Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5874769.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      Multi
  Fandom:
      Teen_Wolf_(TV)
  Relationship:
      Allison_Argent/Scott_McCall, Allison_Argent/Isaac_Lahey/Scott_McCall,
      Allison_Argent/Isaac_Lahey, Allison_Argent/Stiles_Stilinski, Vernon_Boyd/
      Erica_Reyes, Isaac_Lahey/Erica_Reyes, Lydia_Martin/Erica_Reyes, Vernon
      Boyd/Isaac_Lahey/Erica_Reyes, Peter_Hale/Erica_Reyes, Derek_Hale/Stiles
      Stilinski, Danny_Mahealani/Jackson_Whittemore, Lydia_Martin/Jackson
      Whittemore, Isaac_Lahey/Stiles_Stilinski, Issac_Lahey_&_Scott_McCall,
      Peter_Hale/Vernon_Boyd/Erica_Reyes, Derek_Hale/Isaac_Lahey, Derek_Hale/
      Isaac_Lahey/Stiles_Stilinski
  Character:
      Chris_Argent, Melissa_McCall, Sheriff_Stilinski
  Additional Tags:
      Fluff, Domestic_Fluff, Pack_Feels, Pack_Dynamics, Puppy_Piles, Knotting,
      Polyamory, not_every_tag_mentioned_in_every_chapter, will_tag_as_things
      come_up
  Series:
      Part 8 of Puppy_Piles_What_Puppy_Piles?
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-02-01 Chapters: 2/? Words: 3732
****** There's A Hellhound In That Handbasket ******
by colorofakiss
Summary
     The pack is growing up, figuring out their futures, and falling
     deeper into a web of relationship entanglements while battling the
     new creatures that bumble their way into Beacon Hills.
Notes
     Whoa has it been just about three years since my last installment of
     Puppy Piles What Puppy Piles?? I know that I almost didn't believe it
     would happen, but I'm not one to leave a story unfinished, and this
     series definitely needed one more fic to end it. This will be the
     last fic for this series (not counting the Behind the Scenes chapters
     I need to finish). When I started this journey with all of you the
     characters and premise of Teen Wolf sucked me in and I couldn't help
     but write this out. I love this series, and all of you for reading
     along with me, but there are other Teen Wolf stories that I have to
     tell once this is done, new journeys to take.
     For those of you who have waited patiently (or not so patiently), who
     have checked in on me, and sent asks to my tumblr inquiring as to
     when it would happen, who commented on a fic that hadn't updated in
     years and came into my inbox gushing over how much you enjoyed this
     series, this is for you. I promised one more fic and you helped me
     keep motivated, and I am forever grateful for you.
     Moving forward I'm going to be honest here, I won't have a frequent
     update schedule, it won't be years inbetween but it will be a month
     or two, maybe sooner, maybe not, I just can't tell. I do know that I
     want to make it good, and to do it the justice it deserves.
     A big thanks to-
     My beta: weebleroxanne
     and lastly, a huge thank you to boomslang, I don't think I could've
     kept plugging away on this fic without you
***** Prologue *****
Erica loved kissing. She loved everything about it, the sigh of breath, the
warmth, the way people would melt into it. There was one thing she loved almost
as much as kissing and that was watching other people kiss. In fact, she had
started playing a game with herself to see if she could catch every couple
combination in her pack kiss. Almost like bird watching but so much more fun.
The only one who knew she was playing was Boyd, because he finally asked her
why she kept tripping Peter into him. Spoilsport.
Some were easy to get, but others were downright impossible. She could catch
Stiles tonguing it out with Derek any day of the week but she'd never seen him
kiss Jackson. And good luck trying to see a Lydia-Peter kiss, she didn't think
it would ever happen. Isaac on the other hand had gotten around to everybody,
rivaling only herself. Allison was a close second. Although, she really tried
not to think of it as a race, Erica couldn't help getting a little competitive.
Then there was the holy grail of all kisses, even rarer than a Lydia-Peter
kiss, there was one kiss she could only fantasize about. And fantasize she did,
because in her dreams it was hot. So maybe she had a thing for older guys,
whatever, no one could tell her it wasn't absolutely delicious. Even though
they could barely stand to be in the same room together, Peter and Mr. Argent
would make one glorious kiss. Their glares of hatred would translate over to
some wild sex she bet. She knew Peter would be on board, if only to finally get
Mr, Argent on his knees. And-
"What are you thinking about?" Isaac tapped his nose in a knowing way while he
stared at her.
Erica smiled but didn't say anything as she crawled over the couch to him. She
nuzzled into his neck and trailed feather light kisses up his jaw and to his
mouth. Kissing Isaac was like sitting next to a fireplace, it warmed every bit
of her up.
"You're not going to tell me are you?" He said to the top of her head once
she'd scooted down to his chest.
"Nuh, uh. That's one fantasy the world isn't ready for yet."
***** A Beginning of Finals *****
Chapter Summary
     The pack gears up for finals and tension mounts as college talks is
     in the air.
"I think Allison is having a little bit of a freakout on what to do after high
school," Scott kicked a pine cone across their path.
"Ah, can I share in that freakout. In fact we should have a pack freakout, you
know, for solidarity," Stiles said as he narrowly avoided a low hanging branch.
They were walking through the forest, not really for any reason, just to go
through the trails. At least that’s what Stiles thought they were doing, but
he'd been watching Scott pat trees left and right. He'd been taking care of the
territory lines more lately.
"That wouldn't work. Lydia's had her after high school plan planned since
kindergarten. Besides, I thought you said you had it all worked out when Derek
asked last week."
Stiles looked up at the sky, which was a very lovely shade of robin’s egg blue
he thought.
"You lied to Derek? You know your dad's been insisting on having weekly coffee
with him, and he probably told your dad, which means you lied to your dad as
well."
"I didn't lie per se, I do have it worked out. I have worked out that I'm going
to wing it a bit."
"Wing it," Scott looked dubiously at him.
"Yeah, I'm going to wing it okay? I'm not really sure what I want to do, and I
don't feel like spending money taking a few classes while I try to figure it
out."
Scott had stopped to look at him while he talked and only paused for a moment
before nodding.
"Not sure your dad will go for it, but tons of people take a semester off." He
heard Stiles respond, but a burning scent distracted him from the conversation.
He turned to his left, veering away from Stiles to take a deep breath.
"Uh, Scott, what's wrong? Do I need to get out the mountain ash?" Stiles' hand
hovered near his inside flannel pocket. Just because he felt pretty safe in the
woods now that his main squeeze was a giant wolf monster didn't mean he went
into them unprepared.
"I don't think so, whatever it is smells dead already," Scott waved his hand in
front of his nose, trying to dissipate the smell.
"It's not another fucking tanuki is it? Because I've had enough of them. Boyd
has like three hats okay, and the local healers don't want the powdered
testicles anymore. I have four jars of powdered testicle sitting on my computer
table. That's one too many."
"Not a tanuki," Scott said as they turned the corner around a large redwood.
The trunks of a few trees looked scorched, and the burnt smell came strongest
from a large wolf-like creature that lay dead in the path.
"Whoa," Stiles breathed. The creature had a huge head, smaller than Derek was
in his wolf-form, but still big. Miniature pony size at least. It's eyes were
glassy with death, and now Stiles could smell the smoke smell of it.
"What the fuck is that?" Scott asked. Stiles shrugged. He was more focused on
why it was there and how it died.
Stiles circled it, taking in the deep black fur and long tail.
"Stiles..." Scott warned as his hand reached out to touch the fur on its back.
"Dude, this thing is deader than dead. It's growing some noxious mold and
maggots on this side. Erghf," he pulled his hand back. "Oh, yeah, this thing's
going to make me gag, gross." He stumbled away from it.
"Do you think there's more of, whatever this is?"
"My wishful thinking says nope."
Scott sighed. He didn't want to start monster chasing with finals around the
corner.
"Come on, let's snap some pictures and get out of here. You know, I'm really
over finding dead bodies in the woods with you."
"Ditto, bro. For once I'd like to find a pile of money nobody claims." With one
last look around, Stiles followed Scott out of the grove and back to the Jeep.
*****
"Were you in a rush, or was that outfit intentional?" Jackson scoffed at
Derek's sweats and t-shirt. Derek looked down and scowled.
"I'm doing a load of laundry. I don't even think this is my shirt," he said
more to himself than Jackson.
"Derek, if you need clothes we can buy you clothes. You don't have to start
wearing ours."
"I have-!" Derek stopped himself once he realized Jackson thrived on outbursts.
Too much time with Lydia, he supposed. Jackson had already ordered for him, so
he sipped his coffee while he waited for Jackson to stop posturing.
Ever since Derek had insisted on weekly coffee dates with everyone, to check in
and see where everyone was at, especially considering the end of the school
year, he had gotten better at their tells. Jackson did a lot of the
metaphorical barking before being able to actually have a conversation. Even
then most of what he said was wrapped up in snipping and sarcasm. Once you got
past the bite of his words, it wasn't so hard to figure out what he was
actually trying to say. He wondered how long it took Danny to decode him.
Jackson knew what Derek was doing, could see right through his feeble attempts
at bonding. It didn't bother him, hey, if Derek wanted to be a better alpha, he
was down for that since his previous attempts were incredibly shitty. He just
wished Derek didn't look so concerned all the time. The worry was starting to
etch its way onto his face.
"So, how's-"
"School is fine. Lydia's fine. I'm fine. Can I go now?" Jackson ticked each off
on his finger, lingering over his middle one.
Derek stared at his petulant beta and swallowed the sigh that threatened to
dismantle the conversation he was trying to have. He wondered if asking Lydia
and Danny how to get past the blustering would count as cheating. Lydia would
probably think so.
Stiles would definitely think so.
"Sit down. We're going to talk about something and if you don't start, I'll
start talking about sex with Stiles."
Jackson glared.
“You wouldn't dare."
Derek opened his mouth and enjoyed the flicker of disbelief that crossed
Jackson' face.
*****
Isaac stared at himself in the mirror and grinned. The thin strap of blue
leather around his neck felt good and the triskele charm that dangled from it
was a perfect recent addition. He didn't quite get the attraction everyone else
saw in it, but he liked the weight of them. Liked the sensation of belonging,
in more than one way to his mates. Liked that occasionally he'd pass someone at
school or out and about that would see the collar and give him a wink.
Sometimes he felt a little funny if he was wearing it around Stiles's house and
the Sheriff saw it on him, but luckily the Sheriff didn't normally stare at his
throat. Melissa on the other hand had instantly honed on it, immediately told
him to remember to be safe, and that the blue suited his eyes. Mr. Argent
wisely chose to ignore it. Isaac felt that was a good tactic.
Sure, Jackson and Danny had teased him a bit the first time they eyed it, but
honestly the proud smiles Allison and Scott flashed him every time they saw it
around his neck made it all worth it. Not to mention Stiles had tripped into a
door frame the first time he saw it and Derek had gotten all glowy red eyes.
Isaac couldn't believe how lucky he was.
*****
"Dad! I'm leaving!" Allison yelled as she strapped her backpack into place.
"Do you have your crossbow?" He called back from his study.
"It's in my locker!"
"And what about your dagger, it was on the kitchen-"
"I got it!"
"What about your taser?"
"Got it!" Allison shouted back just before the door shut behind her. Most dads
asked their kids if they remembered their homework but Allison's dad knew
better than that. Homework was the least of his worries.
Allison grinned at the sight of Scott on his new motorcycle. He had only had it
for a few weeks, but already she loved the rush of it. Her dad had frowned and
grumbled when he first saw it, citing statistics and recounting grisly facts of
crashes. Only after Scott offered to give him a ride did he relent and let her
hop on the back of it. Scott had custom ordered a helmet with racing arrows on
it that she dutifully strapped on. She loved this.
Scott maneuvered them through traffic, all the while listening to Allison's
heartbeat. He didn't get to drive her around on it as much as he would like,
but a couple of times a week their schedules and parents agreed. She fit
against his back, and for a while it was just them, reconnecting. Scott loved
his mates, loved his pack, but even he knew that making sure they got some one-
on-one time was important. Time management had become their ultimate goal in
life. Pack stuff, school stuff, unexpected monster of the week stuff, it all
took time and there were only so many hours in a day. He had finally suggested
that maybe making a Google calendar to keep track of everyone's daily schedules
would be in their best interest. So far, so good.
Helmet hair was a thing that Allison could do without, but she knew Lydia kept
backup hair product in her locker so it didn't bother her too much. It was a
small price to pay for the thrill of it, for the moments firmly grounded by
Scott. It wasn't just the wolves that needed anchors. She had been moved around
too much to take being grounded for granted.
*****
There was something wrong with Peter's apartment. To the left of him, Erica and
Isaac were cuddled on the couch, his back to her front. They were being
disgusting in their affection for one another, nuzzling and petting while
watching Iron Chef. Directly in front of him Boyd stood in the kitchen baking
what smelled like some type of delicious, sweet bread.
"What are all of you doing here?" He finally asked after trying for the past
three hours to discern what exactly had brought them to his apartment. When he
had gotten home from work, Boyd and Erica were already in. They were studying
at his kitchen table, their books and notes splayed out in front of them. Isaac
had showed up later with no explanation as to why he was there. He just pushed
past Peter and rolled into Erica.
Boyd looked up from his kneading and rolled his eyes. No one had bothered to
tell Peter that he and Erica considered him their mate under Boyd's strict
orders. He knew for a fact that Peter was going to be stubborn about it in his
own special brand of ridiculously dense. Erica had agreed that this was best.
They had come to realize that Peter was the type of wolf that needed to come to
terms with things in his own time. Even if that meant he had to grouse about it
the entire way.
"Did you want us to leave?" Erica asked as she rested her head on the side of
the couch. The she-wolf made demands of everyone else, but around him she was
hesitant. Cautious.
"No," he said slowly, rolling the sound in his mouth. Erica quirked her eyebrow
at him. "No," he said again, sinking down into his chair.
Boyd had to stifle his laugh at Peter's obvious petulance. Nothing that a
little sweet bread couldn't cure though.
*****
What most of the pack didn't know was that Jackson could dance. It was a fact
that Danny had known for a while, back when Jackson would play wingman at the
clubs for him. The second part of that fact was that Jackson enjoyed dancing.
When the thump of a good song came on he would pull Danny to the dance floor,
they would twine against each other, and for a song or two Jackson would
completely unwind. Languid and easy, he would flow with the bass until Danny
breathlessly pulled him away.
Danny took them out at least once a week nowadays. Jackson's lingering dark
mood over the new tolerance shared between Peter and Lydia was more than he
could take. Besides, Jackson liked the attention and the fact that he got to go
home with Danny.
*****
Derek felt a little queasy as Lydia took one final look at the remodeled Hale
house. If she gave the okay, he could finally move in. He had gotten enough of
sleeping on Peter's couch. There were some things that just could not be
unheard.
Lydia noticed how many times Derek ran his hands through his hair, but she
wasn't about to let him move himself into a house that didn't meet her
standards. She could only imagine how difficult it must've been to destroy the
old Hale house and Derek's anxiety wasn't unfounded. This new one would one day
house their pack and she needed it to be well looked at for them too.
It took her hours to look in every room, closet, and nook. She went over every
wall with an herb satchel that was supposed to smoke up at the first sign of
supernatural tampering. And she turned on every light, sink, and electrical
piece of hardware. Nothing went untouched.
After her third time testing the staircase she turned abruptly and bumped into
Derek. She frowned at him and took a deep breath.
"I think it's going to work out just fine."
"You do?" He looked around as if she were pranking him.
"You did good, Hale. We can start getting the furniture put in tomorrow if
you'd like?"
Derek looked at the freshly painted walls and the new banister of the
staircase. It felt unreal to him now that it was finally done. He had never
hoped that he would have any semblance of pack or home since the fire that had
taken away both. All at once the responsibility of it struck him, and for once
he felt up to the challenge.
"I have something for you," Lydia said as she dug into her over-sized purse.
Smiling, she passed him a framed photograph.
Derek stared into the faces of his family, his whole family, for the first time
in years.
"I thought it could be the first thing we hang on the walls. A commemoration.
And a memorial," she added.
Derek nodded roughly, he didn't know what to say.
Lydia let him have a moment before swiftly kissing his cheek.
"I'm proud of you," she whispered into his ear. "Don't let it go to your head
though, we still have furniture to place and assemble. And don't think I
haven't seen that garish headboard Stiles picked out, no way is that going into
this house," she added primly.
Atta girl, he thought.
*****
"Look, I'm not saying that test was biased, but I was definitely feeling a vibe
from that substitute teacher. I only asked to go to the bathroom twice, but
like, how am I at fault? I had to drink all that coffee just to be able to take
this stupid test, and she acts like I'm the problem in the class when Greenburg
was visibly cheating the whole time! Could school get more un...uh dude you
don't have to like body guard me at school, there's pack everywhere. Plus, I've
got mountain ash on me so, we're cool," Stiles peered up at Boyd with quizzical
eyes. He didn't notice too much anymore when his packmates crowded around him
more than the average person would. With Boyd though, he knew something was up.
Boyd didn't cling.
"Oh, sorry. Habit I guess," he tried to shrug it off, but Stiles could see
through it. Boyd rarely shrugged anything off. In fact the last thing Stiles
had seen him shrug off was Jackson during a training session, and that was into
a pile of dirt.
"Boyd, I'd never ask you to betray Derek's confidence, but I know he put you up
to this, so just keep staring at me stoically if that's a true statement."
Boyd kept staring.
"Looks like your alpha and I are going to have a little talk about invasion of
privacy and keeping an eye on me through the betas. I can take care of myself,
this is so typical," Stiles griped as he whipped out his phone to send a string
of angry texts.
"You can't entirely fault him for being paranoid. A lot of weird stuff keeps
popping up," Boyd pointed out.
"It could have been anyone that ran into a kelpie, or tripped over that
fireworm, or drove their Jeep into a mildly annoyed yeti baby only then to be
pursued by its yeti parents. Those things are possible for anyone, Boyd,"
Stiles glared at him.
Boyd shook his head and opened his locker. He knew better than to get involved
in one of Stiles's tirades. And he definitely knew better than to get in
between Derek and Stiles when they were having what Lydia would call a "tiff".
*****
Danny shook his head as his mother passed him bowls of Haupia and then shut the
door behind her. He turned and set them on his bedside table, right next to
Lydia's purse. On the bed, Lydia slept soundly as she hogged most of the space.
She was twisted in the blankets, a contrast to how she usually slept. Getting
out of the bed without her waking was easy, but getting back in now that she
had slid into his warm spot wouldn't be.
She made a small sound of upset, and then opened her eyes, saving him from
having to Tetris his way into his own bed.
"What are you doing up? We were napping," She rubbed one of her eyes while
wiggling deeper into the blankets.
"My mom wanted to give us dessert. Still can't believe she doesn't care that
you spend the night sometimes."
"Face it, your mom loves me," she laughed a little.
"No kidding, she never lets anyone else stay the night."
"That's because she knows we aren't having sex," she said with what sounded
like smugness to him.
That was true his mother never let Jackson stay over that's for sure. Lydia
opened her arms for him to roll into. Dessert could wait, he thought. Her hair
smelled like strawberries, she was cuddly, and he was tired. Dealing with a new
monster almost every two weeks on top of graduating, Jackson's irritability,
and Lydia's own evasiveness, it was enough to make anyone wiped out. He just
hoped that whatever Lydia had going on didn't involve Peter.
*****
Derek yawned and poured himself a cup of coffee as Sheriff Stilinski took a sip
out of his own cup at the kitchen table.
"Did they keep you up all night?" John asked with a twinkle in his eye that
Derek missed.
"Yes," he groaned and then realized what he just said. "I mean no sir, no, not
like that. Their finals are going to be the death of me," he groused and
plopped down in the chair across from him.
"You're brave for sleeping with them, or I guess staying up with them while
this goes on. I'm sure my son is one of the worst ones."
"I don't ever want to see another brainstorm web ever again," Derek confessed.
John laughed quietly.
"Two more weeks and it'll be over. Unfortunately, Stiles is fond of
brainstorms."
Before Derek could complain some more, Lydia trudged into the kitchen and to
the coffee pot, which she grabbed and wearily took back upstairs.
"Did she just..."the Sheriff trailed off at Derek's pinched expression. "Good
luck with that son, I have to get to my shift."
Derek put his head on the table, which is how Erica and Isaac found him later,
passed out with his cup gripped in one hand.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!