Chapter Text
Chris was annoyed as he slammed his car door shut, wincing slightly at the amount of force that he had allowed himself and mentally scolded himself as he looked to the apartment buildings laid out before him. With a curse and a groan he started to make his way towards the building with the code that Derek had given him to get inside of the building with strict instructions that should they find themselves in anyone elses hands that appropriate actions would be taken against him. The rest of the pack had gone up against a witch a couple of days ago who had been using rogue wolves to strike out against Derek and the rest of the pack. When everyone’s wounds hadn’t healed by the time they had dealt with the witch and her stray pack of wolves they had known that something was wrong. Derek had healed up first but had been due to the enhanced healing that he possessed from being an alpha which had been discouraging at the time. Stiles had come to him, reluctantly the teenager had let him know more than a couple of times before he had asked for his help. The satisfaction of finding out just exactly what was going on with the wolves was worth every bit of the combination of mixed herbs, the last of which he had inside of a small vial that had been turned into a small paste earlier. Chris hoped that the older beta had figured out exactly what was going on so that he wouldn’t end up being forced to deal with a sick, and likely delirious Peter Hale. Somewhere in the back of his mind Chris knew that years ago that he would have been more than willing, even eager to be part of any recovery efforts when it came to Peter Hale. What he had done to the beta had assured that the other man held no remaining trust in anyone, much less for himself. Taking in a deep sigh before he pressed in the code for the door Chris pushed down all of the old memories which were popping up and tried to focus on the here and now which was to keep Peter’s brain from boiling inside of his skull. The wolves had found that after they had used the paste that it put their body into a high fever like state, which they had found was meant to sweat out the poison which had found its way into their bodies. Which in theory wasn’t that horrible of a cure, but when you were dealing with werewolves whose bodies already ran much warmer than the average human it was something to keep an eye on when they had the strength to do some real damage in their own fever hazed states.
Approaching the lift Chris looked to the piece of paper in his hand even though he had memorized it as soon as Derek had given it to him. The piece of paper had felt as if it was burning a whole in his pocket the entire trip over to Peter’s and he had snorted at the realization that of course the oldest Hale had chosen the penthouse as his home.
—-----------------------------------------------------------
A red haze of heat surrounded Peter as he focused on tossing up whatever was left in his stomach with a pitiful whine when his stomach clenched and spasmed as it searched for anything else to throw up. Having shed the pair of sweats and the loose cotton t-shirt that he’d been wearing last night when the vomiting had started up he was now only in a pair of tight boxer briefs. Every part of his body seemed to be on fire and his senses were going haywire as he struggled to focus on anything other than the smell of sickness which was accompanied by the scent of blood which had started to leak from the bandages which were wrapped around his ribs. Having taken a gut shot to keep Stiles from losing his head he had been bleeding for the last two days. Having believed that he’d dealt with the worst when it had finally stopped bleeding was when the vomiting had started and the wounds had opened up when he’d bolted towards the restroom to keep from losing his breakfast on the floor. That had been yesterday morning before he had collapsed last night from exhaustion before being woken up by his stomach and his entire body on fire this morning.
In the back of his fever-addled mind Peter thought that he had heard a noise and allowed his claws to form as he tried to focus on anything other than the smell of sickness and blood. The floor was like ice against his skin and he realized that he was shaking as he shook his head in an attempt to find if the noise had been just a figment of his imagination. Pushing himself into the corner so that his back was up against the wall the beta tried to take a deep breath which then failed when the nausea nearly sent him dry heaving into the toilet bowl again. Blinking again he tried to focus but his vision was starting to blur and he was struggling to keep his vision from switching back and forth as the fever climbed higher and higher.
“Shit Pete, you’ve got to be kidding me,” a familiar voice struggled to make its way into his brain but it was as if the voice was underwater. Everything was blurry at this point and he was struggling now to even properly hear anything that was going on around him through the haze, which was when he felt a pair of hands come to rest on either side of his face.
“If you bite me Pete I’ll make sure that each and every one of your tires ends up slashed and that your entire wardrobe goes up in smoke,” what had started out as a groan which turned into a whine had Chris concerned at the other male’s lack of response. “Dn’t take it out on my car, I’ll end you,” relieved at the wolf’s response even if it had been slurred he took stock of just how horrible Peter was at the moment. Which was when he realized just how much blood was steadily leaking from underneath the bandages that Peter had likely used when he had been much better off. Taking in the rest of Peter’s body he swallowed hard before mentally scolding himself, now was not the time to be admiring the cut of the other man’s hips which was emphasized by how incredibly tight his boxer briefs were, practically glued to his body from all of the sweat. What stood out the most was the familiar tattoo amongst a multitude of others which had his heart beating just a little bit faster, the two letters underneath striking at his heartstrings as he tried to think about what would be his best course of action.
When a familiar stubbled jaw shoved itself against his neck, scratching against the skin of his neck whilst leaving a path of irritated red skin behind he groaned at the feeling. The heat of Peter’s body was overwhelming and he knew what he was going to have to do and he had been hoping that he could have gotten away with a good old bucket of water and some rags but he knew that wasn’t going to work in the slightest. When Peter’s tongue made contact with his neck Chris would never admit the deep groan at the familiar feeling and told himself that the other man was sick and that this wasn’t the time to be thinking with something other than with his head. Letting out a deep sigh he pulled first his shirt and then quickly unbuckled the belt around his waist before allowing the worn pair of blue jeans to fall to the floor which left him in a pair of boxers which he felt was nowhere near enough in front of the beta who was physically undressing him even further. The sad part about Peter’s focus was that he wasn’t entirely sure as to how much of the sarcastic, silver tongued beta was actually present at the moment. Hoping that he wasn’t going to come to regret what he was doing Chris leaned over and turned on the shower and allowed it to reach as close to lukewarm as it was going to get at the moment before trying to get Peter to his feet.
“Okay Pete, you’re going to have to work with me here, you’re all muscle and whilst i would generally appreciate that from afar right now it’s not doing me any favors,” a long drawn out whine struck the air which had the hunter immediately frozen as he tried to figure out what exactly the wolf’s plan was at the moment. The only thing more concerning than a werewolf in a corner was one who was consumed with a fever which made them just as unpredictable. Sudden movement chilled his blood but when Peter only moved to place his nose back against his neck before he starting lapping at the underside of his jaw, hands firm on his hips he looked skyward as he questioned what he had done to deserve this.
“Mate, smells like mate,” what had started with his tongue had now turned into a series of gentle nips at the underside of his jaw, but unlike his former arousal nothing sprung up because of Peter’s words. “Yeah Pete, mate, follow me,” the pain in his heart was still present as he managed to coax the beta into the shower with Peter’s body not yet underneath the stream of lukewarm water and Chris mentally and physically prepared himself before looking to the werewolf so that he would be able to knock him out if need be.
“Please don’t kill me Peter,” quickly Chris grabbed ahold of Peter’s hips and his fingers dug hard into his skin before he pulled him quickly underneath the spray of water, ready to protect himself just in case. The howl that the beta wolf let out as the water hit him was gutwrenching and painful and it took the reminder that this was going to help the werewolf which had him tightening his hold on the wolf before Peter shoved his head hard against his sternum. Eyes watering immediately from how Peter had accidentally struck the bottom of his chin with the top of his skull as he continued to yell out from shock. Wincing also from the pain of where a couple of claws had managed to dig into his hip and mentally groaned at how he was going to have to patch those up later.
“Is this for that time…. For that time that i got both of us so drunk only for us to end up naked in the middle of the woods that time,” Peter’s question hung in the air between uneven breaths that he managed to take as Chris’ eyes narrowed in response to his question. “Nothing will ever make up for that night, especially when i ended up covered in poision ivy across my entire backside as well my entire right leg,” the smirk he received from the beta had him on edge just before he let out a harsh laugh when Peter mentioned the sex that had followed before either of them had realized just how badly he had been affected by the poison ivy.
“Considering the fact that we were both lucky that Gerard had been out of town at the time and that my mother Allison was more than willing to turn a blind eye when she knew fully well as to what happened and the tanning to my hide which happened afterwards you still owe me a few apologies,” the smile on Peter’s face lasted for only a moment or two before he seemed to remember that both of them were standing underneath a steady stream of lukewarm water, destroying the bandages that he had used he grimaced at the aching pain from his side.
“How is your fever,” knowing that he wouldn’t be able to properly tell if it had gone down enough for him to get a good look at the wounds Peter had sustained he hoped that the wolf would at least tell him the truth. Waiting another moment to take stock of his condition Peter finally nodded and Chris got out of the tub before helping him to prevent any more unnecessary injuries.
“I’m guessing that you didn’t know about that important fact which is that the antidote ends up causing the recipient’s body heat to rise in an attempt to cleanse itself of the said infection,” the look Chris received had him smirking at how he had managed to get such a harsh look from the other man. As Chris looked at Peter he tried to focus hard on the wolf’s wounds rather than how his entire body was still covered in water which was clinging to his body like a second skin, not to mention the boxer shorts which were redundant at this point. “Are you going to need me to stitch up your wounds or is your healing going to kick in despite how much its been slowed down by you coming back to life,” Peter considered his options briefly before he motioned for the hunter to follow him towards what turned out to be the bedroom which confused Chris for a moment until he felt a hoodie hit him in the face which he grabbed before sending a glare Peter’s way.
“If you’re going to stitch me up then I’d prefer your hands not to be constantly shaking,” Peter’s grin was full of teeth as he grabbed a dark red hoodie which he lay atop the bed, whose letters had been worn away by time before stripping down right in front of him before he pulled a pair of navy blue sweats up over his hips. At the look from Chris a pair of shocking blue eyes rolled before they looked away to grab an identical pair for Chris. “Don’t act as if its nothing that you haven’t seen before Christophter,” the usual level of snark was absent from his voice and it brought the hunter back to simpler days. When both of them had been in highschool and they had been avoiding both of their families. Peter who had been avoiding Talia and the rest of his family who had little to say or to do with him, Chris who had avoided Gerard and his sadistic tendencies. Peter motioned towards the bathroom before the two of them re-entered the bathroom, Chris letting out a deep sigh as he watched the beta reach for a towel before he let out a low curse.
“You bloody idiot let me do it, I’m not the one in need of stitches to keep from bleeding everywhere,” exhaustion had started to hit Peter, the aftereffects of being under the influence of a fever finally starting to hit. Sitting atop the toilet he watched Chris finish wiping up the rest of the remaining water which had spilled out onto the floor before he opened the cabinets to locate a needle and thread for Peter. The sight of the med kit had him thinking back, the kit organized the same exact way that each and every one of his kits looked, and how they had looked for well over a decade. Deciding to remain silent at this fact he walked over to Peter before he started to knit the wolf’s skin back together.
“I noticed that you still have your tattoo,” Peter’s voice was dry as he spoke, his eyes focused hard on Chris who was trying his best to keep from looking into those familiar blue eyes. “So did you,” the hunter was proud of himself as his hands kept from shaking at his words which were more dangerous than the witch had been. “Werewolves can’t exactly get their tattoos removed,” the words stung more than Chris thought they would but looking up he realized that Peter hadn’t been trying to hurt him with his statement. “I never saw the need to get it removed, despite what happened and how i messed it up I don’t regret everything else,” tying off the string before cutting the excess off Chris placed everything back inside of the box before looking to Peter who was pulling the red hoodie from before, when he realized exactly where it had come from. Reaching out without thinking which had Peter’s eyes widening in surprise Chris pulled the front of the hoodie taught so he could get a good look at the remaining words, or rather more what had formerly been there.
“How do you still have this, i would have thought that you would have either thrown it away or lost it,” a fond look appeared on the beta’s face as his fingers started to play with one of its frayed cuffs. “Derek was wearing it the day of the fire, he had stolen it from me that day, when i came back it was the only thing i wanted to wear for weeks, it was the only thing that hadn’t changed after i woke up,” Peter’s voice was wistful and Chris couldn’t help but to wish things were just as simple as they had been back then.