Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Call him a modern teenager oblivious to social variances outside of the norms established in his rural high school but Stiles cannot believe anyone refers to dating as a “courtship process” anymore. Such phrases call to mind well-tailored gentlemen, groomed since birth to exist in aristocratic societies rather than two teenagers in jeans and t-shirts sharing a lunch.

     When Ethan, one of the Alpha twins, notices his lack of lunch (courtesy of his rushed morning thanks to an undeserved electronic punishment in the form of his malfunctioning alarm clock), he slides over.

“Hey, why don’t you let me buy you something to eat,” Ethan says, starting a whole downward spiral of events.

Call him a cynic but Stiles thinks that the twin is up to nothing good. For all intents and purposes, Stiles is currently an honorary member of Scott’s mostly-human pack. With the Alphas hell- bent on recruiting Derek and eliminating Scott, one hyperactive human will be little more than collateral damage. Perhaps they are sending Ethan to poison him, disguised as a peace offering. Seeing as Stiles spends his weekends quite literally running with werewolves, a little paranoia is a healthy thing.

     At the time, Stiles is sulking in the cafeteria without a lunch and without a viable excuse to cut out early. Scott is waltzing around somewhere with Isaac and Stiles has a deep seeded feeling that his status as Scott’s best friend is crumbling lightly at the foundations.  It’s not that Stiles is jealous of the angsty teenage werewolf, it’s simply that Stiles feels threatened that Scott and Isaac can bond over werewolf activities while he and Scott cannot for obvious, species-related, reasons.

     The whole miserable day might have been fixed if he had remembered the brown paper bag in his fridge, stuffed with last night’s cold pizza and various other junk food that could have taken his mind off of this horrible gray Tuesday morning. Forgetting his homework, forgetting his medication, running a flat tire right as he pulled into the school parking lot and getting criticized in history for proposing a conspiracy theory in the Articles of Confederation are only one part of his problems that day. Consider the baseline stress from the Alpha pack threatening the lives of his friends and it’s easy to see how something as small as forgetting his lunch is putting him on edge.

     While Stiles is considering this with his mouth gaping open, Ethan, the openly into-men Alpha, is still waiting for an answer. On the one hand, Ethan is extending aid to him in his time of lunch-need. On the other, said Alpha twin is also trying to hunt down his best friend and convert Derek to their homicidal ways.

     “While lunch would make me feel better in ways I can’t even describe, a poisoned lunch would only pile things onto my currently drowning amount of problems. So thank you, but I can’t accept. I’m not even that hungry,” Stiles squints at the Alpha with a bit of skepticism and maybe a small amount of fear, before he turns around and stares back down at his empty lunch table. His stomach decides to betray him and growl and churn audibly.

     “Your stomach says otherwise. C’mon, it won’t be poisoned. You can even watch them make it,” Ethan offers and Stiles shakes his head vehemently, cursing Scott for not being with him that period and saving him from this whole situation. Surely Scott would have spared him a few bucks for lunch and he wouldn’t be faced with the problem of an unnaturally overly-friendly Alpha twin.

     “As much as I would love to accept that offer you are trying to kill my friends. Also, given the chance I’m not entirely sure that you wouldn’t try to kill me,” Stiles crosses his arms and shoves his head into the table to avoid the conversation.

     “That is none of my doing. That is Deucalion’s call and he only wants to recruit Derek, not violently slaughter you or your friends,” Ethan corrects and takes a seat in the empty chair next to Stiles. Stiles lifts his head up and groans at the movement.

     “No, you want to get my friends to slaughter my other friends, lovely,” Stiles throws his arms up in defeat while trying not to make a scene in the cafeteria. “I know what you’re doing and you’re being manipulative.”

     “Hey, I’m a teenager just like you. I’m just looking to socialize. You’re not a werewolf which means that when shit goes down, there is no need for you to be involved in any of it,” Ethan reasons.

     “I am not going to listen to your villain rant that aims to convert me to your side and sympathize with you as you humanize yourself. It didn’t work with William Dafoe’s Green Goblin and it will not work with you,” Stiles is staring anxiously at the lunch line and massaging his stomach.

     “So you are saying no to me buying you lunch?” Ethan asks, assessing the situation.

     “No, because this will probably be some type of werewolf ethical agreement where I owe you one in the future, and you’ll call upon it as you are attacking Scott,” Stiles says, sad to be rejecting food. “Also, where are your brother and Danny?” Stiles looks around the room, suddenly noticing a strange absence of the lacrosse goal-keeper and identical Alpha trouble-causing twin.

     “My brother is off studying in the library, hauling it overtime to study for a test and I don’t actually keep tabs on Danny,” Ethan comments and drums his fingers against the table. “And this isn’t me wanting you to owe a debt. This is me giving you a few bucks for food because I’m equally as hungry and currently without a table to sit at.

     Stiles narrows his eyes and even though every fiber of his being is telling him to not accept the invitation, he looks at the Alpha twin in calm consideration. “I won’t talk about Scott or anything werewolf related,” He offers again and Ethan just smiles.

     “Never asked you too. I would prefer other topics anyway,” Ethan stands and Stiles follows after, heading with him as they move to stand in the lunch line.

     Stiles’ mouth is watering as he piles his tray with chicken strips, fries and milk along with slices of kiwi and a brownie. Ethan smiles as he hands the cashier multiple bills and notifies the lady that he is paying for Stiles’ lunch as well.

     In blissful silence, they head back to the table and start munching away.

     “So what triggered this random act of kindness?” Stiles asks curiously as he bites at one of the chicken strips.

     Ethan shrugs. “Boredom, you looked sad and partially because it will piss Aidan off ever so much.”

     “Great,” Stiles groans. “I get to deal with a pissed off identical version of you.”

     “He won’t do anything to you,” Ethan reassures. “He wouldn’t dare,” He finishes with a toothy smile.

     “You two are able to morph into a single being and yet you fight with each other? That’s a scary concept,” Stiles snorts.

     “I thought we weren’t talking werewolves?” Ethan laughs, half of his mouth curling up in amusement.

     “I thought you were dating Danny,” Stiles puts that out there, knowing it was not exactly a werewolf-related topic.

     “I’m not dating Danny. It’s difficult with… well, it’s difficult because I’m a,” and here Ethan leaves in and mouths werewolf before leaning back up, “and he doesn’t know that. Not to mention, he went and accidently hit on my brother the other day and has been ignoring me ever since.”

     “Ouch,” Stiles winces. “So, as much as we agreed to not talk werewolf-related topics, are you the ones slaughtering virgins?” Stiles knows this is a blunt remark to make but he can’t help not knowing what happened to Heather.

     “Wow, you are right to the point. You’ve got balls. I like that. But, yeah… no. That’s not us. Deucalion is trying to figure out who is infringing on this territory but he’s coming up with nothing at the moment,” Ethan pushes his potatoes around his plate with his fork, refusing to meet Stiles’ gaze. “I’m sorry about what’s-her-face,” He smiles sadly.

     “Heather. Her name was Heather,” Stiles frowns.

     “I am sorry about Heather,” Ethan offers and Stiles just nods, seeming to accept the sincerity and truth in his statement. His suspicion from the beginning anyway, was that the Alpha pack had nothing to do with Druidic deaths.

     “Did you kill your pack as initiation to join the Alpha Pack?” Stiles asks, testing his theory that he’s been reading up on as to how an Alpha pack could possibly exist.

     Ethan swallows one of his fries and leans back in his chair, wiping his hands on a stray napkin. “I didn’t no. I share Alpha status with Aidan. We are essentially one being. If he’s Alpha, so am I.”

     “So Aidan slaughtered his pack?” Stiles nods and suddenly feels too disgusted to finish his food. He stare warily at his plate.

     “If you knew Griffin or Alex, you wouldn’t find this idea as barbaric and unsympathetic as you probably do right now,” Ethan offers and Stiles shakes his head.

     “He killed two people. He killed two of his own people, his own pack. I know in the werewolf world, that is barbaric and ruthless,” Stiles counters and Ethan shakes his head before toying with the slab of meat in front of him.

     Ethan closes his eyes and squints them tight.

     “He didn’t do it for the power or for the chance to join an Alpha pack. He did it to protect other people. They were not nice werewolves,” Ethan defends.

     “Then he shouldn’t have turned them in first place,” Stiles hisses, knowing personally how a lot of problems would be resolved for Alphas if they never turned a certain person.

     “They weren’t his. They were Omegas, free-roaming, that he took in,” Ethan pleads and Stiles takes a bite of his chicken to partially avoid the conversation.

     “I just couldn’t kill someone like that,” Stiles offers and Ethan nods.

     “Nor would I want you to be able to. I am just telling you that my brother and I aren’t as ruthless and the rest of the Alphas in our pack. But they are our pack and we won’t betray them,” Ethan offers before stabbing his potatoes violently.

     “I can understand that,” Stiles concedes with a nod.

     “That’s why I didn’t want to talk werewolf politics. It ruins a good meal,” Ethan laughs as he finishes his plate. “Finish yours or you’ll be moody the rest of the day,” He tips his head toward Stile’s still half-full plate.

     “Hey, I’m not moody,” Stiles pouts and demolishes half of his remaining fries with two bites.

     “Everyone is moody when they don’t eat,” Ethan counters and Stiles rolls his eyes, rushing to finish off the rest of his lunch.

     The bell sounds right as he takes the last bite. He grabs his backpack from the ground and fumbles with his tray before Ethan snatches it out in front of him.

     “Go, rush to English. Teach’ll kill you if you’re late again and I’ve already earned a reputation,” He gestures for Stiles to move and Stiles just nods.

     “Uh, thank you. For the meal and the conversation,” Stiles rubs the back of his head before gesturing towards the door and running off.

     “Thank you for accepting the meal,” Ethan remarks, his face suddenly transforming into a full-blown grin.

     It isn’t until later in the period that Stiles starts noticing odd changes around him. Scott and Isaac return for English and the two werewolves glare down Ethan as he returns late to class, taking the empty seat next to Stiles and flashing him a grin. Stiles flashes one back before Scott kicks him from the desk behind him.

     Stiles feels his glare of betrayal as he turns back in his desk and tries to pay attention to the lecture in front of him.

     When Miss Blake forces them to pair up with partners, Ethan instantly moves and puts their desks together, claiming Stiles as a partner before Scott has a chance.

     Scott stares at Stiles in horror before Stiles just turns to Ethan, who is smiling, and takes a seat with a ‘sorry’ and a shrug.

     At the same time, Isaac tenses up and glares down the Alpha twin, simultaneously claiming Scott as a partner. Aidan stares at his brother in betrayal and turns to ask Lydia to be his partner for the period. The whole atmosphere turns very tense before Miss Blake moves across the room with a head tilt.

     “Is something wrong here, boys?” She asks the werewolves involved.

     “No ma’am,” Ethan responds quickly. “Just a little partner misunderstanding.” He flashes a toothy smile and Miss Blake smiles.

     “Be careful Ethan,” she chastises, “Walking in late will not score you any points in this classroom.” With that remark, she turns around and walks back to the front of the classroom, her heels clicking against the ground until she reaches the chalkboard.

     As she discusses the assignment, Stiles stares at Ethan curiously.

     “Why did you quickly claim me as a partner?” Stiles whispers and Ethan shrugs once again.

     “Scott was going to be partners with Isaac and Aidan was going to ask to be partners with Lydia. I saved us both to trouble and embarrassment,” Ethan smiles and, once again, Stiles understands this. After all, Scott did have the look that he was going to break the news to Stiles that he would prefer to be friends with Isaac during this period.

     Stiles looks over and expects Danny to be glaring him down for stealing his potential love interest, but instead, Danny is smiling at Stiles and chatting nicely with his fellow team-mate/English partner.

     “So, Hamlet and its relevance to modern surveillance flaws and…” Stiles trails off, not knowing exactly what their topic is.

     “The potential for distorted information and the chaos that follows when someone feels like their privacy is being invaded,” Ethan follows. “Here,” He slides over a slip of paper which already has a half-essay written out on the topic. “I’ve taken this topic in my other high school.”

     “Thanks,” Stiles responds as he looks over the paper, surprised at its accuracy. To be honest, he originally pinned the Alpha twins to be lots of muscle and not much brain power.

     “Are you pulling a ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ type of thing right now?” Stiles asks, studying the paper in front of him.

     Ethan snorts. “I would not like to consider you an enemy, Stiles. That would be unfair. You are not directly involved and are not involved in this pack debate and to group you with them wouldn’t be very smart.”

     “But my friends are directly involved,” Stiles pushes, glancing over to Scott and Isaac who have turned their dagger glares in his direction.

     “And as I said before, we are not actually aiming to kill anyone,” Ethan corrects.

     “Directly. You are not actually aiming to directly kill someone,” Stiles groans as Ethan nods. He can feel the weight of glares from Aidan, Isaac and Scott burrowing into the back of his neck.

     “And that directly, does not involve me,” Ethan smiles.

     “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner,” Stiles whispers the quotation and shakes his head at the irony of it.

     “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend,” Ethan quotes right back and Stiles rolls his eyes.

     “Since you two seem to be done based on your quotation of famous civil rights leaders, you can start the class off by presenting your ideas first,” Miss Blake says from behind Stiles, causing him to jump a good foot out of his chair in surprise, which elicits a slight growl from Ethan.

     At this point Aidan is coughing and shifting in his seat while Scott and Isaac have wide, surprised, eyes, looking back and forth between Ethan and Stiles.

     Ignoring all the crazy looks, Stiles presents the topic in front of the class using Ethan’s crazy accurate notes. He sits back down, basking in Miss Blake’s amazement and leans back in his seat smiling at Ethan who shoots him a thumbs up. He doesn’t dare to examine the rest of the room.

     However, in his peripheral vision, he can see Scott sneaking out his phone to send a text message.

     When the bell rings, signaling the end of class, Stiles exits the classroom with a thumbs-up to Ethan and walks into the hallway, expecting Scott and Isaac to follow after.

     What he was not expecting however, was to be shoved against the lockers by his supposed best friend, who is glaring him down like he suddenly insulted Mrs. McCall. Isaac is flanking him, looking sadly down at Stiles.

     “What are you doing becoming all buddy-buddy with Ethan?” Scott demands and before he can question any farther, an equally strong grip pushes Scott backwards and away from Stiles’ face.

     “What are you doing shoving your best friend against a locker?” Ethan questions and Aidan is trailing at a safe distance away, watching the scene with curiosity.

     “I don’t want you around Stiles,” Scott spits out, his voice dripping with venom.

     “Funny, I was under the impression that Stiles was his own person,” Ethan commented back bitterly.

     “Guys, as much as I love people fighting over me, it’s not necessary. Lay off,” Stiles throws his hands up and Ethan stares between Scott and Stiles. He eventually relaxes his posture and smiles back at Stiles.

     “Alright, you have a conversation with your pal here. If he shoves you against a locker again, shoot me a text and I’ll deal with it,” Ethan comments back, winking before starting to walk away.

     “I don’t have your number,” is the only thing that Stiles can think of to even address in this crazy conversation.

     “Yes, you do. Check your phone again,” Ethan doesn’t even turn around and simply walks away, waving back with his brother at his side.

“Thanks for lunch!” Stiles shouts as Ethan turns down the hallway. He digs his phone out in shock and finds a text message from a pre-programmed contact of Ethan <3 in his phone. His eyes widen just slightly before looking up to a horrified Isaac and a confused Scott.

“You had lunch with him?” Scott asks, betrayal leaking into his tone.

“Well you weren’t there and I forgot my lunch at home so he offered to buy me one,” Stiles shrugs, trying to not make it into a big deal. Isaac’s horrified expression deepens.

“Wait, he offered to buy you a meal, you accepted and you both ate together?” Isaac asks, very slowly, to avoid confusion.

“Yeah, why?” Stiles asks, suddenly feeling like he missed a very important memo. “Listen, I know he’s against us but I was only pulling a ‘keep your enemies closer’ type of thing,” Stiles was more or less pleading towards Scott to forgive him now.

Again, if it is even possible, Isaac looks even still more horrified.

“Isaac?” Scott asks, uncertain of why the werewolf is acting so odd.

“That explains the growl,” Isaac reasons before hurrying to send off a text message on his phone. Once he sends it, he looks up and glances sympathetically at Stiles.

“I’m guessing you two aren’t well aware of werewolf courting customs?” Isaac responds sheepishly.

“Courting?” Scott gags a little.

“Yeah, seriously,” Stiles smiles at his friend gagging, “Who uses the term ‘courting’ anymore?”

     “Not so aware then,” Isaac notes. “Well, as Derek explained to me and has probably failed to explain to you two, the way a Beta or an Alpha try to court a person is by offering them a meal and asking to share it with them.

“It’s similar to how the wolves do it in the wild. They offer up a slab of choice meat or something to show their affections for other wolves. If the other wolf accepts, it’s a sign that they are willing to let the other wolf show his affection and fight for their own,” Isaac shrugs back against the locker, cowering under the glares of Scott and Stiles.

     Scott’s jaw drops and Stiles starts twitching slightly.

     “So me allowing Ethan to pay for my meal was…” Stiles stutters and looks around, looking for the Alpha.

     “It was an agreement that you will allow him to prove himself to you as a potential mate. In human terms, you agreed to date him,” Isaac says sadly and Scott’s jaw is still wide open. Stiles turns to look at his best friend.

     “Stiles is dating one of the Alpha twins?” Scott asks, shaking himself from his horror.

     “Essentially, yes,” Isaac replies grimly.

     “I’m dating one of the Alpha twins?” Stiles’ eyes widen.

     “It would seem so,” Isaac replies.

     “So when he claimed me as his partner in English he was…” Stiles stops mid-sentence, realization set in.

     “Stop ending your sentences early. Yes, he was staking his claim to you. When Miss Blake scared you and he growled, it was a territorial side bleeding through, trying to alert you that he was willing to protect you from threats,” Isaac explains.

     “That’s kind of cute in a totally deceptive, manipulative sort of way,” Stiles smiles and Scott hits him on the arm.

     “How do we deal with this?” Scott asks Isaac who only turns around and starts walking toward the exit, indicating for the two to follow him.

     They walk straight out the front door where a sleek black car in waiting at the steps of the school, with a familiar sunglasses shaded figure in the driver’s seat.

     “Get in,” Derek growls towards Stiles.

     When Scott moves to get in the car, Derek holds up a hand.

     “Just him,” He points at Stiles, still growling.

     Stiles glances back to Scott and Isaac who grin at him sadly.

     “If I die, I do not want to be buried in a suit. They’re not comfortable,” Stiles argues and Isaac shoves him forward towards the car.

     “Get in the damn car, Stiles,” Derek yells and Stiles slowly gets into the passenger seat.

     As soon as he throws his seatbelt on, Derek puts his foot on the gas pedal to the floor and speed out of the school parking lot, not saying a word.

     Occasionally though, Derek would look over and shoot Stiles a glare.

     Stiles fidgets in his seat, not willing to risk saying anything and wastes his time by sending two text messages.

     Dad, I’ll be late home from school. Hanging with Scott.

     And