Chapter Text
(illustration of Boyd as Silent Knight, by @Blanze)
Chapter 8: Alone
Stiles kept fading in and out of consciousness a couple times, hearing voices and seeing vague shapes. Which meant he was with people. Which meant he had been taken. Again. Hadn't last month's kidnapping been enough? There should be more time between kidnappings. He tried to remember what happened, but he usually passed out again before he could.
At one point, he gained enough consciousness to remember the Chimera. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. The Chimera had attacked him and that meant he must be with the Dread Doctors. Oh, a void kitsune made a wonderful little guinea pig. And if they found out he was a Spark too? This was his death sentence and it was going to be a slow, painful death through human experiments. His heart started racing as panic built up in him. He needed to get out of this.
"He's waking up. And he's panicking," someone spoke.
It didn't sound like the Dread Doctors. Their voice distorters had a specific cadence to them. This voice seemed familiar too, but it didn't activate his fight or flight reflex. Taking another deep breath, he opened his eyes and braced himself for whatever awaited him. He paused surprised.
He wasn't restrained, was the first thing he became aware of. And looming over him were two distinct figures he easily recognized. Red Phoenix, in his long, dark-red leather coat with the embossed feather patterns that were highlighted in gold. Next to him, Silver Bullet, in his gray camouflage suit and heavy boots, his thigh-holster empty. He'd put away his gun to make sure he wouldn't be mistaken for a threat by the void kitsune upon waking up.
"Where am I?" Stiles asked immediately while trying to sit up.
"Easy, little fox," Red Phoenix gently pushed him back down by the shoulder. "You're heavily injured, you lost a lot of blood and since we don't know your blood-type, we couldn't exactly help out with that. You need to stay put and rest, for now."
"You're safe," Silver Bullet added. "We took you to one of our safe houses."
Stiles blinked sluggishly and tilted his head to look down his body. There was a large bandage over his middle, but there was a spot of blood on it already. He furrowed his brows and reached a hand up, tracing his mask. The black kitsune mask was undisturbed.
Stiles turned to look from Silver Bullet to Red Phoenix. "You… saved me."
"We weren't going to let you die, vixen," Silver Bullet huffed and crossed his arms.
"You didn't unmask me," Stiles pointed out, baffled.
Red Phoenix tilted his head curiously, regarding Stiles with blazing red Alpha eyes. "We didn't. But how do you know? We could have put the mask back on after sneaking a peek."
Stiles tapped his mask. "Laced with magic wards. Nobody but me can take it off and if someone else tries, it informs me after the fact. So I know you didn't even try. Why didn't you try?"
Silver Bullet rested a hand on Stiles' thigh, rubbing circles with his thumb. "We want to know your identity, but only when you are ready and willing to share it with us, vixen."
Stiles hummed softly and settled back into the very comfortable bed. He closed his eyes and took a few moments to just breath. Red Phoenix and Silver Bullet had been hitting on him for months, trying to seduce him into their bed and into their team. He'd thought one was related to the other though, an incentive to make him join their team. But this? They'd most likely saved his life or at the very least they saved him from becoming the Dread Doctor's newest plaything.
"How bad is it?" Stiles asked exhausted.
"You stopped bleeding, but you bled profoundly when I got you out of the hospital," Silver Bullet replied. "The tear in your costume was bad enough that I could stitch you up."
"We changed your bandages an hour ago and it appears to be healing, though slowly," Red Phoenix paused. "Well, slow by werewolf standards, fast by human standards, I suppose. Which does answer one question that I had regarding your powers. You do have healing abilities."
Stiles hummed a confirmation, because there was no point in denying it now. "Yeah. Not the same as weres, but it's good enough. Thank you. For saving me and stitching me up."
"Of course," Silver Bullet murmured, his thumb still caressing Stiles' thigh.
They wanted him. He knew they wanted him. But he'd thought it was the desire for a powerful kitsune to join their team and a craving for that power reflected in sexual desire. Also, the skin-tight black suit did bring out his ass and thighs, so he understood the horny. But this? This felt like more than just a means to an end. The caress was gentle, the worry was palpable.
"How long was I out?" Stiles asked after another moment.
"Seven hours," Red Phoenix informed him.
Closing his eyes, Stiles cursed softly. "Do you have a secure line? There are people I need to tell that I'm alive before they start freaking out."
The two other vigilantes exchanged a look before Silver Bullet nodded and walked off to get a phone for Stiles. Wincing, Stiles tried to sit up again, this time, Red Phoenix helped him.
"I take it you aren't running home right away through the shadows," Red Phoenix noted curiously.
That had Stiles tense because he'd just made an assumption he shouldn't have. "My powers are focused on healing right now, I… can't… shadow-travel at the moment. I… Can I stay longer?"
They'd saved him, but there was no reason they would tolerate him here longer than necessary. They could kick him out. Should kick him out, really. He wasn't one of theirs, after all. He'd repeatedly refused their offer to join their team. Why should they take care of him? Saving him because he was bleeding out in front of them was one thing – they weren't bad guys, they tried to help people, after all. Babysitting him while he healed though?
"You are welcome to stay here as long as you need or want," Red Phoenix offered gently.
Stiles bit his lips, glad for the mask covering it up. "Thank you."
"Of course, little fox," Red Phoenix's voice was so soft as he ran a hand down Stiles' throat.
Silver Bullet returned and handed Stiles a phone. "Here. The line's secure."
Nodding thankfully, Stiles dialed the burner phone number he had memorized and waited for the call to connect. "I'm safe. Don't worry about me, tell the family not to worry. I don't know when I'll be able to get home, so can you please feed my boa while I'm gone?"
He disconnected the call and handed the phone back. His dad kept a burner phone on him at all times that all members of the True Alpha Squad had the number of – in case any of them got in trouble. His dad knew not to talk, so he wouldn't give away his voice and identity. Stiles and his dad had multiple different codes for reassurance. Bringing up Stiles' childhood pet was one of them, it meant to reassure Noah that he didn't have to worry but that it would take a while until they saw each other again. Noah also knew to destroy the burner phone after the call, just in case it got traced after all. Closing his eyes, Stiles heaved a deep sigh and settled into the bed.
/break\
Stiles had a fitful sleep, he kept waking up over and over. He was never alone though. It wasn't just Red Phoenix and Silver Bullet at his bedside. Sourwolf and La Lobita sat with him the first time he woke up, another time it were Silent Knight and Wild Cat, then Ricochet and Arsenal. Which meant the entire Hellfire Squad was keeping watch over him. At first he assumed it was to make sure he didn't do anything suspicious. This was their safe house so he could possibly be snooping and figuring their identity out through clues. The more often he woke up, the more he realized that they weren't watching him, they were watching over him.
"You hungry?" Silent Knight asked. "We made curry."
Stiles regarded the vigilante with the knightly-armor-styled suit. Dark blue metal with intricate golden patterns that matched Wild Cat's costume in color, while the patterns themselves were reflected in Wild Cat's mask, where the patterns were in Silent Knight's colors. Stiles had always thought it was a nice way to reflect a matebond that way. Their behavior gave it away anyway.
"Food. Yes. Good idea," Stiles groaned pleased, trying to sit up.
Ricochet helped him with it until Stiles could lean against the headboard of the bed. Silent Knight put a tray of food down on Stiles' lap, the bowl steaming and smelling absolutely delicious.
"We'd offer you to eat with us downstairs," Ricochet motioned at Stiles' face. "But you'd have to take your mask off for that, so… Enjoy your meal, if you need help, yell."
Stiles nodded numbly and watched them go. They left the bedroom door open, presumably so the werewolves in the squad could hear if he indeed did need help. He didn't take his mask off – it was a half-mask, covering down over his nose, but the lower half of his face was covered with the black turtleneck part of his costume. He'd wanted something he could easily pull down without showing his entire face. With his mouth free, he started eating. It tasted as good as it smelt, but he felt… alone. He could hear the laughter and conversation from downstairs.
Somehow, this meal felt like the perfect metaphor for his life, didn't it? He kept people at arm's length. He chose to be alone. When he became the Black Fox, he knew he had to do it alone. This was his redemption, for what the Nogitsune had done. Besides, his pack were already heroes. They couldn't risk the double identity, the same way Stiles did. Using his Spark as Little Red and the remands of the Nogitsune as the Black Fox. No way to trace either back to him, or to each other.
Doing this alone had always been the only option. Regardless of how often Scott pleaded with him to not go out without back-up. Since their pack was out of the question, who else was he supposed to take? He couldn't risk their pack and he had nobody else to ask.
The offer from Red Phoenix and Silver Bullet had never been something Stiles had seriously considered. Sure, they mostly did the right thing and their morals aligned with Stiles, from all he'd seen so far. But he didn't know them and he couldn't work with someone he didn't know. If he worked with someone, he needed to know he could trust them. Trusting someone with his life meant he should be able to trust them with his identity. But how could he.
Right now, sitting in their safe house where he'd been for at least twelve hours now, with the Hellfire Squad watching over him in shifts, changing his bandages and feeding him, he felt like he could trust them. They'd saved his life and they took care of him when they didn't have to.
Closing his eyes, he saw the worried faces of his pack in front of his inner eye. Scott, Allison, Lydia, Malia, Kira. All of them had at one point or another asked him not to do this alone. His dad too. Heck, his dad wished he wouldn't do the vigilante thing at all because it was too dangerous.
With his jaw squared, he got up from the bed. It was a slow process, getting downstairs. He kept an arm against the wall the entire way down, every step making him feel more certain. He couldn't do this alone anymore. He would have died or worse yesterday and he'd had too many close calls as the Black Fox, because embracing the chaos demon always had him act even more reckless than normal. It enabled him. And that recklessness led to more injuries, more danger.
Being a part of a team would be safer. It would be… It would be nice to not be alone. And he couldn't help also thinking about Red Phoenix and Silver Bullet. They were attractive, strong, ruthless. And they wanted him. Maybe that was what he needed to get over Chris and Peter. Sex with someone who wanted him and who could know at least part of his secret. He could tell them who he was, join their squad, gain support and maybe, just maybe, gain something more too.
"You didn't have to get out of the bed," Red Phoenix was at his side in an instant when he reached the downstairs. "Come, let me help you. Let's get you to the couch, little fox."
"You should have called if you need something," Silver Bullet sounded displeased with him.
"Your offer," Stiles whispered softly. "Does it still stand?"
Red Phoenix tilted his head confused while helping Stiles onto the couch. "What do you mean?"
Stiles sighed relieved when he sat down. Walking was evil with the current injury in his gut. He sank into the cushions, relaxing against the comfort. Sourwolf was to his right. When Stiles opened his eyes, he saw the attention of everyone was on him and what he could make out from their facial expressions through the masks, they seemed worried. He'd worked with them in the past, team-ups when they ran into each other and had the same target. He worked well with them.
"You asked me to join your squad in the past," Stiles clarified softly. "Does the offer still stand?"
There was silence, the vigilantes in front of him sat tense and surprised. Stiles had been dodging this offer for months now, so the surprise wasn't all that unexpected. Red Phoenix sat down on the armrest of the couch, right next to Stiles, and rested a hand on Stiles' thigh. Yeah, these two definitely wanted him. The thigh squeezes weren't very subtle. Neither was that he let them happen.
"Yes," Red Phoenix eagerly confirmed. "Yes, the offer still stands."
Stiles nodded and let his gaze wander, looking at all members individually and waiting for their confirming nod. He wasn't going to try and join the team if any of them objected to it. Silver Bullet came to stand beside Red Phoenix, his arms crossed and his eyes on Stiles.
"I have a condition to joining," Stiles continued. "To work together, to really work together, I need to trust you and I need you to trust me. You didn't have to save me, you definitely didn't have to take me to your safe house and sit at my bedside."
"Letting you die wasn't an option," Sourwolf frowned at him. "We save people."
"But you could have dumped me at a hospital," Stiles countered. "And you didn't even try to unmask me. You did things that you didn't have to do."
"And those things now make you trust us enough to give working with us a chance," Silver Bullet concluded, nodding slowly. "Okay, I get that. How do we show you that we trust you?"
"I mean, you already kind of did," Stiles looked around the living room. "You took me to one of your safe houses. You risked burning your safe house for me. And I could probably deduce at least some of your identities from clues in this room. But I don't want to, the same way you didn't want to unmask me. I want to… do that as a show of trust."
"You're willing to share your identity with us?" Red Phoenix asked, sounding intrigued.
Stiles nodded. "I think it's important, for a team. I assume all of you know each other's identities."
"We do," Silver Bullet confirmed. "But we'd understand if you need a trial period with us before you're willing to share yours with us, vixen."
That made Stiles shake his head. He folded his hands between his knees, staring down at the floor.
"I would have died one way or the other yesterday if you hadn't been there," Stiles whispered softly. "Either bled out, or worse. Captured by the Dread Doctors. You saved my life. I do trust you and I have to… I have to trust that you'll do the right thing. That you'll stay away from my civilian life and my family, but… if something does happen to me, that you'll tell them."
"Of course," Silver Bullet whispered softly, nodding.
Taking a shaky breath, Stiles offered a nod of his own. Reaching up, he traced his mask for a moment. He was going to do something that he never thought he would. Share one of his secrets with strangers. Strangers in many ways, but not in all. He knew them in the ways that mattered, he knew they were good, but merciless when needed, caring toward those they considered close.
"You may know me. I'm somewhat of a public figure," Stiles warned with a shaky laugh. "Hi. You can call me Stiles. That's not even an alias, it's more that people struggle being able to pronounce my actual first name, so people just call me Stiles."
With that, he took his mask off, inhaling deeply and bracing himself for the reaction. Only that there wasn't a reaction. Everyone was just staring at him blankly. Nobody was speaking or moving. Furrowing his brows, Stiles looked around and then settled on Red Phoenix and Silver Bullet. Red Phoenix slowly took his hand off Stiles' thigh and Silver Bullet actually took a step back. Oh. Okay, that was a bit of a blow to the ego. He didn't think of himself as ugly, but apparently he wasn't their type if he wasn't wearing a mask, huh. Well, that was fine. He didn't need the rebound sex.
/break\
Leaving the Black Fox behind in the hospital hadn't been an option. Chris had acted on pure instinct when he'd gathered the heavily injured and near unconscious vigilante up. The boy was light, somehow Chris had expected him to be heavier. He also looked so small in his arms like that, whimpering in pain. Nothing like the imposing, dangerous void kitsune he was. More like a sweet boy Chris should get to tuck into their bed and take care of.
They'd been tempted to remove the mask, of course. For months they'd tried to convince the Black Fox to join their team, were curious to see his identity. The boy who survived the possession from a Nogitsune. It wasn't a hard guess, really. Not long after the villain Nogitsune disappeared from the playing field, this new vigilante showed up, a void kitsune just like the Nogitsune. Whoever had been possessed by the Nogitsune had somehow managed to break the possession but kept the powers and was now using them for good. Was working to redeem himself for things that were done with his body against his will. It reminded Chris of Jackson, with the kanima.
Their team was about redemption, about fixing the wrongs of the past. About working through their own trauma through doing good. It seemed that all of that applied to the Black Fox too. Which only made Chris think all the more that the Black Fox would be a perfect fit for their team.
He'd also be a good fit for Chris and Peter's bedroom. The way the boy moved, the way he looked, the way he fought. Chris could admit sexual attraction to the other vigilante. He thought wanting him in their bed was unfair to the Black Fox though, because it felt like he was just the replacement for the one they couldn't have. They couldn't have Stiles, couldn't drag him into their vigilante life-style, so they tried to get a fellow vigilante into their bed.
Sexual attraction aside, for now they were going to take care of the Black Fox. They'd make sure the boy survived. The whole team took shifts watching over him, making sure he didn't get worse, making sure that someone would be there to help him if he needed it.
Kindness paid off as the Black Fox walked down into the living room and asked them to join their team. After months of trying to make him join them, they had finally shown him that they were worthy of his trust. Chris felt the eagerness grow in him and he reached out for Peter on instinct.
"You may know me. I'm somewhat of a public figure," the Black Fox warned with a shaky laugh. "Hi. You can call me Stiles. That's not even an alias, it's more that people struggle being able to pronounce my actual first name, so people just call me Stiles."
Stiles. Stiles. The intricate kitsune mask came off and the Black Fox pulled the mask from the lower half of his face down too and it really was Stiles. Their Stiles. Stiles looked up at them with his whiskey-colored eyes, batting his long lashes. Chris staggered back as realization punched into him.
The Black Fox was the survivor of the Nogitsune's possession. Stiles was the Black Fox. Stiles had been possessed by the Nogitsune. For months, tortured by that monster, used and abused by it. Stiles had suffered horribly and none of them had known. Their innocent boy, untouched by crime and the darkness off villains… That much for that.
"Holy shit, Batman," Erica squeaked and threw herself at Stiles.
"Ba… what?" Stiles asked startled and then froze. "...Erica?"
His voice was so small when he said her name, unsure. Erica leaned back and removed the metallic blue Venetian mask covering her identity and then she offered Stiles the brightest, broadest grin.
"Yep! Wild Cat," Erica grinned happily. "Actually gave myself that name because of you. Since you call me Catwoman, I thought that would be a good name."
Stiles just looked shocked and turned from one to the other as the Hale Pack unmasked themselves. Chris pulled his own mask off too, staring at their boy. Their boy who had been through even worse horrors than he could imagine. There wasn't really a reaction from Stiles yet though, he just stared at them, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Chris felt similarly.
He was overcome with a different realization that settled into his stomach like lead. "This… This is why the kidnapping affected you so much, why you felt so guilty over what happened to Allison. Because you have the powers to travel through shadows, but you couldn't, not without outing your secret to Kate and to Allison."
There was finally a reaction from Stiles. Guilt. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Chris with wet, guilty eyes. He gave the smallest nod and seemed to shrink in on himself.
"I couldn't access my powers, even if I wanted to," Stiles whispered, lowering his gaze. "The concussion had my head too woozy to do it. My body was focused on healing, much like now."
Chris stepped forward with quick steps and dropped onto his knees in front of Stiles, cupping the boy's face gently. "It wasn't your fault, baby. I told you that before, but even now, knowing this, I need you to hear me when I say that it still wasn't your fault."
For a moment, Chris got lost in those wide, bright eyes, before he realized something else. "What the Nogitsune did wasn't your fault either. But you blame yourself because you were possessed by it. She didn't just get hurt because the Nogitsune took you hostage. She got hurt because the Nogitsune used your body to hurt her. That… That doesn't make it any more your fault."
He pulled the boy into his arms, hugging him tightly and rubbing his back soothingly. This all made so much more sense now. He really had been wondering why their boy would feel so much guilt. This? It explained why Stiles would feel that way, even though it clearly wasn't his fault.
/break\
Peter had been ecstatic when the Black Fox actually asked to join their team. And if his mind jumped ahead to the point where they'd manage to lure the little fox into their bed too, that was just between Peter and his wolf. It would only be a matter of time, for sure. Once they had a certain level of trust, relied on each other on and off the field.
It would be more difficult down the road, of course. Wanting the vicious vixen didn't mean Peter would stop wanting Stiles. It'd just mean that he would have to convince his little fox that Stiles was perfection and then make him fall for Stiles too. Perhaps that was greedy of Peter, but he didn't see either of them as a replacement for the other. The Black Fox wasn't a consultation prize Peter would be getting because his husband was too stubborn to let him have Stiles. He wanted both.
And then the mask came off and the face looking at him was Stiles. Stiles was the Black Fox. Peter sat with that for a couple long moments, while Chris went to comfort Stiles about… Oh god. Stiles being the Black Fox meant he was the one who had been possessed by the Nogitsune.
For a few moments, Peter was excited and elated to realize the two he wanted were one and the same person. He could have them both, much less complicated than he feared before. The realization that this meant Stiles, innocent human Stiles, had suffered the trauma of a possession, of having his body forced into doing horrible things? Being used as a villain? It pulled the rug out from underneath him. All he could do was sit there and watch Chris hug Stiles.
"Can you… tell us how this happened, darling?" Peter asked softly. "How did you…?"
Chris had adjusted them, had sat down on the couch and pulled Stiles onto his lap so he could keep hugging and comforting their boy. Stiles, with his face buried in Chris' neck, peeked at him.
"Two years ago," Stiles started softly, while the whole pack settled in to listen. "When the Dark Druid had you kidnapped, Chris. You and Melissa and… and my dad…"
Peter tensed and rested an instinctive hand on his husband's shoulder at that. It had been the most horrifying thing to happen to Peter since the fire. Chris turned to look at him warmly.
"Allison, Scott and I performed a ritual to find you," Stiles admitted, his fingers curled into Chris' uniform. "I couldn't lose my dad. I already lost mom. I had to do something. I… We… Scott's boss, Deaton, he is a druid, he knew about this ritual and we performed it to… to find you. We wouldn't have otherwise. Nobody knew how to find you, where you were. But it… We sacrificed ourselves in your stead. And making that sacrifice, it… left my mind vulnerable. The fact that the Dark Druid had been making her sacrifices on the local Nemeton corrupted it, weakened it. The Nogitsune had been imprisoned under the Nemeton and the sacrifices the Dark Druid made weakened the wards. It escaped and it latched onto the nearest, weakened mind. It latched onto mine."
"When you say you, Scott and Allison sacrificed yourselves in our stead…" Chris trailed off terrified, pressing Stiles a little closer to himself. "Please tell me it doesn't mean…"
"We died. For a couple hours," Stiles replied, nodding. "When we came back and knew where you were, I called Parrish. He trusts me, didn't question how I knew, and the full force of the NYPD came to get you three. Freed you and… and everything was okay. You were okay."
"But you weren't," Chris whispered, voice shaky. "Oh, baby…"
He pressed a kiss to the top of Stiles' head, his eyebrows furled together in pain. Peter felt numb as he watched them. His head was swirling with all that he was feeling. This was supposed to be good news. The Black Fox joining their team. Instead, Peter felt devastated.
"Can we go back home?" Cora asked softly. "We only stayed at the safe house because of the Black Fox. Stiles knows where we live. I want a shower and my bed."
"That sounds like a wonderful plan," Peter agreed, then turned to Stiles. "You're coming with us and you're staying until you're healed up, that's non-negotiable, sweetheart."
"So you're… This doesn't change your mind? About the offer?" Stiles asked unsure.
"If anything, this makes me more determined to have you join our team, darling," Peter frowned at the boy and cupped his face. "You have been doing this job all alone for all this time? That was dangerous. You could have died last night. I will not let you go out alone again, Stiles."
"Controlling much, Creeperwolf?" Stiles raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
"I will not lose you," Peter stated seriously, eyes flashing red. "I've lost enough people. If there is anything I can do to prevent it, I will. Letting you go out, it's… No. When me and Christopher started out as vigilantes, we did it together too. Because this job is dangerous."
Big doe-eyes blinked up at him. "Well, if you bring up your dead family, it's really hard to argue with you. But I need you to not underestimate me. I've been doing this alone for two years. I know what I'm doing. I put enough villains away without backup."
"And you also kept getting hurt," Chris pointed out, cupping Stiles' face to make him look at the hunter. "That's why you asked to join our squad, isn't it? Because you know you're risking yourself and you know you would be safer with someone having your back."
Stiles pouted cutely and averted his eyes. "Yes, yes. Fi—ine."
"Great! Let's go home. And take my Stiles with us," Erica smirked at Stiles, eagerly. "Finally. One step closer to having you join our pack."
"You're still planning on stealing me from Scott," Stiles snorted softly.
"Of course," Erica huffed. "He stole Allison from us. It's only fair."
Boyd heaved a sigh and wrapped an arm around his mate, pulling her close. "It's not a trade."
"It could be," Erica claimed defensively. "It should be. We deserve a Stiles."
And didn't Peter wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment? He looked at Stiles with soft eyes.
/break\
Stiles felt so incredibly stupid. Peter was Red Phoenix. Of course was his peacocking Alpha werewolf the peacocking Alpha werewolf vigilante. And at his side, the hunter. Boyd and Erica, Wild Cat and Silent Knight. And the big grump was Sourwolf. It all felt so obvious now.
"I think I didn't want to see it," Stiles whispered, hours later, as he sat curled together between Boyd and Derek. "I mean, knowing it makes it super obvious in retrospect. But to me… to me, you were all always just… civilians. I wanted you to be civilians. To be safe and normal and happy and not in danger. I don't… I don't like that you're putting yourselves in danger."
"You shared your origin story, I suppose you deserve ours," Peter whispered softly. "The Hale Fire. Kate set it and after Christopher figured it out, he contacted us. The two of us hunted Kate down and I killed her. Or I thought I killed her. We became… friends. But killing Kate, it… I wanted more. I wanted to end threats that were too big to be left alive."
Stiles nodded his understanding. And then he leaned more into Boyd. The wolf wrapped an arm around him, patting his upper arm. Erica on Boyd's lap regarded Stiles eagerly. She really radiated happiness about having Stiles here. Stiles felt similar.
"And then the nosy puppies pushed their way into your vigilantism?" Stiles guessed. "Jackson notwithstanding. Arsenal was a vigilante even before he joined your squad."
"Learning our Alphas were vigilantes after we joined the Hale Pack was… a revelation," Boyd confirmed. "It took some, for that kind of trust to build. We didn't just join the pack and the squad. I didn't even want to, at first. But we watched the news, we saw what good Chris and Peter did."
Stiles hummed and nodded slowly. He knew how Boyd and Erica had ended up joining the Hale Pack; they met when Chris and Peter hired Boyd to bake their wedding cake and during catering, the couple had really hit it off with Cora and Isaac. They started spending more time with the pack, until they ultimately joined the pack. Stiles nuzzled a little into Boyd.
"Does Allison know?" Chris asked, looking at Stiles with worried eyes.
Stiles took some time to consider his answer. "Yeah. Her and Scott were performing the ritual with me. When the Nogitsune possessed me, they noticed. They're my pack, after all. We… I… After the possession, I was… lost. And depressed."
"And you just improvised becoming a vigilante?" Peter asked with his eyebrows raised.
Stiles pulled the string of the hoodie he was wearing – Peter's – into his mouth, chewing it absentmindedly. There was no way he could out his pack's secret. He couldn't tell them about Little Red and anything else that didn't relate to Black Fox. But if he wanted to rely on them as the Black Fox, he had to give them some truths. The necessary truths.
"I know someone who used to be a hero, he trained me. Taught me. Took me under his wing," Stiles explained. "Also helped me with the suit and everything. I didn't just figure I'd go out there and try something potentially deadly. I wasn't suicidal anymore at that point."
"Anymore," Peter echoed with a wrecked noise.
Stiles shrugged and shrank in on himself a little. "I mean, I was possessed for months. And I remember everything the Nogitsune did. He made me watch. Every person that he killed, I remember killing. I remember how he felt, how powerful he felt. I felt. I wanted it to end, at one point, I just… wanted it all to end. But my pack worked together and managed to break the possession. And I was left with the memories of what he had done, using my body. I also retained all his knowledge. His powers, fighting skills, a thousand years of history. All of that factored into creating the Black Fox. I knew I had the skills for the job."
Stiles looked over at Chris and Peter, watching the married couple with longing and confusion. He had no idea what this meant for them. He wanted them, maybe even more now that he knew they weren't defenseless civilians. But in the end, it didn't change anything. They couldn't know about Little Red, because his pack's secret wasn't his to share. So he was still lying to them.
His phone buzzed with a text and he checked with a small, tired smile. He'd texted his dad and the pack as soon as they got to the Hale House. For now, he told them that he was resting at home and needed some time alone. Lifting his head, he looked around the crowded living room, the laughing and bickering Hale Pack. It was nice not to be alone.