Chapter Text
It was the first day of summer break and Scott and Stiles were excited to get back home to Beacon Hills. The first hour of the drive was filled with loud music and screaming the lyrics, the second hour talking about friends and family back home that they couldn’t wait to see. By the third hour Scott was asleep and Stiles was thinking whilst he drove. He was ready to come out and had decided that he wanted to do it at their welcome home for the summer dinner that night with his dad and Melissa. He was really worried about their reactions though. Scott he was sure would be fine with it, as he had seen thy way he had treated people in their lives that were gay for years, he hoped his dad would be fine with it. There was a time when he was in high school where he had tried dropping a hint to his dad just to see how he would react when he was curious but not entirely sure he was gay yet. He hadn’t seemed to pick up on anything and never said a word about the subject, so Stiles gave that up quick. He was most worried about Melissa. Sure she had treated him as a son his whole life, but now she was his step-mum, and maybe she wouldn’t want a gay son. Shaking his head to clear it of horrible images he tried to tell himself that it would be fine. They were his family and they would accept him no matter what. However, the rest of the trip home had him imagining a whole range of scenarios where they would reject him for his sexuality, ranging from the mild where they were angry but pretended it wasn’t real, to them being furious and kicking him out. He even pictured a few different situations where they were happy for him and accepted it immediately. There was only one situation that he didn’t imagine, and that was the one crazy situation that did play out.
There arrival back in Beacon Hills was met with a flurry of arms and bodies, as the two boys were enveloped repeatedly by both their parents. Lots of hugs and smiles later, Scott and Stiles were finally able to get a chance to grab their bags from the jeep and make their way inside. Once inside they separated from their parents, heading upstairs to their rooms to unpack their stuff and sit for a minute after a long car ride. Stiles heard Scott taking a shower whilst sitting in his room, running over a plan for how he was going to come out. He figured he would wait until they were having dinner, give them a chance to settle in and hopefully the distraction of eating would take some of the pressure off of him. Once Scott was finished in the bathroom, Stiles decided to get a shower as well, he wanted to wash the long car ride off himself. When he was done he went downstairs and found Scott watching a football game with his dad. Neither of there eyes left the television as he walked past, causing Stiles to roll his eyes, heading for the kitchen. The Kitchen was where he found Melissa, moving around seamlessly preparing dinner, the radio playing in the corner, and her hips swinging to the tune as she worked.
Stiles stood and watched her for a minute, leaning against the wall that separated the living room and the kitchen, a smile on his face as he did. The picture in front of him lost focus as he remembered a time where he stood in the exact same place watching his mother moving around the kitchen in a remarkably similar way, many years ago. A moment after gained focus of the kitchen again Melissa turned around and she started, a hand flying to her chest. Stiles couldn’t help but laugh.
“Stiles!! You scared me.” Melissa scolded him.
“Sorry.” Stiles laughed out. “Can I do anything to help?” He asked.
“Yes you can. Start cutting up those vegetables.” Melissa ordered, pointing at a pile of vegetables she had ready to cut on a chopping board.
Over the next hour Stiles helped Melissa cook dinner whilst they danced around the kitchen together. At one point they happened to look up and see Scott and Noah watching them, but that only lasted a minute as Stiles’ dad went to the fridge to get another beer, and Scott merely asked Melissa how long before dinner was ready.
“I’m about to dish it up now. Why don’t you and Noah go set the table.” Melissa responded.
“I’m watching the game, Stiles can do it.” Noah said, distractedly, eyes veering back towards the tv were the snap was being made and there was only 5 minutes left on the clock.
“He has helped make dinner, now it’s your turn to do something.”
Noah grumbled as he left the kitchen to go set the table, although they knew he wasn’t really that unhappy to help as he was smiling whilst he did it.
Together Melissa and Stiles put the food in 4 separate serving platters (Meat, veg, potatoes and bread) before following the other two into the dinning room and placed them on the table. After that there was a lot of chatter as they ate, mostly about how Melissa and Noah were doing at work, and how college was going for the boys. The Sheriff joked multiple times about what a big mistake the housing office had made by allowing the two boys to share a dorm, whilst Melissa worried over whether they were eating properly at college. As everyone got close to finishing their meal, Stiles decided it was time.
It was silent for a minute as they ate through a lull in the conversation. Putting down his own cutlery he took and deep breathe and looked up, ready to talk.
“Umm, Dad, Melissa, Scott. I’ve got something I need to tell you all.” Stiles paused for a moment, which was long enough for everyone to say something.
“Are you alright son?” Noah asked.
“Are you sick?” Melissa gasped, concerned.
“What? What haven’t you told me?” Scott almost demanded, feeling offended he didn’t already know.
“No I’m not sick, I’m fine. Just please don’t guess and just let me talk. Stiles paused for a moment again, just until they all nodded in agreement, then took another deep breath and continued. “Over the last few years I have been doing a lot of discovery in terms of working out who I am. Along that journey I have discovered a lot of things about myself, and the one big thing I have discovered and want to tell you now is that I am gay.” As he finished speaking he looked down at the table, scared of the possible reactions he may be about to receive, however none of the scenarios he had imagined on his way home today occurred. Instead Stiles looked up surprised when he heard a lot of laughter coming from his family.
“That’s a good one Stiles.” Scott said, actual tears running down his face he was laughing so hard.
“You almost had me for moment. I really thought it something serious. Nice joke.” Melissa said.
The one that hurt the most was the response from his dad. He was sure at least his own father would believe him.
“Not dressed like that.” His father responded.
Stiles could only look at them with a dumbfounded expression for a minute before he was able to speak. “What?” Was all he could get out though.
“Come on Stiles. You’re not gay.”
“I could be gay.” Stiles protested.
“Like I said Stiles, not dressed like that.”
“Dad, I’m not joking. I am gay.” Stiles tried desperately to make them believe him but seeing the looks in their eyes he realized it may just be a lost cause. They were all laughing at him, they thought he was making some big joke. It left him felling horrible, almost like he was hollow inside.
“Okay Stiles, we believe you.” His dad said, the laughter still on his face saying otherwise. Stiles decided to just let it go after that. He didn’t say anything else about it, and once they had finished dinner, he stacked the dishwasher and went to bed early, saying he was tired from the long drive as an excuse, so no one questioned him. Lying awake, Stiles didn’t get much sleep that night, he didn’t understand why it was so hard for his family to believe he was gay, but he figured he would tell them again another day and maybe then they would believe him.