Fic: Discovery Channel (2/12) Part 2
Part 1
It was weird being back in New York. There was already a disconnect that this wasn’t home anymore, and he’d only been gone for two weeks. He could feel the emptiness here, and everywhere he went reminded him of Laura, and there was nothing to distract him from that. Back in Beacon Hills he’d at least had Stiles to talk non-stop and make him forget his own problems. But now he’d been left alone for the first time since finding out Laura had been killed and it wasn’t good for him.
He knew he looked like shit, and all it did was make his landlord sigh at him. He’d gotten in on Christmas day, and she’d taken one look at him and declared that he was telling the truth about a family emergency. He didn’t tell her what it was, that Laura was dead but he felt like she knew.
It wasn’t as therapeutic packing up their apartment as he had hoped, and he ended up trashing, and then untrashing, all the pictures they’d had of their family. He tried to only bring what he knew he’d need, but he found himself boxing up more stuff than he expected and shipping them off to his new apartment.
It would give him something to do if the alpha was as slow at tracking down as Derek was beginning to fear. Each day Stiles would text him in the morning telling him he was alive, and then each night he would say the same. Sometimes he even threw in another text throughout the day, but mostly it was just Derek alone in his own head. It wasn’t pleasant and he really wanted out.
He kept second guessing himself. He kept doubting himself. He wasn’t prepared to be in charge of some newly turned beta, and it would just be better for all of them if he ran up to Maine or something and hid out there.
He spent most of his time on the drive back thinking about how he could veer off road and Stiles would never be able to find him. Laura and he had dropped off the face of the planet before, they could do it again. The only thing that stopped him was that starting on Tuesday, after he had told Stiles he was coming back, he kept getting texts asking when he was getting back, and to send him pictures of different states.
The only thing Derek could do was explain he wasn’t going through Arizona, or Florida, or Alaska, are you trying to get me to kill you?
He didn’t know if Stiles was doing it on purpose, but it made the trip back easier for him. He still felt a sharp sting when he got back to Beacon Hills and opened the door to his empty apartment.
He took one look at the blank white walls, dropped his suitcase, and pulled out his phone. He was embarrassed but he couldn’t deal with this on his own. He wasn’t cut out to be solitary, no matter how much he thought he might be able. He needed a pack, and right now that pack was Stiles.
***
By Wednesday afternoon Scott had implemented a “no werewolf policy” which in retrospect was only fair because Stiles had been talking a lot about the full moon, and everything he had done, and the list of exercises Derek had given him to practice with his senses. He talked about Derek a lot too, unable to stop himself because Derek was the only other friend he really had.
He tried though, for Scott’s sake, to pull off normal.
But only on the condition that Stiles got to smell him.
Scott hadn’t understood how much it meant to Stiles when he just opened his arms and let Stiles bury his face in his shoulder. Scott smelled like clean cut grass and it matched closer to Derek than his dad, who Stiles had managed to smell by grabbing him in a strong hug when he got home.
It felt good to be able to tell where his pack was, especially since he could feel his wolf missing Derek. He could smell traces of Derek, but it wasn’t the same, and Stiles slept over Scott’s each night because he was worried that he would lose control and run off in the middle of the night looking for Derek.
Scott filled that void. They got through most of Buffy (Scott didn’t appreciate it) and then started on Stargate SG-1 (which Scott got even less) before Stiles gave in and just resorted to playing first person shooter games with Scott. It wasn’t a complete waste, and Stiles still found ways to fit in his training.
He knew he was getting better because when he got a text from Derek telling him that he was just crossing into California, Stiles swore he could smell Derek getting closer. He knew it was probably all in his head, but it was a comforting feeling. It soothed his wolf.
Derek had an apartment. That was the only thing Stiles could think as he stared at the door to apartment 4 in the quiet little complex on the other side of town. He could hear Derek on the other side of the door, and he knew Derek could hear him, what with Scott bouncing from foot to foot, but he still couldn’t bring himself to knock on the door.
“Stiles, what are you doing?” Scott whispered, and then he jumped back, arms flailing, as the door swung open.
Derek looked awful and before he could stop himself Stiles found himself hugging him. The wolf had been too close to the surface. It wanted to know how Derek was doing, he wanted to know, and Derek was awful at words and his scent wouldn’t lie. Stiles couldn’t pick out the emotions, but he got the sense of darkness, depression, and he squeezed tighter, stepping completely into Derek’s space.
Derek returned the embrace, doing his own check. Stiles had his dad and Scott to keep him sane, but Derek had been alone this past week. He couldn’t imagine being alone like that.
They broke the hug at Scott’s polite cough. He looked around, and Stiles could see why he was so edgy. There was a family down the hall, watching them. He recognized them vaguely, a girl from his English class, and he was about to wave awkwardly but Scott just pushed him into Derek’s apartment.
“Smooth,” Scott said, watching Stiles trip and catch himself, spinning to look around the empty apartment. There were a few empty boxes set up as furniture, and Stiles could only assume they had carried the books that were piled into the corner of the living room.
“Hush you.” Stiles turned to Derek and grinned. “So you actually got an apartment. I thought you were just gonna live out of your car or something.”
“I can still do that,” Derek said. “But who knows how long it’ll be until the alpha shows up.”
“Or if he even will,” Scott pointed out, looking around like he couldn’t believe he was here.
“He will,” Stiles and Derek said at the same time. Derek gave him a look and Stiles shrugged.
“I don’t know anything, and nothing has happened, but it’s just a feeling you know? Not a oh I’m being watched feeling like I got whenever you were outside my house, but just an awareness.”
Derek nodded, opening his fridge to pull out two bottles of water, tossing one to Scott. He huffed as it hit him square in the chest, and Stiles held out his hand for the second bottle. Derek cracked it and took a long drink before handing it over.
Stiles could feel the look he was getting from Scott. He gave him a look back as he took his own sip. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You banned me from talking about werewolf things.”
Scott glared. “Well explain now. First there was the hug, and now the sharing of drinks, and unless I’m crazy the shirt you’re wearing is too big for you, and I’m jumping to conclusions all over the place here.”
“You stole my shirt?” Derek asked.
“Like you didn’t notice,” Stiles snapped at him, before turning to Scott. “We’re pack,” he said as if that could explain everything. “Like I was trying to tell you on Wednesday, the connection between the wolf inside me and the human is breaking down. They look at things differently, and depending who I’m with, I listen to one or the other more often than not.”
Derek nodded his agreement as Scott shifted, looking at Stiles like he wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. “So what? You listen to your wolf when you two are together?”
Stiles shrugged. “Something like that.”
“We aren’t human friends,” Derek said, looking at Stiles for confirmation. “But we’re pack mates and that means more.”
“Exactly.” Stiles looked at Scott, trying to see if he understood.
He looked unsure, but then he opened his arms for Stiles. “If you ever need a sniff to see if I’m okay you can ask.”
Stiles stared at him while Derek just covered his laughter with his hand. Stiles flipped him off, before taking Scott up on his offer, embracing him like he had done with Derek. It was comforting, and he could smell that Scott was relaxing. He really needed to start getting to work on understanding different emotions.
Stiles broke the hug after a long moment and he could feel how wide he was grinning. “So who wants to watch a movie?”
Scott looked at him like he was crazy and then looked at the apartment. “Where?”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “I brought my laptop.”
“You aren’t watching one here,” Derek said, folding his arms over his chest.
“Yes we are. This is team bonding. I have watched enough genre tv shows to know this is super important. And Scott, you should know this, after all the Buffy you slept through.”
“No,” Derek said, eyebrows drawn together.
“Oh, stop being a spoilsport. We’ll take your input. And probably reject it because you have shitty tastes in movies no doubt.”
“I’m not arguing about this,” Derek said and Scott nodded.
“Good call. He’s ridiculous.”
“Hey!” Stiles said. “You two aren’t allowed to double team me. That’s just unfair.”
Scott laughed loudly, and Stiles grabbed Derek’s keys off of the kitchen counter. He was going to regret “team bonding” he just knew it.
The video store was practically empty when they pulled in. Stiles hadn’t even been sure if it would be opened on New Year’s Day but apparently they had nothing better to do than be open, renting out movies to the population of Beacon Hills.
Derek walked right over to the action section, Scott following him because apparently the two of them liked mindless explosions, and Stiles was sure if they were actually capable of talking to one another they would have spent the whole car ride talking about The Fast and the Furious or something. Luckily for him, even though they seemed to have a moment making fun of him, it wasn’t enough to change the fact that Scott was terrified by Derek, and that Derek didn’t consider Scott pack.
It was a work in progress.
Stiles let them pick out the movie, because he was going to do the much more important task of stocking up on all the junk food he could afford, and some he couldn’t because Scott owed him. He was getting a raised eyebrow from the guy behind the counter as he made a third pile of gummy based candies when the front door opened, and Scott left the store.
Stiles looked at Derek. “What the hell?” He asked, not raising his voice. The guy behind the counter already thought he was crazy, no need to hide it.
“He started suggesting werewolf horror films so I sent him to the car,” Derek said. Stiles could see him back in the horror section and he laughed.
“What are you laughing about?”
Stiles whipped around, staring at Danny. He flailed and tipped over one of his mountains of candy. “Uh, uh what are you doing here?”
Danny looked at the movie in his hand, Saw, and then arched his eyebrow, because that should have been obvious. “I could ask you the same. You know Scott left right?”
Stiles’ mouth opened and out came word vomit. “Scott got in trouble so he got sent back to the car.”
Danny looked amused. “He got in trouble?”
Stiles nodded. “Yeah, he was being cheeky with our uh, friend.” He turned his head to watch Derek walk up to them, holding three different movies. Danny was watching him too, clearly surprised.
“Stiles, what is this?” Derek asked, looking at the pile of candy.
“Uh, obviously a giant stash of candy.”
“You aren’t buying that,” Derek said, putting the movies down to rent them. Stiles had called it with two action movies, one being a Fast and Furious movie, and a horror film.
“Pretty sure you can’t say anything to stop me.”
“I’m leaving you,” Derek said, flashing a wicked smile at Stiles, who just rolled his eyes.
“So cute. Buy me my candy.” He shoved one pile towards the movies and grinned at the guy behind the counter. “This is with his stuff.” He turned back to Danny, who was looking at him oddly.
Actually, now that Stiles looked at him, not distracted by anything, Danny looked odd. He smelled off. He had dark circles under his eyes, he definitely wasn’t dressed his best in the giant Beacon Hills High lacrosse sweater that smelled like Jackson, and Stiles could smell ice cream and popcorn. He blinked, taking this all in too quickly and when he focused on him again, Danny was trying to smile his friendly open smile. It came out fake and hurt.
“Have fun with your boyfriend and Scott tonight, okay?” Danny said, moving around Stiles to put his movie down.
Derek had moved to the side, eyebrow arched as Stiles sputtered. “He’s not my boyfriend. Have you seen him?” He pointed to Derek. “His jawline is too good for me.”
Danny stopped paying attention to the check out guy, who let out an impatient huff. “Oh. I had thought…” he trailed off, but Stiles was still stuck on the idea of people thinking he was dating Derek.
He knew he wasn’t classically attractive, and Derek definitely was, and the rules of society dictated that non-attractive people did not date attractive people. Unless somehow getting turned into a werewolf had made him suddenly attractive.
“Wait do you find me attractive?” He blurted out before he could stop himself.
Danny’s face contorted but before he could answer Derek had grabbed Stiles by the shoulder and was leading him out of the video store. Stiles protested but didn’t fight too much, even though he knew he could. Danny was blushing faintly, and Stiles could smell something different but he couldn’t figure out what it meant. All he got out was an “I’ll see you in class!” before Derek dragged him outside.
“I really can’t take you anywhere,” Derek grumbled as they passed Jackson’s Porsche and Stiles did a double take at that, because he hadn’t seen Jackson inside, and that was because him and Lydia were sitting in the car waiting.
He was still focused on that as Derek shoved him into the passenger seat of his car and he watched Danny walk out of the store and climb into the back of Jackson’s car.
“Woah, is that Danny?” Scott asked, leaning forward. “I must have missed him in the store.”
Stiles rolled his eyes, because even if Scott never said it out loud, he knew he wasn’t the only one with a crush on Danny. Granted, everyone loved Danny. He was too nice not to love. Except apparently he was, because Stiles was pretty sure he was going through a break-up.
Stiles turned around after he put on his seat belt, which he needed because Derek peeled out of the parking lot. “Yeah. And get this, I think Danny likes me?”
Stiles eyes went comically wide. “What? You think? What makes you say that?”
Stiles ignored Derek’s long suffering sigh. “Well, see he thought Derek and I were dating, which, stupid, right? Because Derek is stupid ridiculous attractive, and while I obviously have my own special, awesome characteristics, most people don’t consider me attractive. But Danny thought I was attractive enough to date Derek, which means he must think I’m attractive!”
Scott opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “That seems a little roundabout in thinking?”
“Oh, shut up.” Stiles turned to Derek. “That’s what it seemed like, right? I am not hallucinating?”
“No.” Derek said. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel.
“What?” Stiles asked. “No it didn’t seem like that? Because I thought that’s what it seemed like.”
“No.”
“Not even a little? Come on, were you even paying attention? This is important! I’ve never had someone like me back!”
Derek let out a breath. “No. You aren’t allowed to have relationships.”
“What?”
“Stiles, you’re great at control, seriously, I’m impressed. But you just went through your first full moon. A relationship would just be bad.”
Stiles stared at him, and he could see Scott doing the same from the back. “What?”
“You will just end up hurting anyone you get involved with.” Derek’s lips were a thin line. “You’re only sixteen. You’ll get over it.”
Stiles glared, even as he was thrown forward when Derek slammed too hard on the break. “Oh no. This is not. Derek! You can’t just ban me from relationships! Do you ban yourself from relationships?”
“I’m not interested.”
“Maybe that’s your problem! Maybe if you had someone you’d calm down!” Stiles said, voice rising as he spoke.
He could see Derek gritting his teeth. When he spoke it was tense. “If you try to set me up in any relationship I will rip your throat out with my teeth.”
Stiles snorted. “You see this is why you need a relationship. You are too violent. Having someone will take off that edge.” He settled into his seat, ignoring Derek’s low growling. He thought back to Danny. He’d always liked Danny, but he’d never thought he’d have a chance. At least with Lydia he had the stereotypes to bounce off of, the popular girl going for the loser guy. But there weren’t any movies that had the loser guy getting with the friendly, likeable, popular guy.
Stiles liked trying for things he thought he had some chance of winning.
Maybe he could win this. He grinned. He would try talking to Danny in school. That was only a few days from now. Stiles had never thought that a school break would change things so much, because each year he’d keep going back to the same old routine. But now? He felt like a truly different person. He was still Stiles, but he was Stiles who had more to him than just lame jokes. He spent his afternoons running around in the woods, and chasing his best friend, and wrestling with his new friend.
It was going to be an awesome year.
Episode 3
It was weird being back in New York. There was already a disconnect that this wasn’t home anymore, and he’d only been gone for two weeks. He could feel the emptiness here, and everywhere he went reminded him of Laura, and there was nothing to distract him from that. Back in Beacon Hills he’d at least had Stiles to talk non-stop and make him forget his own problems. But now he’d been left alone for the first time since finding out Laura had been killed and it wasn’t good for him.
He knew he looked like shit, and all it did was make his landlord sigh at him. He’d gotten in on Christmas day, and she’d taken one look at him and declared that he was telling the truth about a family emergency. He didn’t tell her what it was, that Laura was dead but he felt like she knew.
It wasn’t as therapeutic packing up their apartment as he had hoped, and he ended up trashing, and then untrashing, all the pictures they’d had of their family. He tried to only bring what he knew he’d need, but he found himself boxing up more stuff than he expected and shipping them off to his new apartment.
It would give him something to do if the alpha was as slow at tracking down as Derek was beginning to fear. Each day Stiles would text him in the morning telling him he was alive, and then each night he would say the same. Sometimes he even threw in another text throughout the day, but mostly it was just Derek alone in his own head. It wasn’t pleasant and he really wanted out.
He kept second guessing himself. He kept doubting himself. He wasn’t prepared to be in charge of some newly turned beta, and it would just be better for all of them if he ran up to Maine or something and hid out there.
He spent most of his time on the drive back thinking about how he could veer off road and Stiles would never be able to find him. Laura and he had dropped off the face of the planet before, they could do it again. The only thing that stopped him was that starting on Tuesday, after he had told Stiles he was coming back, he kept getting texts asking when he was getting back, and to send him pictures of different states.
The only thing Derek could do was explain he wasn’t going through Arizona, or Florida, or Alaska, are you trying to get me to kill you?
He didn’t know if Stiles was doing it on purpose, but it made the trip back easier for him. He still felt a sharp sting when he got back to Beacon Hills and opened the door to his empty apartment.
He took one look at the blank white walls, dropped his suitcase, and pulled out his phone. He was embarrassed but he couldn’t deal with this on his own. He wasn’t cut out to be solitary, no matter how much he thought he might be able. He needed a pack, and right now that pack was Stiles.
***
By Wednesday afternoon Scott had implemented a “no werewolf policy” which in retrospect was only fair because Stiles had been talking a lot about the full moon, and everything he had done, and the list of exercises Derek had given him to practice with his senses. He talked about Derek a lot too, unable to stop himself because Derek was the only other friend he really had.
He tried though, for Scott’s sake, to pull off normal.
But only on the condition that Stiles got to smell him.
Scott hadn’t understood how much it meant to Stiles when he just opened his arms and let Stiles bury his face in his shoulder. Scott smelled like clean cut grass and it matched closer to Derek than his dad, who Stiles had managed to smell by grabbing him in a strong hug when he got home.
It felt good to be able to tell where his pack was, especially since he could feel his wolf missing Derek. He could smell traces of Derek, but it wasn’t the same, and Stiles slept over Scott’s each night because he was worried that he would lose control and run off in the middle of the night looking for Derek.
Scott filled that void. They got through most of Buffy (Scott didn’t appreciate it) and then started on Stargate SG-1 (which Scott got even less) before Stiles gave in and just resorted to playing first person shooter games with Scott. It wasn’t a complete waste, and Stiles still found ways to fit in his training.
He knew he was getting better because when he got a text from Derek telling him that he was just crossing into California, Stiles swore he could smell Derek getting closer. He knew it was probably all in his head, but it was a comforting feeling. It soothed his wolf.
Derek had an apartment. That was the only thing Stiles could think as he stared at the door to apartment 4 in the quiet little complex on the other side of town. He could hear Derek on the other side of the door, and he knew Derek could hear him, what with Scott bouncing from foot to foot, but he still couldn’t bring himself to knock on the door.
“Stiles, what are you doing?” Scott whispered, and then he jumped back, arms flailing, as the door swung open.
Derek looked awful and before he could stop himself Stiles found himself hugging him. The wolf had been too close to the surface. It wanted to know how Derek was doing, he wanted to know, and Derek was awful at words and his scent wouldn’t lie. Stiles couldn’t pick out the emotions, but he got the sense of darkness, depression, and he squeezed tighter, stepping completely into Derek’s space.
Derek returned the embrace, doing his own check. Stiles had his dad and Scott to keep him sane, but Derek had been alone this past week. He couldn’t imagine being alone like that.
They broke the hug at Scott’s polite cough. He looked around, and Stiles could see why he was so edgy. There was a family down the hall, watching them. He recognized them vaguely, a girl from his English class, and he was about to wave awkwardly but Scott just pushed him into Derek’s apartment.
“Smooth,” Scott said, watching Stiles trip and catch himself, spinning to look around the empty apartment. There were a few empty boxes set up as furniture, and Stiles could only assume they had carried the books that were piled into the corner of the living room.
“Hush you.” Stiles turned to Derek and grinned. “So you actually got an apartment. I thought you were just gonna live out of your car or something.”
“I can still do that,” Derek said. “But who knows how long it’ll be until the alpha shows up.”
“Or if he even will,” Scott pointed out, looking around like he couldn’t believe he was here.
“He will,” Stiles and Derek said at the same time. Derek gave him a look and Stiles shrugged.
“I don’t know anything, and nothing has happened, but it’s just a feeling you know? Not a oh I’m being watched feeling like I got whenever you were outside my house, but just an awareness.”
Derek nodded, opening his fridge to pull out two bottles of water, tossing one to Scott. He huffed as it hit him square in the chest, and Stiles held out his hand for the second bottle. Derek cracked it and took a long drink before handing it over.
Stiles could feel the look he was getting from Scott. He gave him a look back as he took his own sip. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You banned me from talking about werewolf things.”
Scott glared. “Well explain now. First there was the hug, and now the sharing of drinks, and unless I’m crazy the shirt you’re wearing is too big for you, and I’m jumping to conclusions all over the place here.”
“You stole my shirt?” Derek asked.
“Like you didn’t notice,” Stiles snapped at him, before turning to Scott. “We’re pack,” he said as if that could explain everything. “Like I was trying to tell you on Wednesday, the connection between the wolf inside me and the human is breaking down. They look at things differently, and depending who I’m with, I listen to one or the other more often than not.”
Derek nodded his agreement as Scott shifted, looking at Stiles like he wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. “So what? You listen to your wolf when you two are together?”
Stiles shrugged. “Something like that.”
“We aren’t human friends,” Derek said, looking at Stiles for confirmation. “But we’re pack mates and that means more.”
“Exactly.” Stiles looked at Scott, trying to see if he understood.
He looked unsure, but then he opened his arms for Stiles. “If you ever need a sniff to see if I’m okay you can ask.”
Stiles stared at him while Derek just covered his laughter with his hand. Stiles flipped him off, before taking Scott up on his offer, embracing him like he had done with Derek. It was comforting, and he could smell that Scott was relaxing. He really needed to start getting to work on understanding different emotions.
Stiles broke the hug after a long moment and he could feel how wide he was grinning. “So who wants to watch a movie?”
Scott looked at him like he was crazy and then looked at the apartment. “Where?”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “I brought my laptop.”
“You aren’t watching one here,” Derek said, folding his arms over his chest.
“Yes we are. This is team bonding. I have watched enough genre tv shows to know this is super important. And Scott, you should know this, after all the Buffy you slept through.”
“No,” Derek said, eyebrows drawn together.
“Oh, stop being a spoilsport. We’ll take your input. And probably reject it because you have shitty tastes in movies no doubt.”
“I’m not arguing about this,” Derek said and Scott nodded.
“Good call. He’s ridiculous.”
“Hey!” Stiles said. “You two aren’t allowed to double team me. That’s just unfair.”
Scott laughed loudly, and Stiles grabbed Derek’s keys off of the kitchen counter. He was going to regret “team bonding” he just knew it.
The video store was practically empty when they pulled in. Stiles hadn’t even been sure if it would be opened on New Year’s Day but apparently they had nothing better to do than be open, renting out movies to the population of Beacon Hills.
Derek walked right over to the action section, Scott following him because apparently the two of them liked mindless explosions, and Stiles was sure if they were actually capable of talking to one another they would have spent the whole car ride talking about The Fast and the Furious or something. Luckily for him, even though they seemed to have a moment making fun of him, it wasn’t enough to change the fact that Scott was terrified by Derek, and that Derek didn’t consider Scott pack.
It was a work in progress.
Stiles let them pick out the movie, because he was going to do the much more important task of stocking up on all the junk food he could afford, and some he couldn’t because Scott owed him. He was getting a raised eyebrow from the guy behind the counter as he made a third pile of gummy based candies when the front door opened, and Scott left the store.
Stiles looked at Derek. “What the hell?” He asked, not raising his voice. The guy behind the counter already thought he was crazy, no need to hide it.
“He started suggesting werewolf horror films so I sent him to the car,” Derek said. Stiles could see him back in the horror section and he laughed.
“What are you laughing about?”
Stiles whipped around, staring at Danny. He flailed and tipped over one of his mountains of candy. “Uh, uh what are you doing here?”
Danny looked at the movie in his hand, Saw, and then arched his eyebrow, because that should have been obvious. “I could ask you the same. You know Scott left right?”
Stiles’ mouth opened and out came word vomit. “Scott got in trouble so he got sent back to the car.”
Danny looked amused. “He got in trouble?”
Stiles nodded. “Yeah, he was being cheeky with our uh, friend.” He turned his head to watch Derek walk up to them, holding three different movies. Danny was watching him too, clearly surprised.
“Stiles, what is this?” Derek asked, looking at the pile of candy.
“Uh, obviously a giant stash of candy.”
“You aren’t buying that,” Derek said, putting the movies down to rent them. Stiles had called it with two action movies, one being a Fast and Furious movie, and a horror film.
“Pretty sure you can’t say anything to stop me.”
“I’m leaving you,” Derek said, flashing a wicked smile at Stiles, who just rolled his eyes.
“So cute. Buy me my candy.” He shoved one pile towards the movies and grinned at the guy behind the counter. “This is with his stuff.” He turned back to Danny, who was looking at him oddly.
Actually, now that Stiles looked at him, not distracted by anything, Danny looked odd. He smelled off. He had dark circles under his eyes, he definitely wasn’t dressed his best in the giant Beacon Hills High lacrosse sweater that smelled like Jackson, and Stiles could smell ice cream and popcorn. He blinked, taking this all in too quickly and when he focused on him again, Danny was trying to smile his friendly open smile. It came out fake and hurt.
“Have fun with your boyfriend and Scott tonight, okay?” Danny said, moving around Stiles to put his movie down.
Derek had moved to the side, eyebrow arched as Stiles sputtered. “He’s not my boyfriend. Have you seen him?” He pointed to Derek. “His jawline is too good for me.”
Danny stopped paying attention to the check out guy, who let out an impatient huff. “Oh. I had thought…” he trailed off, but Stiles was still stuck on the idea of people thinking he was dating Derek.
He knew he wasn’t classically attractive, and Derek definitely was, and the rules of society dictated that non-attractive people did not date attractive people. Unless somehow getting turned into a werewolf had made him suddenly attractive.
“Wait do you find me attractive?” He blurted out before he could stop himself.
Danny’s face contorted but before he could answer Derek had grabbed Stiles by the shoulder and was leading him out of the video store. Stiles protested but didn’t fight too much, even though he knew he could. Danny was blushing faintly, and Stiles could smell something different but he couldn’t figure out what it meant. All he got out was an “I’ll see you in class!” before Derek dragged him outside.
“I really can’t take you anywhere,” Derek grumbled as they passed Jackson’s Porsche and Stiles did a double take at that, because he hadn’t seen Jackson inside, and that was because him and Lydia were sitting in the car waiting.
He was still focused on that as Derek shoved him into the passenger seat of his car and he watched Danny walk out of the store and climb into the back of Jackson’s car.
“Woah, is that Danny?” Scott asked, leaning forward. “I must have missed him in the store.”
Stiles rolled his eyes, because even if Scott never said it out loud, he knew he wasn’t the only one with a crush on Danny. Granted, everyone loved Danny. He was too nice not to love. Except apparently he was, because Stiles was pretty sure he was going through a break-up.
Stiles turned around after he put on his seat belt, which he needed because Derek peeled out of the parking lot. “Yeah. And get this, I think Danny likes me?”
Stiles eyes went comically wide. “What? You think? What makes you say that?”
Stiles ignored Derek’s long suffering sigh. “Well, see he thought Derek and I were dating, which, stupid, right? Because Derek is stupid ridiculous attractive, and while I obviously have my own special, awesome characteristics, most people don’t consider me attractive. But Danny thought I was attractive enough to date Derek, which means he must think I’m attractive!”
Scott opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “That seems a little roundabout in thinking?”
“Oh, shut up.” Stiles turned to Derek. “That’s what it seemed like, right? I am not hallucinating?”
“No.” Derek said. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel.
“What?” Stiles asked. “No it didn’t seem like that? Because I thought that’s what it seemed like.”
“No.”
“Not even a little? Come on, were you even paying attention? This is important! I’ve never had someone like me back!”
Derek let out a breath. “No. You aren’t allowed to have relationships.”
“What?”
“Stiles, you’re great at control, seriously, I’m impressed. But you just went through your first full moon. A relationship would just be bad.”
Stiles stared at him, and he could see Scott doing the same from the back. “What?”
“You will just end up hurting anyone you get involved with.” Derek’s lips were a thin line. “You’re only sixteen. You’ll get over it.”
Stiles glared, even as he was thrown forward when Derek slammed too hard on the break. “Oh no. This is not. Derek! You can’t just ban me from relationships! Do you ban yourself from relationships?”
“I’m not interested.”
“Maybe that’s your problem! Maybe if you had someone you’d calm down!” Stiles said, voice rising as he spoke.
He could see Derek gritting his teeth. When he spoke it was tense. “If you try to set me up in any relationship I will rip your throat out with my teeth.”
Stiles snorted. “You see this is why you need a relationship. You are too violent. Having someone will take off that edge.” He settled into his seat, ignoring Derek’s low growling. He thought back to Danny. He’d always liked Danny, but he’d never thought he’d have a chance. At least with Lydia he had the stereotypes to bounce off of, the popular girl going for the loser guy. But there weren’t any movies that had the loser guy getting with the friendly, likeable, popular guy.
Stiles liked trying for things he thought he had some chance of winning.
Maybe he could win this. He grinned. He would try talking to Danny in school. That was only a few days from now. Stiles had never thought that a school break would change things so much, because each year he’d keep going back to the same old routine. But now? He felt like a truly different person. He was still Stiles, but he was Stiles who had more to him than just lame jokes. He spent his afternoons running around in the woods, and chasing his best friend, and wrestling with his new friend.
It was going to be an awesome year.
Episode 3