smile as he headed down the hall with Mina on his hip and a stroller folded up under his other arm. Danny felt like a horrible failure today and watching Stiles pull himself together to take charge and look after him and Mina just made it all the more obvious that Danny wasn't pulling his weight.
No matter what, Danny was determined that by the end of the day he was going to give Stiles a chance to be the one being looked after.
Summary: Danny finds a neglected toddler and, realising she will need a temporary guardian, he steps up. Somehow building his own impromptu family in the blink of an eye.
Previous Chapter
Danny woke up the next day with a throbbing headache and drenched in sweat. The other two, still sleeping soundly on top of him, were shivering like naked chihuahuas. He didn't want to wake them up but he was fairly certain he was the reason they were so cold.
Stiles was almost entirely on top of him at this point so he just wiggled a little to jostle the guy. Stiles grumbled and buried his face against Danny's chest, trying to block out the world.
"Stiles wake up!" Danny ordered, not worrying about the volume since their little girl wouldn't be affected by it.
"Wha... is M-mina kay?"
"No, she's shivering like mad. So are you. I need to get up and run you guys a bath."
"Aren't you c-cold?" Stiles asked, eyes still not quite open but voice definitely shivering.
"No, I'm sweating. I think I'm why you guys are cold. Stay here and keep her warm, I'll get the bath started." Danny explained as he prodded Stiles to move off him.
Eventually he moved far enough for Danny to ease out of the bed without waking Mina and he set off for the bathroom. The air beyond their bed was blessedly cool and Danny gratefully wandered away to run the bath and gather the medicine for their next dose. They were well overdue for their pills. They must have slept through the alarm he'd set because the sun was well and truly up by now.
He started the bath and then went to tip some syrup down Mina's throat before she woke up, figuring she'd be less upset if she slept through tasting the horrible stuff. He and Stiles took their pills too and Danny took everyone's temperatures. By the numbers, they were all getting better, they just had to ride it out. Maybe they'd get lucky and it would just be a twenty-four hour thing.
The cold ones bathed until they were glowing pink and the shivering had stopped. Danny had a luke warm shower and the three of them settled under a doona on the sofa with hot porridge and the Astroboy movie. Once the porridge was finished, Stiles resettled Mina on his lap and slipped across to sit directly beside Danny and conserve as much body heat as possible. Mina snuggled up agaist her Pops and wiggled her toes into Danny's leg until she had her feet snuggly tucked under her Daddy's thigh for warmth. They were going to have to buy her the biggest fluffiest socks come winter time.
Mina fell asleep again, nose now running often enough that Stiles had a wet patch where she was leaning on his shirt. Danny was honestly starting to drift off as well, leaning more and more heavily on Stiles as the movie played on. A loud banging pulled him back to reality. He'd unlocked the door when he'd gotten up in case his mother came back over but whoever was knocking was definitely not his Ma.
"Who is it?" He called out as Stiles stared hard at the door and pulled his part of the blanket a little higher, obviously annoyed at the idea of dealing with humans today.
The door slid open and Scott McCall peeked his head in with a goofy smile on his face, like that would excuse the intrusion. Danny had a hard time trusting Scott these days, he certainly didn't want to deal with the alpha while he was tired and irritable.
"Hey guys. Saw the Facebook post so I thought I'd drop by. See if you needed anything?" he asked, stepping into the room and sort of sniffing at the air.
"What Facebook thing?" Stiles asked.
"Uh, Danny put a thing on there about a family flu. He did it during last period so the whole school knew before the weekend started. Apparently they all think it means you're a couple now." Scott scoffed and came forward to brush the hair out of Mina's face.
"Why would getting the flu make us more of a couple than getting a daughter?" Danny asked, baffled at teenaged reasoning.
"Uh, because they're all shipping it since meeting Mina and you said something about sharing a surname so now they think you're secretly married or something. I keep telling them that Stiles is straight but people are too sucked into the story to listen to reason. Anyway, how are you guys feeling?"
"Mahealinski is Mina's surname." Stiles explained at the same moment that Danny stupidly blurted out, "He thinks you're straight?"
"What do you mean 'thinks'?"
"Duuuude!" Stiles looked uncomfortable as hell and Danny realised he'd just outed him without permission. He felt like such an arsehole until he realised just what it meant that Scott didn't know.
"Seriously? Scott can just lay a world of werewolf crap at your feet and you can't even talk to him about the basics? That's a really lop-sided friendship Stiles."
Scott and Stiles just froze, staring at him like he'd grown a second head. At least until Scott shook himself out of it and glared down at Stiles.
"You told him about werewolves? That's not your secret to tell Stiles?"
"He didn't tell me but considering how often you nearly get him and his family killed, I don't think you get to say it's not his secret. He can tell me if he wants to but I've known for years anyway," The pair of them gaped at him and Scott sunk down to sit on the coffee table and stare, "Come on, my best friend is a werewolf. Did you honestly think I wasn't going to notice when he got a little long in the tooth?"
Danny's head was throbbing again and there were goosebumps on his legs but he knew he was stuck here having a serious conversation now. He really didn't want to, he was already tired enough to have made an unforgivable comment about Stiles' sexuality, there was no telling what else he was going to say wrong before this was over.
"Y-you... Jackson? He told you?"
"Well yeah. I'm his go-to guy for the serious conversations and he got mind controlled into some seriously disturbing shit. Did you expect him to just not say anything to anyone and go on like it didn't happen?"
"Why wouldn't he tell us that you knew?" Scott questioned.
"Ah, because he's super protective. He didn't want me to get sucked in the way Stiles and Lydia were. You do realise that humans don't have super speed or strength or agility and we sure as hell don't heal the way you do, right? Because it seriously freaks Jackson out that you still expect them on the front lines with you when they're so much more likely to get hurt."
"I-I don't..."
"You do! And just so you know, if you ever lead wolves to my daughter, I'll cut you in half myself and Jackson will help. It's bad enough that you keep threatening Stiles' existence, y-you threaten the rest of us and I will end you."
Danny knew he was being overly cruel. He knew Scott didn't ask to be a werewolf but he was more protective of this family than he ever had been of anything else in his life. He almost wanted to keep yelling, or kick Scott out but the cold had snuck up on him hard and fast and it was taking all of his control not to shiver like a leaf.
"Danny, that's not fair. I knew what I was getting into and Scott's had my back the entire time. He's my best friend."
"Being your b-best friend d-doesn't make him a g-good one, S-stiles. My bes-st friend left the c-country to k-keep me sa-safe. Yours pulled you in-to some W-win-chester shit that d-doesn't include the r-resurrections."
"Okay, your chill just hit. We'll talk about this later. Scott, can you fill the bath. I'll get him to the bathroom before he loses the ability to walk." Stiles decreed, tucking Mina into a corner of the sofa and trying to help Danny to his feet.
"What's happening?" Scott asked, standing helplessly.
"His temperature's dropping. Happened to me and Mina this morning but he's a few hours behind us in symptoms. Just run the bath, please."
Scott scurried away just as Stiles managed to get Danny on his feet. It felt like his muscles were locking up, he was shivering so hard. He mourned the loss of his blanket as he stood and didn't want to think about moving. Instead he clung to Stiles' body heat and buried his cold nose against the heat of Stiles' jugular.
"Am I disturbing something?"
Danny looked up at the voice by the door and saw Jackson standing there, small plastic bag dangling from his fingers.
"J-jack.... co-old..." Danny tried to explain before Stiles cut in with a proper explanation including the fact that they seemed to have left it too long and Danny was all seized up. Stiles wasn't able to get him to the tub like this.
Jackson strode in, dropped the bag on the coffee table and swept Danny up like a princess. The super strength thing was damned handy and Danny was so grateful that it was Jackson and not Scott that he was able to get help from. Jackson got him to the bathroom kicked Scott out and shut the door. Danny was set down on the edge of the tub but shivering so hard he worried he'd lose his balance. Jax opened the taps to full in an attempt to fill the tub faster then started to strip him without a moments hesitation.
He kept up a running commentary about how lucky Danny was that Jackson knew he'd be needed and had taken the time out of his weekend to look after him or some such thing but Danny couldn't focus on the words. Instead he tried not to be difficult as the air chilled him more and more as he was stripped down. Once naked Jackson picked him up again and gently lowered him into the four inches of water that they'd achieved so far. It was so hot on his freezing skin that it burned and Danny grabbed at his bits to protect them from the sting. Still he relished the return of blood flow and ducked a foot directly under the tap.
"B-bubbles?" Danny asked the eyed the bottle on the counter.
"Really princess?"
"P-parents have n-no pri-vacy. Bubbles h-help." Danny tried to explain realising that Mina would want to join him if she woke up. Stiles was probably going to pop his head in to check on him at some point too. Jackson just rolled his eyes and upended what was left in the bottle under the flow of water. Danny sat up with his legs as flat against the bottom of the tub as he could manage, trying to cover as much of his seized up muscles as he could.
"I didn't think you were this sick. I can get you guys to the hospital if you need."
"N-no. Ma says we're not at the bad temperature and we've been getting better. J-just got to ri-de it out n-now."
A knock sounded at the door and Stiles called through that Danny was out of clean pjs and asked if there was another option he preferred.
Danny pointed him to his gym clothes in the bottom drawer but couldn't get the volume so Jackson repeated it through the door for him then took a seat on the closed toilet lid to stare him down.
"If you knew this was coming, why didn't you get in here and run a bath sooner?"
"Scott turned up and I was b-busy threatening to kill him if he bought werewolves anywhere near my little girl." Danny explained, shivering finally settling a bit as the water reached his waist and he settled further into it.
"So they know that you know?" Jax asked, concern crinkling his face. Danny nodded quietly aware that he had disappointed his friend, "Well, shit."
"I know man. I'm sorry. But I wouldn't have been able to keep it to myself for long anyway. The moment the next threat arrives Stiles is going to disappear into the night I'm going to turn into a freaking military wife sitting around worrying that my little girl is about to lose another parent. I don't want to be that. I'm not going to be that. I just don't know how to convince him to stop."
"It's like you're really married."
"Shut up Jax."
"You know," Stiles announced his presence in the bathroom doorway and making Danny jump badly enough to slosh water out of the tub, "You could just explain it to me the way you did to Jackson just then and rely on me being reasonable to understand."
"What?" Danny was lost. Was Stiles agreeing to change his life just because Danny wanted him too? That didn't seem right. Surely it couldn't be that easy.
"I don't do as much front line stuff as you seem to think. Mostly I do research with Lydia. I have no problem promising to avoid anything that might follow me home. But can we leave the big discussion about details until we're both back on our feet please?"
Danny nodded numbly aware that this was the best possible outcome.
"Okay," Stiles agreed and put Danny's clothes down on the bench, "Get warm. Stop worrying. And please stop yelling at Scott; I swear this stuff isn't his fault."
"'Kay. Sorry." Danny agreed, kind of feeling like an ass for what he'd said earlier.
Stiles just nodded and left the room, scooping up a curious little girl that was hovering behind him and carting her away. Danny stayed in the bath and talked with Jackson until the water started to turn cold. Jax left him to dry off and get dressed by himself and when he emerged he found Jax standing in the open space staring at Stiles.
Stiles, at least, was oblivious. He had his back to them, swaying from foot to foot and softly bouncing a sleeping Mina while he hummed. Strangely he was also reading a book over her shoulder.
"What is he doing?" Danny wondered aloud while realising Scott must have left already.
"My guess: the research that Scott said he'd get done this weekend." Jackson answered.
"Does Scott not know how to read?!"
Stiles spun around at that, sheepishly lowering the book and grinning like he could distract them.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
"Why are you doing stuff for Scott? None of us have been awake for more than an hour at a time since this hit and he drops by to give you work? You can't expect me to stop being mean to him if he's going to keep doing shit like this!"
"There's something new in town. Until we know what it is, we don't know how or if we need to deal with it. This could be life or death Danny."
"Then maybe Scott should have done the research himself instead of palming it off on someone who's sick. This is not your job. You are not a werewolf. You get to live the normal human life and do normal human things."
"People could die, Danny."
"So why isn't Scott trying to fix it? Why is it your job. The only lives you are responsible for are your own and that little girl. Just put the book down."
"You don't think Scott feels bad about this? He apologised like three times. He just has important stuff to do this weekend and I'm housebound anyway."
"He has a date." Jackson pointed out with a sneer.
"He has a date? Seriously? That kid gets more action than a Bruce Willis movie! Why on Earth would getting him laid be more important than you and your daughter's health?"
"Danny he'd my best friend and he asked for a little favour. I'm better at research than he is. I don't see why you're so upset."
"Because he's using you, Stiles. And if he's really your best friend then why does he think you're straight?" Danny stared him down as Stiles blushed and flailed around like he was physically trying to find a response.
"Okay, I do not need to be here for this conversation," Jackson declared as he scooped up the little plastic bag from the coffee table and exchanged it for the book in Stiles' hand, "I'll take the book since I'm flu and date free today. You take this stuff." Jackson walked out the door, shutting it as he went without looking back.
"You think maybe we could fight about this when we're not exhausted instead of right now?" Danny asked quietly as he took the bag from Stiles and fished out the tub of chest rub it contained.
"He's my best friend," Stiles repeated in a quiet voice, "Practically my brother."
"Stiles, I'm not trying ask you to break ties. I'm just saying you should be able to say no to him. You should be able to come out to him too. It's a really lop-sided friendship and might not even be his fault. It'll never be fixed if you don't give him a chance to be a good friend. It doesn't always have to be about him."
"It was always about me while my mum was sick. For years. It's his turn."
Danny's heart broke a little at that.
"Friends don't take turns. You've been through more; you get to ask for more. You shouldn't feel guilty or have to make up for that."
Stiles nodded silently but wouldn't look up at Danny after that. Danny couldn't stand the sad almost guilty look on his face. He picked up Stiles' hand and led him over to the sofa. Danny sat down in the corner and pulled Stiles down to sit between his legs, cradled back against his chest.
"What are we doing?" Stiles asked as he helped pull the doona over them without waking their daughter in his lap.
"I am comforting and taking comfort from my family. I'm sure at some point you were warned that I like to cuddle." Danny explained as he un-paused Astroboy to pick up where they left off earlier. Stiles slowly relaxed back against him.
"You know I love you, right?" Danny asked quietly, jaw resting against Stiles' temple.
"What?" Stiles stiffened up in his arms.
"We've been living together for nearly three months. We're going to stay together for years. I worry about you getting hurt not because I don't want to raise Mina alone but because I don't want to raise her without you. My family was always just my Ma and kind of my dad. Now it's you and Mina too. And kind of your dad. So I'm going to worry about you and I'm going to care if you're not okay and I'm going to love you. You're just going to have to deal with that." Danny explained, trying to be nonchalant about it all.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I think you should know where I stand. And so maybe you'll understand why I got upset earlier. It doesn't have to change anything, I just thought you should know."
"Okay," Stiles relaxed back a little and put his head back down against Danny's shoulder, "Thank you."
Danny nodded gently and relaxed into the cushions with his family. Neither of them said anything about the handful of hot tears that dripped off the side of Stiles' face to catch and cool in the neckline of Danny's shirt.
Summary: Danny finds a neglected toddler and, realising she will need a temporary guardian, he steps up. Somehow building his own impromptu family in the blink of an eye.
Previous Chapter
They continued to share a bed after that though they mostly kept to their own sides. Danny didn't know how to initiate snuggling without a cause and he didn't want to assume he was welcome. Though each night he would wake up at some point to find Stiles had entwined their fingers together in an endearing need for contact, but other than that they stayed separate when Mina wasn't there to link them together.
Mina for her part seemed a little disappointed. She was so happy to see the pair of them spooning that first morning. After that Danny noticed the expectant look on her face when she would peek in the room of a morning (after proudly spending the whole night in her own bed) only to have disappointment shift over her features. Danny tried not to read too much into it but he knew most children wanted their parents to be happy together. That it gave them a sense of a solid home life. He knew because his own parents weren't exactly close and it had always kind of freaked him out as a child when he saw evidence of it. Still kind of did, to be honest. Danny didn't really know how to broach the subject with Stiles or even what they were supposed to do about it so he kept his mouth shut.
The students at school had gotten used to the sweet little girl in their midst. The yearbook photographer had even taken a couple of photos of her so they could add her in as an honorary member of the senior class. Unfortunately for Mina the shiny new excitement of high school had worn off around Thursday. She was a three year old who wanted to play with things and run around. Sitting in classrooms all day was getting boring and the longer she had to behave herself the more her patience wore thin. By Friday afternoon she was a grumpy mess who had refused to nap and was now crying silently and throwing everything Danny handed her on the ground. Danny ended up hijacking Stiles so they could all skip last period and head home early. After the last class they'd been in he highly doubted anyone was going to miss them.
As soon as they got home Mina made a bee line for her room and shut the door behind her. That was not going to end well considering it still took patience and concentration for her to open the round door handles around here. If she decided that she was tired or hungry, or needed the bathroom, things were only going to get worse.
"I think this is officially her worst day so far." Stiles pointed out tiredly.
"She's definitely never locked herself in her room before. Remind me to unlatch that when she's had enough time to not notice."
"Hmm," Stiles agreed and headed for the kitchen, "Honestly I think I could use a nap too. School plus parenthood is more draining than I thought it would be even with my awesome new ability to sleep through the night." Stiles held up a box of tea bags and wiggled it at Danny in invitation. Danny shook his head and moved to put away Mina's stroller in it's corner by the door. Stiles usually only drank tea when someone asked him to calm down from a hyper mode or when he felt like he was close to a panic attack. Apparently Mina's grumpy mode was enough to get to him, or maybe he really had been struggling to keep up with everything this week.
Danny considered doing homework for about half a second before figuring that he'd earned some time off. He settled into the couch and going through the saved episodes to see if there was anything he hadn't watched yet, eventually settling on a re-run on NCIS that they'd recorded accidentally. A couple of minutes later Stiles came over and put his mug of tea down on the coffee table before he wandered over, unlatched Mina's door as carefully as possible and finally came back to settle down beside Danny, warm mug in hand.
Danny didn't know when it started but it now felt like he wasn't really home until stiles was beside him. He supposed it had something to do with their new sleeping arrangements and it worried him a little. He was getting far too attached, and yeah Stiles wasn't going anywhere, neither of them were, but they weren't dating either. Truth be told, dating would probably be a horrible idea even if it was an option because if it didn't work out there was nowhere to go. They were attached with no take backs. Danny couldn't screw this up with a crush. Still he couldn't stop himself from feeling more contented when Stiles was nearby. Like his Ma always said, you can't control your feelings, only what you do with them.
Danny waited until Danozo disproved their first false lead on the show before he allowed himself to glance over at Stiles. It turned out he had no need to wait or to be subtle, Stiles was oblivious. His eyes were drooping, head lolling to the side with his mostly full mug cradled against his chest and threatening to spill down his front at any second. Danny carefully plucked the mug out of Stiles' hands and put it down on the side table. Stiles murmured and his eyes slipped further closed. Danny didn't stop to think, he just wrapped an arm around Stiles' shoulders and guided his head down onto his shoulder. Stiles snuffled for a moment before he curled up against Danny properly and nuzzled into a comfortable position.
Stiles' forehead pressed against Danny's collarbone, heating the skin there. Heating it uncomfortably actually. Danny pressed a hand to the side of Stiles' sleeping face and it just about burned. That was a fever if ever there was. No wonder Stiles felt tired; he was clearly coming down with something. It put Mina's behaviour into a new light too. She was probably getting sick alongside her Pops.
Stiles whimpered slightly and pressed his face further into Danny's collarbone. Danny supposed this meant he was the one that was supposed to soldier on and take care of everyone while the rest of the family fell ill.
Mina wandered out then, her entire doona dragging along behind her and stood beyond her door looking around. Danny waved as her eyes came to rest on her parents. She toddled over, less balanced than usual and Danny could see it now. She wasn't just grumpy and tired. She was flushed and her eyes glazing over.
He held out his spare hand and helped her as she scrabbled up his shins and onto his lap. He arranged her doona to cover his little girl and moved the free end to cover Stiles as well before he settled in to his role as a human pillow. The pair of them had fevers and with the doona added it was an overly warm situation. He tried as much, as he could, to focus on the television instead of the human heaters on his lap and his side, but concentration was not really an option with this kind of heat. He wasn't moving though, determined to pass this parenthood test.
He distracted himself with his phone, scrolling though facebook and catching up on the last couple days of posts. Facebook wasn't really his thing. He'd been through more interesting parts of the internet before he was even old enough to legally sign up for a facebook account. Playing on that site felt more like regressing to kindergarten. Still he was bored and trapped and in need of distraction. He ended up snapping a shot of his flush-faced family and posting it with the comment 'First family flu of the Mahealinski family'. If nothing else facebook was good for keeping track of milestones both small and large.
He gave up on the phone not long after. He sent a text to his mother asking if she could pick up some cold and flu medicine and drop it by after work then put his phone aside, deciding that he may as well settle in and get a bit of sleep himself since he couldn't really do much more.
---
Danny woke up to knocking at the door. The apartment had darkened while he was sleeping. He called out that he was coming and carefully climbed out from under his family, placing a very warm daughter on Stiles' lap to keep them both content. It was his mother at the door. She had a bag in her hand that looked like she'd purchased half the pharmacy or possibly a grocery store.
"How long have they been asleep?" she asked as she charged in and headed straight for the kitchen.
"Uh, since about half an hour before I texted you. I fell asleep not long after." Danny reported as he closed the door and crept past the sofa to turn on some lights for his mother.
"Good. Their temperatures?"
"Uh, high?"
"Daniel, I know you own a children's thermometer because I gave you one. Go get it and take their temperatures."
"Yes Ma."
He felt like an idiot for not having done this in the first place. He quickly located the thing and took it over to the sofa. He checked Mina then Stiles. Both of them whined in their sleep about having something cold pressed to their ear but neither woke up. Danny reported the numbers to his mother who nodded and decided they weren't high enough to require a trip to the hospital. Danny wrote the temperatures down along with the time just to make sure.
He leant against the kitchen counter and watched his mother fussing around. It took him a depressingly long time to realise that she was making her famous garlic chicken soup. It was something she made for him every time he was sick but he felt like he'd almost forgotten what it was.
"Danny, my sweet, what was your temperature?" his mother stopped to ask.
"I don't know. Why?"
"You look very dazed, my boy. It's not strange to think you would be getting ill too, you know. Take your temperature please."
Danny scowled. Nature wouldn't be so cruel as to make them all sick but he took his temperature anyway. Strangely his number was only ten degrees less than Stiles. He showed it to his mother then wrote it down with the others in his notepad. She patted his cheek and told him to go snuggle with his family until dinner was ready. That really was an appealing idea. He'd actually been a bit cold since he'd removed Mina's doona.
He snuck back under the doona and cuddled in close, one arm pressed into the back of the sofa, head on Stiles' shoulder and his other arm wrapped over Mina's back. Somehow he now found himself pressing in as close as he could to the warmth of the others. He didn't sleep but sort of drifted in and out of awareness as his mother cooked.
Ma set out three bowls of soup on the coffee table and turned up with an extra blanket so everyone could sit separately and still be mostly warm while they had their dinner. Mina had hated the syrup that she'd had to take but Danny and Stiles both encouraged her as much as their weak minded selves would allow before they took their own tablets. Mina ate her soup while leaning heavily on Danny and tucking her socked feet under Stiles' leg to keep them warm.
While they slurped on their soup, Ma went to the bathroom and drew a bath. A bath sounded absolutely perfect to Danny right now but he was aware it was for Mina. He knew being a parent meant Mina came first, even when he was sick, but he couldn't help the little seed of disappointment just this once, for not being able to be pampered the way he used to be.
Danny finished his soup quickly and put the bowl aside so he could help Mina who was too tired to be wielding a spoon with any sort of accuracy. Stiles watched on, more interested in Mina's progress than eating anything for himself.
"Eat Stiles. Trust me, Ma's soup is magic."
"How long did I sleep for?" Stiles questioned before finally restarting on his dinner.
"You were gone within about ten minutes of getting home. Mina came out with her doona and joined in few minutes after that. I stayed awake long enough to ask Ma to bring over some medicine on her way home. She turned up a couple of hours later. I think it's fair to say the whole family is out of commission for the weekend."
Stiles snorted and finished off his soup. Mina only had about four spoonful's left but she was not at all interested in eating it. Danny gave up and picked her up, doona and all. Stiles shivered as the part of the doona he'd been under was whisked away but he didn't complain.
Danny got her into the bathroom and ready for her bath but his arms felt like jelly after carrying her such a short distance. He didn't really trust himself to lift her into the tub. Thankfully his mother took over, getting her in the water and cleaned up. Danny just stood off to the side feeling cold and useless. Stiles came in a minute later, wrapped in a blanket toga and holding Mina's warmest pjs. He put the pjs down on the counter and came over to offer half his blanket to Danny. He was ridiculously thankful to huddle up under that blanket and greedily savoured Stiles' body heat.
"You know this is a huge tub, you boys should hop in too. I'm sure you'll all fit."
"Ma don't be weird."
"I'm not being weird. You boys aren't any less flu-y than Mina. A bath would do you all a world of good."
"Ma! Stiles and I aren't... you know; like that."
"So you can shower with him in a locker room but the pair of you can't share a bathtub with your daughter?"
"Ma, stop it."
"I'm just saying. Mina will want to stay in the warm for a while and if she falls asleep in the tub one of you better be in there with her to make sure she doesn't drown."
"Well I don't mind. At this point I'd be willing to do a striptease for the devil if it meant being warm again." Stiles decided, dropping his half of the blanket and pulling off his layered shirts.
Danny diverted his eyes, watching his mother smirk and discretely slip out of the room instead of watching the way Stiles bent to untangle his jeans from his ankles. A moment later there was the sound of sloshing and Mina's eyes went wide as she watched her father sink in the bubbles. It took a couple of tired, slippery starts but she managed to make her way to his end of the tub to settle contentedly against his chest. She seemed to fall asleep instantly.
"She looks happy." Danny pointed out. Stiles looked down at her and smiled.
"She is; it's so warm in here. You should get in," Danny screwed his face up at that suggestion, "Come on man. Would it make you feel better if I promise not to make a pass at you? I swear I won't even try to play footsie."
Danny laughed but shook his head and walked out of the bathroom to find his mother. She was cleaning the kitchen and he wandered over for a mum hug.
"You're not in the bath."
"No Ma. I'll have a shower once Mina's in bed."
"Baby boy, you shouldn't be so scared. You're allowed to be happy."
"Ma. I just became a father. Can't you wait a few years before you try to pair me off."
"Do you think I don't know? I went to all of your lacrosse games, Daniel. That is the boy on the bench that you stare at whenever play is at the other end of the field. You like him. You always have. Why would you stop yourself from being happy?"
"Ma, he's not interested like that and even if it was an option, we're still teenagers. It wouldn't last and then Mina would have to go through the break up too. The whole set up works better as friends. When the lease is up here we're going to move in with his dad and we'll all have proper bedrooms for each of us and our respective future partners. You can harass me to pair off then and not a moment sooner. Okay?"
Ma grumped and put the last of the bowls in the drying rack before turning to face him fully, "You know there is no reason that a high school relationship is doomed to fail. Not if you take it seriously and put in the effort to smooth the bumps in the road. Sure plenty of teenagers wouldn't bother with that but considering your situation, I see no reason for you to be so scared of a guaranteed commitment," she announced as she dried her hands and picked up her bag, "I love you, Danny, so I'm going to leave this chat until you're feeling better but I promise we're not done here. I'm going to ring in the morning to check on you. Early nights for all of you please. Don't forget you medicine schedule, even if you have to wake up the little angel to make sure she gets better."
"Yes, Ma. And thank you for coming over, I never would have had the energy for all this."
"It's what a parent does, dear. I'll always be your mother, even when you're not under my roof."
Danny stole one last warm hug and watched her leave.
A few minutes later he wandered back into the bathroom with Stiles' pyjamas to find the pair of them fast asleep and pink cheek-ed from the steam. Danny ducked back out to grab his phone and snap another photo for his embarrassingly large 'Stiles and Mina' photo album that Mina's Pop knew nothing about.
Danny plucked his daughter out of the water and the pair of them woke up grumbling about the cold air as Danny dried her off and got her into her pjs. He held her up so she could give her Pop a kiss before he guided his wonky walking little girl to her bed and tucked her in. He sat with her until she drifted off again, swaddled in blankets. Stiles stumbled in a minute later, ready for bed and carting Mina's water bottle and a box of dried apricots to leave on her bedside table in case she needed something in the night.
Danny finally went and had his shower, lingering as long as he could manage in the heat before exhaustion took over and he finally headed to his bed. His bedside lamp was the only light left on in the apartment and Danny moved toward it in a moth-like trance. Stiles was there, tucked into the centre of the bed, curled up and shivering. He looked up as Danny walked in and relief flooded his face.
"Oh good, hurry up. I'm freezing." Stiles announced and lifted the sheets for Danny.
Danny slipped in and turned off the light. Stiles, surprisingly, came up behind him as he was turned toward the lamp and wrapped around him like a limpet. Danny tried to be cool about that but he'd never been the little spoon before. Brian was not a cuddler and Ethan had always seemed so vulnerable and desperate for comfort that Danny had naturally taken on the role of big spoon. But here he was, too tired to even question it. Instead he just snuggled back a little further an allowed himself to melt into Stiles' warmth and let sleep finally take him over again.
"This is okay right?" Stiles asked, breath warm and tickling at the back of Danny's neck.
"Yes. Why?" Danny mumbled, more interested in sleep than talking.
"I sort of thought I might have crossed a boundary with the whole bath thing. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I just like being a family is all."
"It's fine Stiles."
"No it's not. This is your home and your family. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or weirded out. I promise I'm not bothered by the gay thing and you seem to be okay about the pan thing but I swear I'm not expecting anything to happen. Not even when we snuggle. I just want Mina to know her parents get along and we're not going to weird each other out so if there's a line, you need to tell me so I don't cross it. Communication, Danny-boy; it's a parent thing." Stiles explained and Danny tried to focus and listen properly despite the drowsy medication trying to pull him under.
"I'm not weirded out. I promise. I just don't think we need to be naked around each other. Home is very different to a locker room and yeah, I guess that's a boundary for me. But I swear I'm not upset and I don't want to freak you out or anything. Honestly I'm really tired and I just want to sleep. I've never been the little spoon before and I was looking forward to it."
"You've never..? Right well sleepy time then. You comfy? Arms all okay."
"Yes."
"Alright then. You snuggle in and let me look after you." Stiles declared as his nose and chest pressed in tighter, thumb rubbing back and forth against Danny's stomach. It was so very nice and Danny took all that was offered and finally let sleep wash over him.
---
He woke up at some point in the night when Stiles unwrapped himself from Danny's back and climbed off the bed. He was worried for a moment until he realised he could hear Mina crying on the other side of the wall. Danny shuffled closer to the middle of the bed, unconsciously seeking out Stiles' residual warmth as he waited for him to bring in their little girl.
Stiles came in and lifted the sheet on Danny's side, letting Mina slide in and snuggle up to Danny, using his arm as a pillow. Stiles got back in on his own side but then scootched all the way across and more than half way on top of Danny to use his remaining shoulder as a pillow. Stiles reached across to sling an arm over their miserable daughter so that she was sandwiched between the arms of her fathers.
No matter how horrible he felt, knowing that Stiles loved their little girl as much as he did made him trust in their family completely. He leant his head down and kissed Mina's heated forehead then moved to the other side and kissed Stiles' hair as well. Being pinned down between these two made illness worthwhile.
