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They should have known something was going to go wrong. Tracking the witch had been easy, too easy. Something Stiles had been more than happy to point out to the pack, but had they listened? No, of course not. They insisted on rooting out the witch and getting her out of Beacon Hills before she could do anymore damage. Except that’s not what happened. Instead, they had walked into the clearing (which of course it was a clearing. Where else would it be?) And the witch had been waiting. Stiles had been the last to arrive and by the time he got there she’d already been mumbling her incantation, blowing purple dust over them for good measure. The wolves were too busy coughing to do much so Stiles had started forward, only to have the witch disappear in a puff of smoke. Stiles would have rolled his eyes at how cliché the whole thing was had he not been worried about what the witch had done to them.
Now they’re all staring at each other, expecting the effects of whatever spell the witch cast to be immediately clear. Scott’s the one that speaks first, “What do you think she did to us? Can you guys see or feel anything?”
The others shake their heads, looking around at each other confused. Stiles sighs, “Maybe it’s not going to be apparent right away.”
“Oh, you think?” Isaac snaps, startling Stiles, “what gave you that idea? Maybe the fact that none of have sprouted horns?”
“Hey man, back off.” Liam pushes Isaac in the chest, causing the other wolf to growl and flash his eyes. Isaac does the same, his fangs bared and claws coming out preparing for a fight.
“My money is on Liam,” Jackson says, earning a glare from Isaac and Derek.
“You’re on,” Aiden says, holding out his hand for Jackson to shake, “20 bucks?”
“Isaac would obviously win,” Cora says, sending a smile towards her boyfriend.
“You’re wrong,” Scott says, throwing a look towards the two betas. “Liam is a lot stronger.”
“Ugh can we just go please?” Stiles whines, “I’m hungry.”
“I’m actually hungry too,” Boyd agrees, “I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”
“You just ate less than an hour ago,” Erica points out, running a hand down his chest, “Though if you really need to put get something in your mouth I think I could help.”
“Enough!” Derek yells, running a hand down his face. He thinks he has a good idea of what the spell did and if he’s right they really needed to get away from each other. Or he needs to get away from Stiles because right now he’s thinking thoughts he really shouldn’t be. Erica’s comment really has him thinking about Stiles’ mouth and what he’d like to do with it. Derek shakes his head, storming past the others to get to his car.
Stiles, of course, runs after him. “Hey Der, want to get something to eat? We could go to that diner you like. You know the one with the great curly fries? Not that you would know that since you really don’t eat curly fries. But they are the best. And I know you like their…”
Stiles yelps when he suddenly finds himself with his back against a tree and Derek plastered against his front. He doesn’t get a chance to ask what Derek thinks he’s doing because Derek’s mouth is suddenly on his. Stiles’ brain short circuits for a moment. Derek is kissing him. Derek Hale is kissing him, his mouth hot and hungry as it moves against Stiles’. Stiles gets with the program quickly and returns the kiss, moaning when Derek slips his tongue into his mouth.
Derek jolts back at the sound, staring wide eyed at Stiles. Stiles is staring back at him, the brown barely visible in his eyes as he leans against the tree, panting. Derek doesn’t think, he bolts, ignoring Stiles when he calls after him. He can’t believe he kissed Stiles. Sure, he’d thought about it plenty of times before but he’s never acted on it. He usually has more self-control than that. He was just going to have to lock himself away until whatever this was passed.
Stiles watches Derek go, absentmindedly bringing a hand to his lips. He would think he had hallucinated the whole thing if his lips weren’t still tingling. He's startled out of his thoughts when Scott appears next to him, clapping a hand down on his shoulder, the others behind him. “I thought you were in a hurry to get food.”
Stiles nods, momentarily distracted from his thoughts of Derek, “Yeah I am. I need curly fries pronto.”
“We should really talk to Deaton,” Cora says, “and probably Lydia too.”
“Do we all have to?” Malia asks, “I just want to go home and then not move for days.”
Beside her Kira nods, “Me too. I'll be happy if we never have to do something that exhausting again.”
“Well then you can go home,” Liam snaps, surprising the others. Sure, he lost his temper sometimes but he's been getting better at keeping it in check, and he's never talked to Kira like that before.
“I don't see why we need them,” Peter says, examining his fingernails. “I'm just as capable of figuring this out as they are.”
Stiles snorts, “If you say so. We're still talking to Lydia and Deaton. I think we need all the help we can get.”
“Speaking of all the help we can get,” Scott says, looking around the clearing, “where's Derek?”
Stiles tries to keep calm, not wanting to give anything away. “He umm… he left. Probably went back to the loft.”
“So Derek gets to go home but we're stuck going to Deaton’s?” Ethan asks, glaring over at Stiles like this is his fault. “How is that fair?”
“No one said it was fair,” Cora says, “but it's Derek. If he doesn't want to be somewhere he won't be, not if he can help it.”
“Can we just get out of here already? I need my curly fries.” Stiles says, drawing attention back to him.
“But Deaton…” Scott begins.
“You can talk to Deaton. I'll call Lydia and get my curly fries. We can start doing our own research.”
“I'll come with you,” Boyd offers, “I feel like I could eat a whole cow right now.”
Stiles laughs, slapping Boyd on the shoulder as he starts to walk off. “Me too man. Let's go get something greasy and unhealthy.”
Boyd rolls his eyes but follows Stiles back to his jeep, the others trailing after them. Stiles calls Lydia on the way to his car, telling her about the run in with the witch and that they think she cast a spell on them. She agrees to meet Stiles and Boyd at the Stilinski house with some books so they can try to figure out what happened. Stiles just hopes that whatever the witch did doesn’t wind up being that bad, or worse permanent.
Stiles stops at the diner and gets 3 orders of curly fries and 2 burgers while Boyd orders 3 steaks. Stiles grabs a salad for Lydia as well, not wanting to show up to meet her empty handed. Lydia is waiting on the porch when they pull up, her arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the wood. “Where have you been? When you called you said you were leaving the preserve!”
Stiles gives a guilty shrug, “We were hungry so we stopped off at the diner to grab some food.”
“For the whole pack?”
Stiles and Boyd share a glance, “Umm no just us. We got you the salad I know you like.”
Lydia’s posture relaxes slightly, but she still looks annoyed as she leads the way into the house. “You still should have told me you were stopping to get food so I didn’t hurry over here.” Lydia watches as Stiles puts the bags down on the table and starts unloading the food, raising an eyebrow at all the food she sees, “I thought you said the food was just for us.”
Stiles glances over at her, sitting down with one of his burgers and curly fries in front of him as Boyd does the same thing across from him with his steak, “This is just for us.”
“Stiles, that’s a lot of food. Are you really planning to eat all of it?”
“I planned to,” Stiles shrugs, taking a bite of his burger, “Boyd’s a werewolf, he already eats a lot.”
“Yes, but you’re human,” Lydia tells him, “you might be able to eat quite a bit but this is a lot even for you.”
“I’ll eat it, I promise. It won’t go to waste.”
“We’re hungry,” is all Boyd offers.
Lydia sighs, taking a bite of her salad, making sure she swallows her food before speaking. “I’m not worried about it going to waste. I’m just saying, should you really be eating all this food?”
Stiles grins over at her, “Probably not but I’m going to. If not now, then later.”
They eat in silence after that, the quiet only broken by the sounds Stiles makes as he eats his food. Lydia doesn’t think it could really be called eating. He’s more like inhaling the food, it disappears so quickly.
After they’re done eating Stiles runs upstairs to get his laptop. When he returns, Lydia is sitting on the couch in the living room and Boyd is nowhere to be seen. “Where’d Boyd go?”
Lydia shrugs, already flipping through one of the books, “Not sure. I think he went to track down Erica.”
“Not surprising,” Stiles falls back onto the couch, letting out startled groan when Lydia plops a book down onto his lap.
“Start reading,” She tells him, “The sooner we figure out what’s happening the better.”
Stiles barely lasts ten minutes before he gets up and grabs another basket of curly fries from the kitchen. He runs back for the paper towels when Lydia looks from the basket to the books on the couch, silently telling him he better not even think of getting grease on the books. It doesn’t matter, he’s too busy shoving food into his mouth to have time to look through the book Lydia gave him earlier.
“What do you think the spell did to us?” Stiles asks, around a mouthful of curly fries. He’s on his second basket but he can’t seem to stop eating. He knows he usually has a massive appetite for curly fries but it’s never been this bad, and he’s certainly never been this hungry. In fact, he’s been hungry ever since… Stiles’ hand stills on its way back to the basket as he stares wide eyed at Lydia. “Oh shit.”
“What?” Lydia glances over at him, “What’s wrong?”
“I think I know what the spell did,” Stiles tells her, looking down at the food in his hands suddenly appalled. He hates this witch for making him feel that way about curly fries. “I’ve felt hungry ever since the spell hit, same with Boyd. Isaac and Liam seemed angrier than usual and even got into a fight. Jackson and Aiden were making bets about Isaac and Liam’s fight. Erica… well she came on to Boyd, which isn’t anything new, except it seemed more amplified I guess. And Derek…” Stiles snaps his mouth shut, remembering the kiss in the woods. “Derek was affected to.”
“How? What did Derek do?”
“He umm… he kissed me.”
“He kissed you?” Lydia asks, not sounding at all surprised, “well it’s about time.”
“But then he ran off!” Stiles tells her, “he was so disgusted by what he did that he ran away Lydia!”
“I doubt he was disgusted Stiles,” Lydia says, patting his knee. She narrows her eyes when she pulls it away to find grease on her fingers and pulls out a bottle of hand sanitizer after wiping her hands off on the paper towel Stiles hands her. Hanging around with werewolves has made her learn to be prepared, “and if he was disgusted it wasn’t because he kissed you. He probably realized what was happening and felt guilty for forcing himself on you.”
“I was very much a willing participant.”
Lydia smirks, “I’m sure you were. But Derek probably thinks it was the spell. Consent is a very big thing with Derek, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Stiles sighs, “so what exactly do you think is going on here?”
“I’m not sure but it sounds a little bit like the seven deadly sins. You and Boyd obviously being gluttony. Isaac and Liam, anger. Jackson and Aiden, greed. Which isn’t surprising.” Lydia mutters that last part, but Stiles still hears her. She’s going on before he can say anything, “I think, from what you said, that Derek and Erica would be lust. That leaves pride, envy, and sloth. The others were affected too, right?”
Stiles nods, “I think Kyra and Malia are sloth. Both were talking about how exhausted they were. Pretty sure Peter is envy, which is also not surprising.”
“Definitely not. What about Scott?”
Stiles looks back to Scott’s behavior in the clearing, “He seemed sure Liam was going to win the fight. He said Liam was stronger. I’d say pride. Cora too from the look she gave Isaac.”
“Which leaves Ethan to be the other envy if it’s going in pairs.” Lydia nods, already flipping through the book again.
“Why does it matter which seven deadly sin we represent exactly?” Stiles asks, going back to his fries, “Isn’t it more important that we fix it?”
“It is,” Lydia says, rolling her eyes when she sees Stiles is eating again. Now that she knows why she’s a little worried that he might eat too much if he can’t control his hunger, “but now we know what we’re dealing with. You said the others were with Deaton?”
Stiles nods, “Yeah. I should probably call him and tell him what we figured out.”
When Stiles doesn’t make a move to pick up his phone Lydia goes for hers, grabbing the almost empty basket of fries from Stiles, ignoring his protest as she starts into the kitchen. “You’ve had enough. I don’t want you getting sick. You might feel the impulse to eat but that doesn’t mean your body can handle it.”
“I think you’re right,” Stiles tells her, holding onto his stomach, “My stomach is starting to hurt.”
Lydia glances back at Stiles, narrowing her eyes at his hunched over form, “If you’re going to throw up go into the bathroom. I’m not going to clean up after you if you mess up the carpet!”
*
Half an hour and 2 phone calls later, Lydia walks back into the living room to see Stiles with a book on his lap and looking better than he did when she left. He glances up at her when she takes a seat next to him, “What did Deaton have to say?”
“Nothing particularly helpful,” She says, choosing to ignore Stiles’ snort and go on, “or at least nothing we hadn’t figured out ourselves. He agreed with me that we should keep the pack separated. At least those more prone to fighting with each other. From the noise in the background when I called they were already at each other’s throats. I’m not sure what they heard of our conversation since they were otherwise occupied so he’s going to tell them and suggest they separate and lock themselves away for now, staying around people that aren’t affected by the spell. I’m pretty sure Derek’s already locked himself in the loft so we don’t have to worry about him. I called Parrish and talked to him and your Dad on speaker so they know what’s going on.”
“You’re not seriously going to try and keep Erica and Boyd apart, are you?”
“Of course not,” Lydia says, picking up one of the discarded books, “I think they should be fine being around each other. The most they’ll do is eat and have a lot of sex. Which, as long as they’re not doing it in public, isn’t going to hurt anyone. The ones we should really worry about are Liam, Isaac, Scott, and Cora. Maybe Jackson and Aiden too. I’ll text Danny and Malia to make sure they keep them away from any place that has gambling.”
“Or the public in general,” Stiles offers, “they might try and make a bet on anything. Granted I’m not sure how helpful Malia is going to be right now so maybe text Chris too. Scott’s probably safest with Allison right now and Liam… well tonight he should stay with Lori and her boyfriend. I don’t know who else he’d be safe to be around. Cora and Isaac are affected though and even though they were getting along before they should probably avoid each other until this is all over.”
Lydia nods, “Probably. Less chance of them getting in a fight and saying or doing something they’ll regret when it’s over. I’ll have Parrish keep an eye on Cora and maybe Melissa can look after Isaac.”
Stiles glares down at his stomach when it gives a rumble, “I’m going to be pissed if this spell makes me wind up hating food.”
“Well hopefully we can figure out how to break it before it comes to that,” Lydia laughs when Stiles gets up to walk into the kitchen, coming back with more curly fries, “I’m going to ask Mason to come over and help with the research. You’re getting too distracted by food to be much of a help right now.”
“Hey!” Stiles exclaims, curly fries dangling from his mouth, “I’m the one that figured out what was going on!”
“You did,” Lydia tells him, tone placating, “but when it comes to actually looking through the books you’ve barely managed to get through half of one in the last hour and a half.”
“They’re big books,” Stiles grumbles.
“That’s never stopped you before,” Lydia says, “all I’m saying is that it couldn’t hurt to have an extra set of eyes. And Mason loves research almost as much as you do.”
“It can’t hurt,” Stiles shrugs, “he might as well bring Cory too since they’re most likely together.”
“You just want someone else here because it’ll be less work for you.”
Stiles puts a hand over his heart, faking offense, “I would never do such a thing and I’m offended you would even suggest it.”
“You haven’t even pretended to look down at the book in the last 10 minutes Stiles,” Lydia tells him, flicking her eyes down at the page before looking back up at Stiles lifting an unimpressed eyebrow.
15 minutes later and Stiles has only made it through one page in the book. Lydia isn’t sure he’s read anything, too busy shoveling curly fries into his mouth. She thinks it’ll be the end when he runs out, tilting the empty box upside down to get the crumbs into his mouth. Lydia sighs, taking the box from Stiles and putting it on the table, “Stiles focus.”
"What, I'm hungry," Stiles says, pouting at the empty box.
"You're under a spell. You can go without that junk for twenty minutes."
“Exactly! I’m under a spell! I can’t help myself here!”
Lydia snaps the book closed, glaring over at him, “If Derek has enough self-restraint to lock himself away and control his obvious lust for you, you should be able to show some restraint yourself.”
“Do you think gluttony could apply to sex too?” Stiles asks, eyes going distant, “Maybe it does… Maybe I could eat something off...”
“Stiles! Stop thinking about having sex with Derek and focus! You can think about it all you want when this problem has been fixed!”
Stiles sighs, turning his attention back to the book in his lap, “Thinking about sex with Derek was a good way not to think about food.”
“As long as you’re thinking about it but not telling me about it,” Lydia tells him, “I don’t need to hear about all the kinky sex you want to have with Derek.”
“Who says it would be kinky?”
“It’s you,” is all Lydia responds with, already back to flipping through the book. They really did need Mason and Corey to get here.
Mason and Corey show up 20 minutes later with food, much to Stiles’ delight and Lydia’s annoyance. “He really didn’t need any more to eat.”
Mason shrugs, “If we’re going to be here a while it’s better food is at least readily available.”
“Have you seen any of the others?” Stiles asks, throwing some fries into his mouth.
“We saw Liam. He was with Lori and her boyfriend. He’s… well he has to work to control his temper on a good day so this spell is really messing with him. He asked to be chained up until we break the spell.”
“But we don’t know when that will be,” Stiles says, looking over at Lydia to see her wearing the same concerned expression he’s sure is clear on his own face. “I understand why he would want that. But… we can’t just keep him chained up for days.”
“Especially since it could make him angrier,” Lydia says, “If figuring this out takes too long he’s not going to care that he’s the one that wanted it.”
“I know. That’s what I told him,” Mason says, taking a seat on the couch, “He wasn’t happy about that either.”
“He has Lori and her boyfriend to look after him,” Corey reminds him, “Liam will be fine.”
“They’ll all be fine,” Lydia says, “We’re going to figure this out. We always do.”
*
Derek has never been happier for his self-control. He’s had to utilize it so often, usually when it comes to Stiles. No, especially when it comes to Stiles. He knows there’s something there between them, there has been for years, but he’s never allowed himself to act on it. At least he hadn’t. The sudden feeling of uncontrollable lust he’d felt in the woods had caught him off guard. He knows he wants Stiles but this had been different, more .
He’d tried to tamp it down, keep it at bay but Stiles had just kept yammering on and on. Usually he’d just let him talk or tell him to shut up but this time his mind was screaming at him to just kiss the words right out of his mouth. So he had. Once he had a taste, knew what it felt like he’d had trouble stopping. He’d just wanted more. It was only the strangled sound Stiles had made that had Derek jolting back to reality and away from Stiles, ignoring the human as he called after him.
It had been hard because there was this voice inside of him that kept telling him to turn around and go back and take, take, take. Why should he resist? Why shouldn't he go after what he wanted? Stiles had seemed interested. But he couldn’t. He knew something was wrong, that they were under some spell. He wouldn’t allow himself to take advantage of that.
Now here he was, locked away in his loft away from everyone else, away from Stiles. He’s lost count of how many times he’s jerked off already just to stop himself from leaving the loft and going to find Stiles. If jerking off is the only way to keep himself in line and Stiles safe then that’s just what he’ll do.
Except it’s exhausting . Even with his werewolf stamina he’s worn out. Little things are turning him on, the way the breeze reaches him when it blows through the curtains, the soft feeling of his sheets beneath his skin, the smell of Stiles that lingers in the loft.
He tries to stop himself from thinking of Stiles when he’s feeling like this but if anything, just the thought of Stile turns him on even more. He can't help the groan that escapes him as he ruts against the sheets, imagining Stiles beneath him. It's even worse now that he knows the way Stiles tastes, the sounds he makes just from being kissed.
He already feels guilty but he knows it’s going to be even worse when all this is over. He’ll be lucky if he can look Stiles in the eye again. He just hopes Lydia and the others can figure out a way to break the spell and soon.
*
“I don’t think we’re going to find anything,” Stiles grumbles from his spot on the floor. They’d spent most of the night going through the books before finally falling asleep. Stiles had let Lydia take his bed while he took the recliner, letting Mason and Corey have the couch. At some point, he’d gotten fed up with the recliner and moved to the floor. That’s where Lydia found him.
Lydia had woken up early and made breakfast, with the help of Mason, knowing Stiles would wake up hungry. She was right. One of the first thing out of Stiles’ mouth had been asking if there was food. Mason had simply handed Stiles a plate filled with eggs and bacon before taking his seat next to Corey. None of them really felt like eating at the table.
Once they’d finished eating Lydia had insisted they get right back into searching through the books, which proved to be as unsuccessful as the night before, leading to Stiles’ outburst.
“There has to be something,” Lydia tells him, “If she cast a spell surely whatever spell it is has been recorded in one of these books.”
“Unless it’s her own spell and she’s the only one that can break it,” Mason says.
Stiles glares up at him, “That’s not helpful. Because if she’s the only one that can break it we’re basically screwed. She’d never help us. I’m going to eat myself to death. I’m going to die before I know what it’s like to have sex with Derek.”
“Oh, stop you’re whining,” Lydia says at the same time the Sheriff says, “I didn’t need to hear that.”
Stiles’ eyes widen as he sits up and turns to face his Dad, who is standing in the hallway, gun belt in hand. “Umm… hey Dad! Didn’t see you there.”
The Sheriff gives him an unimpressed look, “Obviously. I’m glad to see you’ve got your priorities in order son.”
“Wait, that’s it?”
The Sheriff takes a seat in his recliner, unlacing his boots and taking them off, “That’s it. What did you expect?”
Stiles throws his hands up, “I don’t know. More surprise maybe? You just found out your only son wanted to have sex with a male werewolf.”
The Sheriff snorts, “Son, I’ve known that for a while. Sure, it took me a bit to catch on but once I did it was pretty obvious you two have feelings for each other.”
“Obvious to everyone but them,” Lydia supplies.
“It is not obvious! Is it?” Stiles says, looking over at Mason and Corey who both shrug, “oh god, I’m pathetic.”
“It’s not just you Stiles,” Mason says, “Derek’s been pretty obvious too.”
“Yeah, he gets all growly and protective every time someone gets too close to you, or even tries too.” Corey adds on, looking at Mason with a smile. “Remember that time at the bar?”
“I do,” Lydia says, smirking over at Stiles, “Derek heard some guy talking about you and intercepted the poor guy before he could even get within 20 feet of you.”
“You’re lying,” Stiles says, not believing Derek would do something like that, at least not without a good reason, “the guy had to be dangerous or something.”
“Dangerous to his chances with you, maybe,” Lydia rolls her eyes when Stiles gapes, “you two can discuss that later. We really do need to focus. Now what Mason said was interesting, and I think there’s a chance it might be true. We’re not finding anything in the books and Deaton said it’s not like anything he’s ever seen. Maybe the witch herself is the key to breaking the spell.”
“But she left,” Stiles says, running a hand down his face. He’s already starting to feel hungry again but is determined to at least get through this conversation before going in search of food.
“I don’t think she did. If this is her own spell she probably wants to see how it plays out.”
“She’s counting on chaos,” The Sheriff says, “She didn’t expect us to catch on to what was happening so quickly.”
“No, I don’t think she did,” Lydia agrees, “I think she was expecting all of you to go out and cause trouble. Think about it, if Isaac and Liam didn’t know what was happening they could have gone out in public somewhere and lost control. The same thing could have happened with Scott and Cora and their pride, Jackson and Aiden with their greed, and even Peter and Ethan with their envy. They could have caused a lot of damage.”
“And exposed themselves in the process,” Mason says, face grim, “but why would she do that? She’s part of the supernatural world, she’d be exposed too.”
“I imagine it would be easier for her to hide herself than it would be for the wolves.”
Stiles frowns, “If she wants chaos like that then how exactly are we supposed to get her to break the spell?”
“Something must have happened involving the pack that made her angry,” Lydia supplies, “some encounter that set her off. She amplified people’s worst qualities. She did that for a reason. We just need to figure out what it is.”
“Scott said he’d talked to her before today in the woods,” Stiles says, remembering how Scott had called the pack meeting because he had a run in with a witch and thought she was dangerous.
“Scott must have said something to set her off,” The Sheriff says, “and I’m guessing it has something to do with his pride.”
“I’ll call him,” Stiles says pulling out his phone, ready to dial Scott’s number.
“Hold on,” Lydia says, putting a hand on his arm, stopping him, “you'll have to be careful how you go about this. He might not admit what happened so easily. He’ll be too proud to admit he could be the cause of this.”
Stiles thinks about it before shooting a text to Scott, asking him to come over. “I told him to come over,” he tells the others, “it's probably better he’s around people when he hears so he doesn’t try to go off and find the witch.”
“Should we have another wolf here then?” Mason asks, “You know, just in case he tries to run off?”
“I’ll be here,” The Sheriff tells him, “I won’t hurt him, but I can stop him if I need to.”
“And Allison will be with him,” Lydia says, then glances towards Stiles, “plus I’m sure Stiles can do something with his magic if he needs to.”
“Uhh yeah sure,” Stiles says, glancing down at his hands. He’s been learning more about magic with Deaton but he still isn’t an expert by any means. He still needed to concentrate in order for something to happen. Something he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do right now with his mind constantly drifting back to food. “Maybe. If I can focus.”
“Go eat before he gets here so your mind is clear,” Lydia tells him, “I'm going to check in with Liam. I’ve at least heard word on the others, I need to be sure he’s somewhere safe.”
Lydia is startled to hear that Liam is on his own, having grown annoyed with Lori’s boyfriend and almost punching the guy in the face. He'd run off after that and had been too ashamed to call for help.
“It's okay Liam,” Lydia tells him, “just stay away from public places. For now, you just need to get somewhere that keeps you calm. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Liam says.
“You call if you need anything alright?”
When Liam agrees Lydia hangs up, turning her attention back to Stiles and the others.
“Problems with Liam?” Stiles asks, through a mouth full of curly fries.
Lydia wrinkles her nose in disgust, “He tried to punch Lori’s boyfriend then took off.”
“I don't get why he didn't just go to Theo,” Mason says, rolling his eyes at everyone's surprised looks. “They're friends. Sure, they fight. But Theo is also able to calm Liam down.”
“Are you saying Theo is Liam's anchor?”
Mason shrugs, “I'm pretty sure he is. Liam just hasn't admitted it. I bet you anything that he's going to wind up with Theo. I mean tonight… not like that. Though I wouldn't be surprised if that happened either.”
Stiles gapes, “Wait, they like each other? But they fight all the time!”
“So do you and Derek,” Lydia points out, “but that didn't stop you two from falling in love. Yes Stiles, love . It's painfully obvious. You and Derek are kind of like Theo and Liam. You fight, though it's more playful bickering than anything else. But at the end of the day you still care about each other and would do anything to protect each other.”
Stiles shakes his head, “I just never saw it coming.”
“You probably just weren’t looking,” Lydia says.
“Probably because you spend so much time looking at Derek,” the Sheriff smirks, earning an indignant squawk from Stiles.
“Dad! Seriously?”
The Sheriff chuckles, “I can’t help it if it’s the truth son.”
“I don’t look at him that much,” Stiles grumbles.
“You know,” Mason says, changing the topic back to the problem at hand, “you have to admit the witch has a twisted sense of humor.”
“How so?” Lydia asks.
“She cursed the pack to be the seven deadly sins and Halloween is only a few days away. Something tells me that wasn’t an accident.”
Stiles sighs, “Great. It’s bad enough that she’s trying to ruin food for me. Now she has to go and ruin Halloween.”
*
"You need to get somewhere that keeps you calm." Lydia's voice rings out in Liam’s head.
He walks, with no clear path where he's heading. He just knows he needs to get there. He shouldn't be surprised when his feet bring him to Theo's truck. Scott had Theo watching the town line in case the witch tried to leave that way. Liam knew this. Yet he didn't even think when his feet started bringing him here. It's a bad idea, he knows. He and Theo always argue. But he calms you down more than anyone else, his traitorous mind supplies.
In the past he would have gone to Hayden. But she’s gone now, left with her sister to somewhere safer than Beacon Hills. He can’t say he blames them with all the pain this town has caused. But when she left and they broke up his control started slipping. He’d had to revert back to his old mantra “the sun, the moon, the truth”. It doesn’t work near as well as he’d like. Which is unfortunate since he’s been cursed with anger and he already has problems with his anger.
Theo is out of his truck and striding towards Liam, trademark smirk in place but his eyes are wary, “What are you doing here Liam? Come to take all that pent up anger out on me?”
Liam is surprised but relieved when he feels more annoyed than angry by the comment, “No. Lydia told me to go where I feel calm and I wound up here.”
“The town line makes you calm?”
Liam sighs, “Don’t be an idiot. We both know it’s not the town line. It’s…” you .
“It’s what, Liam?” Theo asks, stopping right in front of the beta.
“It’s you, you insufferable asshole. For some reason you calm me down.”
“Me? I thought Hayden was your anchor.”
“She was, but she hasn't been for a while,” Liam admits, “I don't know when it changed, probably around the time you started changing.”
“I haven't changed that much, and even if I have I've still done terrible things Liam,” Theo sighs, running a hand through his hair, “I'm not exactly the best person for you to choose to anchor you.”
Liam wants to shout and tell Theo how wrong he is. He can feel his anger building up at Theo's self-deprecating tone. Words are failing him. So he does the only thing he can think of and kisses Theo. It's fast and sloppy with a lot of teeth. Theo doesn't seem to mind, groaning and pulling Liam closer.
“What are you doing Liam?” Theo asks, needing to make sure Liam is doing this because he wants to. As much he wants this he doesn't want it to be because of some spell.
“I'm kissing you,” Liam growls out, “what does it look like I'm doing?”
He doesn't give Theo a chance to respond before he's kissing him again. Theo lets him, sucking on his tongue when Liam slips it into his mouth. That earns a growl from Liam, the betas hips rock forward causing them both to moan.
“Is this…” Theo hisses when Liam bites down particularly hard on his neck, “this isn't because of the spell?”
“It is an outlet for my anger,” Liam says, hurrying on when Theo's face starts to close off, “ but it's not because the spell is making me. I want this, I want you. I have for months.”
“So you won't regret it when this is all over?” Theo asks, hating how small his voice sounds. But this is Liam. As much as he wants this he can't risk Liam regretting it or blaming him for letting it happen and then losing the one person in his life he truly cares about.
Liam pulls back to look at him, taking Theo's face in his hands, his eyes and touch much gentler than before, “Of course not. I'll still want this and you after the spell breaks. I promise. Do you… is this something you want?”
Theo kisses him, short and sweet, “It is.”
“But?” Liam prompts.
“ But if we're going to do this I want to wait.”
“Wait for all of it?” Liam asks, “Or just the sex? Because I think some heavy making out could be great for my anger management.”
Theo smirks, “Is that so?”
“Definitely,” Liam grins, pulling Theo back towards his truck.
An hour later Liam's phone rings with another phone call from Lydia. He assumes she's wanting to check in and make sure he's somewhere safe. He puts the phone on speaker when he answers, knowing Theo can listen any anyway, “Hey Lydia, I'm with Theo and you’re on speaker. My anger seems to be under control.”
“That's great Liam,” Lydia says, “I'm actually calling because I think we have a way to reverse the spell.”
Both Liam and Theo perk up at that, “How?”
Lydia sighs, “It won't be easy. Scott has to apologize to the witch.”
Theo snorts, “So it's impossible then.”
Liam nudges his side, turning his attention back to Lydia, “Have you told him that yet?”
“He should be here any minute. We’re going to tell him then. I just wanted to make sure you were somewhere safe before he goes to confront her.”
“We're at the town line still,” Theo tells her, “should we go? Or do you want us to keep look out?”
“I don’t want to play look out,” Liam says, “if you’re taking on the witch I want to help!”
“I don’t think that’s the best idea Liam,” Lydia tells him, her tone placating. Liam hates it. It’s the way someone would talk when they were talking to a child throwing a tantrum.
It gets worse when Theo agrees with her, “Lydia’s right Liam,” he raises his hands up when Liam growls and glares in his direction, “all I’m saying is it’s going to be hard enough getting Scott to get over his pride and apologize to her. You have trouble with your anger on a good day and you know it. It’s worse now. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go near the witch like this when they’re trying to talk her into reversing the spell.”
“Isaac isn’t going either,” Lydia tells him, which makes him feel a little better, “it’ll just me, Scott, Stiles, and Allison. The less people that confront her the better.”
Liam feels the urge to argue but taps it down when he feels a hand on his knee. He knows they’re right. With this anger out of control he’s likely to do or say something to make things worse, “Okay. I’ll stay away. What do you need us to do?”
“You can go home,” Lydia tells them, “I’m sending Jordan out there with the Sheriff to relieve you.”
Liam’s about to say something when Stiles’ voice comes down the line, “Hey! Is that Liam? I want to ask him about his feelings for Theo!”
“Stiles!”
There’s some muffled voices on the other end of the line. Lydia probably covered the speaker in order to properly chastise Stiles. Liam chances a glance over at Theo to see him grinning.
“Your feelings for me, huh?”
Liam rolls his eyes, “Oh shut up. Like we didn’t just have this conversation and then spend half an hour making out.”
They both cover their ears at Lydia’s excited shriek, “You two actually got together? It’s about time!”
“Wait! Who got together?” Mason asks, “Aren’t you talking to Liam? Wait… Oh my God!”
Liam sighs, resting his head on Theo’s shoulder, “Is everyone going to be like this?”
Theo just laughs, running a hand through Liam’s hair, “Most likely.”
“I’m hanging up now!” Liam tries to cut over the noise on the other end of the line. When they keep talking he shrugs and ends the call before glancing up at Theo, “how long do you think it’ll take them to notice I’m not on the phone anymore?”
“They probably won’t notice until Scott shows up.”
Liam grimaces, “I wonder how that’s going to go.”
“I don’t know,” Theo laughs, “but I wish I could be there to see it.”
*
Stiles is working his way through a can of Pringles when Scott finally shows up at his house, Allison trailing in behind him. From the look on her face Stiles assumes things haven’t been going well. Which doesn’t leave him feeling very hopeful. If Allison and Scott can’t get along right now Stiles doesn’t know how they’re going to get Scott to apologize to the witch.
“What’s up?” Scott asks, flopping down onto the couch, pulling Allison down with him.
Everyone else in the room glances at each other, trying to silently communicate who should be the one to break it to Scott. From the way Lydia is looking at Stiles he’s pretty sure she thinks it should be him. Which is fair, they are best friends. But Stiles is also getting acquainted with these Pringles, “Hey!” he yells, reaching for the Pringles his Dad just snatched from him, “I was eating those! Give them back!”
“I think you can last a few minutes without stuffing your face with food,” John tells him, “they’ll be here once you’re done explaining to Scott what we figured out.”
Stiles sighs, looking over at Scott, “Right so, we think we know how to reverse the spell.”
“Really?” Scott asks, “You figured it out that fast?”
“Yes. Well Lydia did. It’s just…” Stiles glances helplessly at Lydia.
“The spell isn’t in any book we’ve gone through. I don’t think it’s in any book at all. I’m almost certain it’s a spell the witch created. Which means she’s the only one who can break it.”
“Well great, let’s go find her.” Scott says, moving to stand up.
Allison puts a hand on his arm to stop him, “I think there’s more to it than that Scott.”
“There is,” Stiles nods, “there’s a reason she picked the seven deadly sins to curse us as. It’s well… you remember the first time you encountered her?” when Scott nods Stiles goes on, “you weren’t exactly very pleasant with her. In fact, you were pretty rude.”
“Yeah but she’s a witch. She was…”
“Uhh hey,” Stiles says, waving his hands at Scott, “magic user here. Not all people who use magic are bad. You know this buddy. I’m just saying we maybe could have handled it better.”
“I don’t see what any of that has to do with her cursing us,” Scott says, brow furrowed.
Stiles sighs, of course he didn’t. And it was really hard for Stiles to find a way to explain things without just flat out telling Scott it’s his fault she cursed them, “She was just trying to pass though and you tried to chase her off without listening to her. You were wrong. And you were too proud to apologize or admit that.”
“I’m a True Alpha,” Scott says, puffing out his chest, “it’s my job to protect Beacon Hills from anyone that threatens it.”
“She wasn’t though,” Stiles says, “And I really don’t want to argue about this with you. If your pride wouldn’t let you admit that before it’s certainly not going to now. Which is the problem.”
“Why?”
Stiles and Lydia share a look, Stiles hoping that Lydia will say it so he doesn’t have to. No such luck. She just raises an expectant eyebrow at him until he speaks, “Because we need you to apologize.”
Scott shoots up, his eyes flashing red, “I am not going to apologize to that witch! Not after what she’s done!”
“Scott…”
“No,” Scott tries to leave but Stiles stands in front of him, blocking his exit, “get out of my way Stiles. I need to go handle the witch.”
Stiles sighs, “I can’t let you do that buddy. I kinda would like to get un-cursed so we need you to suck it up and say you’re sorry. Even if you don’t mean it.”
“I won’t…”
“Scott,” Allison says, walking up to him, “you said yourself that it’s your job to protect Beacon Hills. That includes your pack. They’re cursed. There’s no telling what will happen to them or the rest of Beacon Hills if the spell isn’t lifted. They need you to do this. To protect them.”
Scott looks at Allison a moment before nodding firmly, “Fine. I’ll do what I need to. Even if that means apologizing.”
“Great,” Stiles grins, “now we just need to make it sound a little bit sincere.”
*
The witch is waiting for them when they get to the clearing. She must have known they would come back. She’s wearing a pleased smirk on her face that Stiles hates. He just hopes Scott doesn’t let it rile him.
“I see you figured it out,” the witch says, “I knew you’d be able to with the geniuses you have in your pack.”
She sends a wink at Lydia, as if she knew Lydia was the one to figure it out.
Stiles glances at Scott to see him frowning at the witch, “you can do this Scotty,” he whispers to where only Scott can hear him.
Scott nods his head, stepping a few feet in front of the group to face the witch, “I came here to apologize.”
If possible, the witches smirk grows, “Oh? For what?”
Stiles watches Scott clench his fists, “Keep it together buddy. You can do this.”
“I…” Scott begins, before sighing and closing his eyes. He opens them slowly before speaking again, “I was an asshole. I let my pride get the better of me. I should have at least tried to talk to you before attempted to chase you out of Beacon Hills. I’m sorry.”
Even just looking at Scott’s back Stiles can tell how much it pained him to say those words. His posture is almost rigid, hands clenched at his side. He just hopes the witch doesn’t notice or just don’t care.
“You certainly sound sincere,” the witch tells him, “you must really want to protect your pack. I can respect that. Your apology is accepted.”
“So you’ll break the spell?” Stiles asks, speaking to the witch for the first time.
She grins over at him, “Oh, well yes I guess I could. It was going to break itself within 48 hours of me casting it.”
Stiles gapes, “Are you…? Seriously?”
“Yes,” the witch laughs, “I needed to keep you busy. And make you appreciate the lives you led before. I never meant to harm anyone, which is why I didn’t make it long term. I just wanted to teach you a lesson.”
“Lesson learned,” Stiles mutters.
The witch eyes Scott critically, “I certainly hope so. You really should be more careful how you treat others young Alpha. Others won’t be as kind as I have been. I’ll reverse the spell. And you’ll let me walk away from here.”
Scott glances at Stiles who shrugs, before looking back towards the witch, “I’m fine with it. But I’ll need to talk to my second about it before telling you our decision.”
“Oh come on,” Stiles says, “You know Derek will be on board. He didn’t think it was a good idea for you to chase her off in the first place.”
“Derek Hale?” the witch asks, a small smile on his face, “My mother told me about the Hales. I’m fine with waiting for his answer. I believe he will make the right choice. And as a show of good faith I will break the spell before you speak with him.”
“Do you need the others around to break it?” Stiles asks.
She shakes her head, “Once it’s cast I can track the progress. If I break it on one of you it’ll break on the others as well.”
Stiles nods, watching as she starts muttering an incantation into her hands. Stiles doesn’t feel anything at first. He’d been so distracted by the confrontation with the witch that he’d pushed his hunger down. It had only been the barest twinge. Stiles waits for a moment but doesn’t feel anything. He looks to Scott only to have his friend shrug back.
“You might not notice it right away,” the witch says, “but I assure you it worked. Your other friends might notice the effects wearing off much more quickly.”
Stiles nods, thanking her before pulling Scott back towards the car, Lydia and Allison following.
“Well that went better than expected,” Lydia says once they reach the jeep.
“Much better,” Allison agrees, “I thought there’d be more yelling.”
“Yeah well, I’m not going to complain about something working in our favor for once,” Stiles says, staring the car, “we should start checking in with the rest of the pack, see how they’re doing and let them know the spell has been broken.”
Liam is all too happy to hear the spell has been broken, quickly telling Theo the news before hanging up. None of them want to know what they’re going to be getting up to.
Erica sounds annoyed when she answers, telling them they interrupted something very important between her and Boyd. Lydia quickly tells her about them breaking the spell before hanging up and letting them get back to their important business, which they all know means sex.
Isaac and Cora are next, both sounding relieved. Cora agrees to call Derek and Peter and let them know the news before she meets up with Isaac. She’s missed her boyfriend but she knows Derek and Peter deserve to know the spell has been broken. Especially Derek who’s been locked away in his loft wallowing.
Lydia’s on the phone with Jackson when Stiles pulls up in front of his house, “Jackson’s happy the spell is broken. Though he wanted to know what took us so long,” she rolls her eyes at that, “he’s going to call Ethan though who will most likely tell Aiden. Which just leaves Malia and Kira.”
“I’ll call Kira,” Allison says, pulling out her phone, “and you can call Malia. Stiles do you want to find some food? I’m sure we all could eat.”
Stiles groans, face planting on the couch, much to everyone’s amusement, “Not me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think about food the same way again, let alone look at it or eat it.”
“I’m sure you’ll be just fine son,” the Sheriff says, “you probably just need a few days for your body to adjust.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll handle the food,” Mason says, standing up and bringing Corey with him, “you guys just tell me what you want.”
While Mason and Corey are out getting food, Liam and Theo show up, shortly followed by Malia, Kira, Cora, Isaac, and Jackson.
They all eat, except for Stiles who glares at the food, wrinkling his nose in distaste when Scott offers him a curly fry. “Damn witch just had to ruin curly fries.”
They all laugh and eat. Erica and Boyd show up when they’re in the middle of eating; Ethan, Aiden, and Brett in tow. Despite not being able to stand the look or smell of food Stiles enjoys himself. It’s nice having most of the pack together again. Derek’s absence doesn’t go unnoticed by Stiles. He’s probably the one that notices it more than anyone.
Cora must realize this because she just pats his hand when she passes by him on her way into the kitchen, “Give him time.”
Stiles nods, offering her a small smile. He knows he needs to talk to Derek, but he’s willing to wait him out if he needs to. For now, he’s content to focus on spending time with the rest of the pack.
*
Stiles bangs on the loft door, heart beating rapidly in his chest. It’s been 2 days since the spell broke and Stiles hasn’t seen Derek. He knows Scott has, they had discussed what to do with the witch after she broke the spell, coming to an agreement to send her on her way as long as she didn’t come back to Beacon Hills. The witch had happily agreed.
Derek was still holing himself up in the loft and Stiles knew it was because of what happened between them in the woods, and he wasn’t about to let it stand. Not anymore. He’d given Derek time and space but they needed to talk about what happened.
A moment later the loft door swings open to reveal Derek, arms crossed across his chest and expression wary. Stiles sighs, pushing his way past Derek and into the loft.
“By all means Stiles, come inside,” Derek says.
Stiles fights the urge to roll his eyes, now is not the time to rise to Derek’s banter, “I know you’ve been avoiding me. And I also know why.”
Derek turns to face Stiles once he’s closed the door, “I haven’t been avoiding you.”
“I don’t need to be a werewolf to know that’s bullshit. I haven’t seen you in days. Not since… well you know when.”
“It’s not as if you’ve been by to see me,” Derek counters, walking further into the room but still keeping his distance from Stiles.
Stiles throws his hands up, “I was trying to give you some space. Allow you to work through things. But we need to talk about what happened.”
“Nothing happened,” Derek says, “it was the spell.”
Stiles can tell it’s a lie from the way Derek goes all shifty and refuses to meet his gaze, “I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen until I’m finished. Something did happen. And I don’t think it was because of the spell. I think the spell may have pushed you to act on something we’ve both been thinking about for a while. And I’m sorry for that. I know how important consent is to you and being in control of your body. I just… I need you to know you didn’t force yourself on me. In case you hadn’t noticed I’ve been interested in you for years. And it’s more than physical. I…” Stiles takes a deep breath. He’s come this far, might as well go all it, “I love you, alright? I’m so stupidly in love with you. And I just need you to know that before you continue to wallow in self-hatred or whatever it is you’ve been doing.”
Derek is silent for a long moment. So long that Stiles chances a glance up at him to find Derek staring at him with a look of wonder on his face, “You love me,” it’s not a question. More a statement and a realization rolled into one.
Then Derek is striding forward, taking Stiles’ face into his hands and kissing him. It’s tender and sweet and Stiles finds himself melting into it. He wraps one arm around his waist, the other resting on his hip as he pulls Derek closer. When they have to pull back for air Derek only goes far enough to look Stiles in the eyes as he reverently runs a thumb along his cheek, “I love you too.”
Stiles’ answering grin is blinding.
Stiles pulls Derek to the couch determined to get some cuddle time in, at least that’s what he tells Derek. Derek goes willingly, allowing Stiles to push him down onto the couch and then crawl into his lap. He’s spent so long fighting his feelings for Stiles that now that he finally has him in his arms he’d do almost anything to keep him there. It all feels so easy, as if they were always meant to wind up here. Maybe they were.
“So,” Stiles says, glancing up at him, “I hope you’re prepared because Halloween is tomorrow and I have a perfect idea for last a last-minute couple’s costume.”
Derek knows there’s no point in arguing. Not that he wants to. He’s too content with Stiles referring to them as a couple he’d probably agree to anything Stiles suggested. Not that he’ll tell Stiles that, “Whatever you want Stiles,” or maybe he will.
When they show up to the packs Halloween party dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf no one is the least bit surprised.