Mountain to Hide Behind
Dearest anon, I bestow upon thee a prompt fill. (whacks you on the head with it)
ao3
Stiles was going to be the best parent that ever parented. Any other option was out of question. The end.
He had swept all of Derek’s boring business books from the front of the shelves, replacing them with baby books. The baby wasn’t even here yet, but he already had his schedule figured out. Stiles was the master at swaddling and changing diapers, had a content of ingredients for a perfect baby formula fucking memorized.
So, safe to say, he wasn’t quite yet ready to deal with heartbroken teenagers.
He thought he had time! Then Cora’s boyfriend decided to downgrade to an ex and here they were.
Stiles was standing in the doorway of their guest room and wringing his hands for a few minutes, before finally taking in a deep breath and opening the door.
“Cora, sweetheart,” Stiles forced out a smile. “The lunch is ready, darling.”
The she-wolf took out one headphone and turned to glare at him in a scary imitation of her brother.
“Fuck off,” she muttered and turned away again to lie down on the bed.
Okay, then.
Eli kicked him in the stomach in the show of silent support. Stiles caressed his round stomach and went (he wasn’t waddling, it was too early yet, shut up!) to the kitchen to eat his pasta alone.
*
Cora stomped downstairs right in time for dinner, though. Stiles highly suspected it was because she heard Derek’s car getting closer. At least now she was going to eat. What would Talia say if she heard he was starving her precious baby? No, ma’am.
The girl slumped down on her seat and started scraping a fork through the contents of her plate with the grumpiest expression. Was something wrong with food?
“Stiles?”
The voice brought a beaming smile to Stiles’ face. Problems? What problems? His mate was here, therefore nothing mattered.
He lifted himself up from the chair and went to greet his husband, who was already smiling at him in return.
Derek dropped his suitcase, took off his tie and cupped Stiles’ face with his big hands.
“Hi, baby,” he muttered into his lips and kissed him.
After so many years of dating and then being married, Stiles found that the whole ‘the spark is gonna die out’ thing was utter bullshit. Like, how on Earth was he supposed to not want to drop to his knees when faced with this absolute hunk of his husband? Stiles could swear on his life he was falling more and more in love with Derek since he became pregnant. He was ready to build a shrine to his mate, he was so motherfucking sexy and so handsome and so caring. Stiles was obsessed, to a scary degree.
He moaned into the kiss, winding his hands around Derek’s muscular shoulders for support. Mmm, so tall, so big, so handsome.
“Missed you,” Stiles murmured, pressing another kiss to his stubble-covered cheek.
Derek chuckled. His eyes were soft. “Missed you, too.” He then put a hand on Stiles’ stomach and snorted a laugh at being immediately kicked. “Hello to you, too, love.”
“I’m telling you, he knows when you’re coming home,” Stiles remarked, leaning his weight on the alpha, as the man put arms around him. “He’s a little alarm clock.”
“And a soccer player, and a kickboxer, and a—“
“A wonder! He’s a wonderful boy of an amazing father who’d better hurry and wash his hands or his dinner will get cold.”
Derek smirked at him. “As you wish, sweetheart,” he said and sneaked a gentle bite on Stiles’ jaw, before immediately jumping away from Stiles’ hand and disappearing down the hall.
Stiles bit his lip, stretched wide in a smile. He was so incredibly silly, just ughh!
His good spirit, however, dwindled a bit after a murderous glare that Cora gave him upon entering the kitchen. Seriously, what was going on? They weren’t inappropriate and it wasn’t like they’ve left her alone for that long…
During the dinner Cora stayed silent, having only muttered a ‘hi’ to her brother. Derek, who grew up with two sisters, was used to this kind of behavior, so he just ignored it. Which, rude! The girl needed support! Maybe not Stiles’, based on her glares, but someone’s!
Feeling Derek’s eyes upon him, Stiles looked up and instantly felt himself blush from his mate’s half-lidded look.
“What?” Stiles smiled.
Derek shrugged. “Just wondering how do you get prettier each time I see you.”
Oh, my GOD.
The thing about Derek, one of many that made Stiles lose his mind, is that he was an insane flirt. Was, during their dating period, then smoothly carried it over to their married life. Honestly, who needs the blood of a hundred virgins — Derek’s compliments made Stiles feel ten years younger.
Stiles beamed at him. “You’re so nice to me.”
“Just being honest.”
A fork clung against the plate with an awful loud sound.
“Is this how it is going to be with you two?” Cora grumbled, grabbed her plate and shoved it inside the sink.
“You mean, with me and my mate?” Derek lifted an eyebrow.
Cora threw a sour look at him, pursed her nose, then went back upstairs. Her door shut with a frustrating thud.
Derek and Stiles looked at each other in an unspoken solidarity, before the alpha sighed.
“Come here,” he spread his arms.
As if Stiles needed to be asked twice. He dove right into his lap and for the warm embrace, pressing his stomach to Derek’s front. It wasn’t long before Eli realized there were hugs going on and started drumming on Stiles’ insides with his feet.
It took one wince from Stiles for Derek to put his hand against his stomach and pull out the pain.
“I love you,” Stiles sighed, laying his head on his husband’s shoulder.
“Love you, too.”
*
New day, new try!
“Cora, darling, do you want to watch ‘Moana’ with me?”
“No, I don’t. Fuck you and your stupid cartoons.”
… Alright.
Was he really the same as a teenager? Stiles shoved another handful of popcorn into his mouth. Surely, he wasn’t that bad. There was one time when he and Scott sneaked out to the forest to have a drink over Scott’s broken heart. Very dangerous and irresponsible.
So, yeah, it was for the best that Cora was staying here and not vomiting her guts out in the forest.
Stiles could handle some misplaced teenage angst. He could! He was an adult. An adult who would soon have his own child.
Oh, god.
Great, now his eyes were burning. Stiles sniffled and picked up another popcorn, glancing down at his stomach. He wasn’t even that huge yet, but the feeling of being a beached whale was creeping up on him with a concerning speed.
But that wasn’t the reason for his sudden mood change. He just realized how much he wanted to watch cartoons with his kid. To have him sit on his lap, to munch on the popcorn together, laughing and singing songs. Stiles sniffled again.
And he wanted Cora to be better! And not snap at him.
*
Unfortunately, Derek’s strategy of ‘leave her alone and she’ll come around’ wasn’t working. Well, for Derek it might have been wonderful, but not for Stiles, who was locked inside with the girl for days.
She refused to eat lunch with him, which only made Stiles worry more; she snapped at him constantly and was downright rude sometimes. And, while Stiles grit his teeth and reminded himself that she was just a hormonal teenage werewolf going through some hard times, he was also a hormonal, albeit human man, with a freaking baby inside him.
His temper wasn’t as steel as it was before. If it ever was, at all…
Stiles tried to remember that Cora probably didn’t mean what she said, but… Sometimes, it felt like she did.
“You look huge.”
Stiles frowned at his own reflection, where he was trying on new pants.
“Well, I am pregnant, so…”
“So? You still look huge.” Cora rolled her eyes.
Stiles’ eyes fell down without a thought from him. He smoothed a hand down the round top.
“It happens sometimes,” he argued weakly. “It will pass. Besides, I don’t care.”
“I bet Derek does.”
Stiles’ heart missed a beat.
He knew, he knew for a fact, that Derek still found him desirable. The pregnancy didn’t drop their libido, but instead made it fucking sky-high. They had an extremely active sex life, thank you very much; Derek was an attentive partner, always gentle with him, but no less hungry. One time Stiles actually caught him drooling at the sight of him, walking naked and rubbing his belly after a shower on one particularly hot day. And the wolf hadn’t even denied it, instead lifted his eyebrow like ‘yes the sight of you makes me extremely horny, are we going to do something about it or what?’.
So the notion that Derek somehow cared about the weight he gained was completely ridiculous. Completely. Ab-absolutely. Yeah.
Stiles looked down again.
“Have you seen people he works with?” Cora continued, appearing not interested and scrolling through her phone. “Like, Erica and Isaac? He got an entire building with people looking like them. And then he comes home to this—“ she lifted her eyebrows and shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re implying, Cora,” Stiles started throwing the clothes he pulled out for a try-on back into the closet. “We are mates. He loves me. End of story.”
“Sure. Whatever you say.”
Stiles tried to swallow a lodge in his throat; once the grain was planted in his mind, he knew he would obsess over it to the very end.
“He’s allowed to look, though,” Cora added as if in an afterthought, before huffing at the mess he made.
“He is,” Stiles bit out, left everything as it was and stormed out of the room.
*
Derek was late.
Between Eli kicking up a storm and Cora’s meaningful smug glances, Stiles was going mad. Yes, definitely mad and not close to tears.
He ate half of his own usual portion, before putting the rest in the containers and retreating to his and Derek’s bedroom for the remainder of the evening.
*
“What are you doing?”
“Sniffing your shirt, what does it look like I’m doing?”
Derek snorted and walked over to him, slid hands over his stomach and snatched the shirt from his hands. The wolf brought it to his face and sniffed.
“It’s a fresh one, love.”
Stiles just sighed. Did he really become one of those spouses that suspects their significant other at every turn? It was humiliating a little, but the worry was brewing in his mind and heart, buzzing around like a bunch of angry wasps.
“If you’re so worried that I’m stinky, don’t refuse to shower with me next time.” Derek smacked a kiss on Stiles’ bared neck, then quickly got distracted and started trailing kisses down the neck, pressing Stiles’ ass back to himself.
Stiles closed his eyes and bit his lips. “You’re gonna be… mmmhm… late.”
“I don’t want to go to work,” Derek grunted, sucking a mark on his shoulder, lapping at it with his tongue. “You are here, so delicious and fucking glowing. Want to stay home and fuck you.”
This high libido of his may have started because of the pregnancy of his mate, but if it was that strong, who’s to say he wasn’t getting rid of it during the day? Stiles knew how others looked at his husband — the same way he did, but what if…
‘He’s allowed to look, though.’
… what if he looked back?
Stiles swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut, begging for the images of his traitorous mind to disappear.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Love you, too.”
*
Derek was late for another few days after that.
Stiles tried to keep his head up high, mostly not to agitate Eli, who was getting angry at not receiving hugs from his father at appropriate times. But staying at home with Cora, whose jabs were getting more and more painful with each passing day, was even worse.
Thus, Stiles began to go for walks. For as long, as his feet and bladder would allow; he walked, lost in thoughts.
Derek’s behavior wasn’t really any different, if one didn’t count him being late every day. His kisses were still passionate, hugs tight, caresses gentle and loving. Maybe it was all in Stiles’ head.
But why wasn’t Derek telling him why he was late and acted like it was normal?
Coming back to the house with a heavy heart, Stiles didn’t expect to be faced with a wide-eyed and fuming Derek.
He didn’t even get to walk through the door like usual, before getting snatched off the street back into the house and patted down with shaking hands.
“Where the fuck were you?” Derek growled, looking carefully at every inch of Stiles. “Why didn’t you take your phone with you? Why did you go out alone, for fuck’s sake, Stiles…”
One thing Stiles could not handle was negativity, not from Derek and not now.
Derek’s face paled at the sight of moisture gathering in Stiles’ eyes. The man grabbed his face and flashed his eyes at him.
“What happened? Did someone do something? Stiles, baby, answer me, I’m going to fucking kill anyone who—“
“Start with yourself, maybe.”
Stiles’ breath hitched.
Both of them turned to look at Cora, who tried to look nonchalant, while leaning on the handrails. She had her lips pursed and lifted one very judgmental brow at her brother.
“What?” Derek blinked at her, confused.
“What I said,” she sneered. “Did you honestly think he wouldn’t notice your absence? He can’t even stomach his dinner, because he knows you’re busy fucking side-chicks as he does so.”
A stunned silence filled the room.
Right then, faced with the sentence he was too scared to even think of, Stiles couldn’t take it anymore. At his first mortifying quiet sniff, Derek swerved around too look at him.
He looked horrified.
“Baby,” he said with desperate softness, “you… you know this is bullshit, right?”
Unable to look him in the eyes, Stiles lowered his gaze down on his chest and tried his hardest not to cry. He stayed silent, because what could he possibly say? That his mind was already plagued with scenarios of Derek leaving him? Because what would become of him then?
Derek raked a hand through his hair and turned to his sister, who watched both of them with her head pointed high. The wolf’s eyes flashed red, fangs glistened in the warm lighting of the hall.
“What the fuck have you been saying to him?” he growled.
“What you don’t have the balls to!” Cora shouted, making Stiles flinch. “All of you are the same! It’s ‘forever’ and it’s ‘I love you’ until the first flipped skirt—“
And then Derek roared, walking over to her. “I’m not the same as your dumb fucking boyfriends, Cora! I’m married to him, we’re fucking mates, for fuck’s sake! Are you insane? We’re having a child together, not an English lesson!”
“Fucking whatever,” her voice trembled as she looked to the side.
“It’s not ‘whatever’. He is not allowed to be stressed! At all! That’s why I was fucking late — I’m passing the business over to Peter to be able to stay at home with Stiles for the next months.”
Oh. Oh, Derek.
The wolf cursed and rubbed his eyes, then flashed them at his sister. “Go to your room, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
Cora’s eyes filled with angry tears. Without any further words, she turned around, went to her room and slammed the door shut.
Stiles didn’t dare to look at him. A myriad of conflicting feelings tore his heart apart, most present of them guilt and misery.
“Kitten.”
Big arms wound themselves around Stiles, pressing him close to a hot body. Stiles tucked his face into Derek’s neck and sobbed.
“I’m sorry—”
“Baby, it’s okay.”
“But, like, how could I think—“
“Shh, none of this is your fault,” Derek kissed his temple and sighed against it, stroking the back of his head. “It’s all on me. I’m so fucking stupid. I wanted to make a surprise for you, I know how you want me home, but never say anything.”
In the safety of his protective embrace, swaddled up in the loving warmth of his words, Stiles began to calm down. Derek always had this effect on him. This man was his anchor, his mountain to hide behind when the storms are raging on.
Derek leaned in to whisper into his ear.
“You know, you are the only thing on my mind. And I mean it literally. There’s nothing in there, besides your angel face. Every time I walk outside to go to work, it takes every bit of my control not to turn back. Erica fucking hates me now, because Boyd got a baby fever because I don’t shut up about you and our plans for the kid.” He chuckled, making Stiles sigh and shiver from the heat of his breath. “You know what else I do? I sit at meetings and just look at the clock and count down the minutes before I could go home. Why do you think Peter is so eager to take over? I’m useless to them. I can’t think of anything else, other than you.”
“Derek,” Stiles whined, feeling relief in his heart and blush on his cheeks.
They fell into each other, with sighs and desperation, to seal the certainty on their hearts. Derek’s kiss was as demanding as it was giving, with his hands still trembling on Stiles’ sides.
“I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
And, of course, their kid chose this moment to gently kick at Derek through Stiles’ stomach, as if saying ‘Are you two idiot parents of mine done? I need my hugs.’
They separated and laughed quietly, swaying in each other’s embrace.
*
“Cora, sweetie.”
“… What.”
Finally.
“Can you tell me what that was?”
The poor girl threw herself off the bed, with her hair crazy and bags under the eyes.
“What that was?! I’m tired of looking at the two of you! ‘Stiles this’ and ‘Derek that’, you’re disgusting! I get it, you’re happy and in love, and it’s never fucking like that in my life, so stop shoving it in my face! How are you not sick of each other?”
Stiles watched her pace around the room, as the realization dawned on him.
Fucking Hales.
“Because we love each other.” When Cora huffed and rolled her eyes, Stiles continued, not allowing her to interrupt. “It’s real and it’s not going anywhere.” He put a hand on his belly. “And that’s it. No drama, no bad feelings. We have an entire happy ending to live through.”
After letting the thought brew in her mind for a few minutes, Stiles patted the seat next to himself and Cora, to his surprise, obediently sat down.
“Why can’t I have what you have?” she said barely above whisper, not looking at him.
“Child, please,” Stiles poked her in the arm and smirked. “My life consists of trips to the bathroom and weird food cravings at two a.m.. It’s not fun. Yes, it’s amazing and it’s a miracle, but fun it is not. Live some life. Experiment. True love will come and whack you on the head and then you’ll be like me and Derek, stupidly in love. Speaking of life, have you ever kissed a girl?”
Cora spluttered and went completely red in the face, looking a little too wide-eyed.
“Stiles!”
“Did you like it?” Stiles grinned.
“Oh, god…”
“Uh-huh.” Stiles bit his lip to stop the ‘mad evil scientist’ laugh from escaping, before clapping Cora on the shoulder. “Now, bring me the laptop, we’re going to ruin your ex’s life.”
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