Fic: Truth has endurance || R || Stiles/Derek
Author: marishna
Title: Truth has endurance
Rating: R
Pairing/s: Derek/Stiles
Character/s: Derek, Stiles, Scott, Malia, Liam, OMCs
Summary: He thought he'd gotten over that. Thought he and Derek were basically friends. Thought he could handle this.
Warnings:None
Content Notes: 5+1 fic, crushes & mutual pining, pack business, willful obliviousness
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count: 4141
Prompt: 222 - lie
Stiles figured the most important part of being in a werewolf pack was to stay alive. In his experience it became his number one priority. But once things in Beacon Hills finally were under control Deaton dropped a bombshell.
“You should be interacting with other packs and groups of supernatural beings to form alliances,” he mentioned casually one afternoon that Stiles was visiting Scott at work during a weekend trip home from college.
“Don't know you remember this, Deaton but we haven't exactly had the best luck with the other things that go bump in the night,” Stiles replied sarcastically.
“Which is why you should be seeking out the ones who will treat you as equals. Just as you wish to live a quiet life here in Beacon Hills, so do a lot of other people in their communities. And if something should arise again to cause issues you can call on them for assistance,” Deaton explained patiently.
Scott nodded, Stiles sighed and a couple weeks later Derek picked him up from his dorm at college so they could travel a couple hours away to meet up with a group of naguals. Scott sent Derek because he had the most insight into forming alliances with supernatural groups and Stiles because he had the healthiest level of skepticism and pragmatism out of the pack.
On the drive Stiles felt his anxiety level creep up on him as he imagined everything that could go wrong. Sensing the tension Derek reached out and rested his hand on the edge of Stiles’ seat, touching his leg lightly. Stiles focused on the connection and it helped ground him back in the moment and he calmed down.
The meeting went great. The head of the naguals greeted them warmly and told stories about what he knew of Derek's mother. They'd never met but her reputation as a steady-handed leader and respected alpha preceded her. By the end of the evening Stiles was disappointed that they had to leave because he was learning so much to take back to Scott.
“The nearest place to stay the night is at least a half hour drive, we have a spare room. Please, stay,” Slade, the naguals leader, insisted.
Stiles stopped himself from immediately accepting and deferred to Derek in case it wasn't on the level. Derek, more relaxed than Stiles expected him to be, nodded and accepted graciously.
It went until later, once everyone else in the small house was sleeping that Slade showed them to their room and bid them goodnight. And then Stiles saw the problem.
“There's only one bed,” Stiles obviously pointed out.
“And?” Derek replied, putting his overnight bag on the floor and pulling his Henley over his head.
Stiles couldn't help but watch and stare at Derek’s body. He wasn't as built as he was when he was the alpha but that didn't matter to Stiles. All his casual joking-turned-serious questioning about his sexuality in high school came to a head (ha!) in college and he realized he was 100% bisexual and that he absolutely had a crush on Derek in high school.
He thought he'd gotten over that. Thought he and Derek were basically friends. Thought he could handle this.
“Stiles?”
Stiles shook himself out of his daze brought on by the sight of Derek's abs and stammered, “Sorry, yeah. Tired. Uh, what?”
“Are you okay?” Derek asked, taking a step toward Stiles.
Stiles jumped and moved to the bed, waving his hand at it. “Fine! Just wondering how we're going to deal with this.”
Derek gave him an odd look. “We sleep in it.”
“Together?” Stiles nearly squeaked. “It's a double, at best.”
“I can handle it if you can. I'm not sleeping on the floor,” Derek told him.
“Right, okay. No, it's fine! I'm just gonna…” Stiles looked around the basic guest room and noticed N en suite bathroom. “Take a shower!”
He grabbed his bag and shut himself in the tiny bathroom quickly before Derek could say anything more. Once inside he let out a shaky breath as quietly as possible, mindful that Derek had preternatural hearing. He quickly turned on the shower to let it warm up and then stared himself down in the mirror.
“It's fine, you're fine,” he mouthed to himself. “It's Derek. Derek.”
Derek whose life he saved more than once. Derek who barfed up gross black stuff in front of himself Derek who he's ripped on many times in the past for various shortcomings.
But he was also Derek with the abs. Derek with the adorable bunny-teeth smile. Derek who he totally had a crush on in high school. Derek who was actually a really nice guy when he wasn't dealing with family trauma and alpha packs without understanding his own alpha power.
Stiles truly had seen him at his worst and his best so far. He wanted to be there for what amazing thing would come next.
“Maybe it'll be me…” he whispered, then looked himself in the eye with surprise.
Shaking his head he got undressed and stepped into the shower, now hot and steamy. He gasped at the temperature and forced himself to bear it until it evened out.
It didn't matter what was or what could be, stiles had to deal with the matter at hand and he absolutely could not get into that bed as the jittery mess he was. He didn't want to put Derek on the spot or out himself that he still had the hots for Derek as bad as he did in high school, if not worse.
Instead he used some shampoo and wrapped his hand around his half-hard cock, easily stroking himself to fullness. He had to bite his lip to stay quiet and hoped the shampoo and body wash he was going to use to wash after would cover the smell of anything else.
It took a little longer than he liked to come, cowed by the pressure he felt, but once he did he felt loose-limbed and slightly more clear headed. Maybe he was just worked up from the mission they were on or something. He was overreacting, right?
He finished his shower, noting that the water was starting to run a little cool, and quickly dried off and put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in. He left his towels to dry over the curtain rod and stepped out of the bathroom with a puff of steam billowing out after him.
“Any water left?” Derek asked wryly.
Stiles looked up and saw Derek sitting up in the bed to one side, shirtless with the blankets turned down at his waist while he held a book in one hand. He'd turned off the overhead light but the soft glow from the bedside lamps made him look warm and inviting.
“Uh, some,” Stiles mumbled back and hurriedly shoved some things in his bag and grabbed his phone before turning to the bed.
Derek flipped down his side of the blankets silently so Stiles put on a grim expression and climbed in. It was a tight squeeze since they were both fairly broad in the shoulders so Stiles immediately slid down and turned sideways with his back to Derek.
Derek put his book down and turned out the light, then mirrored Stiles position. Stiles could feel Derek's breath on the back of his neck in soft puffs. Stiles screwed his eyes closed and took a couple deep breaths to force himself to relax.
“You okay?” Derek asked softly.
“Just tired,” Stiles lied, even though his heart was pounding and his whole body was tense. Stiles felt Derek's hand carefully reach out and rest on the mattress at the small of his back, finger barely touching him, like he did in the car on the way there.
Stiles didn't say anything but he also didn't pull away. And it helped, however that worked, and he was able to drift off to sleep without any further freakouts.
***
“If you ever want the room to yourself for the weekend just let me know and I’ll hit the road, man,”
Stiles looked up at his roommate, Andre, as he packed his backpack for the day’s classes, confused. “What?”
“I figure it must suck having to go home all the time to see your boyfriend, so if you want to have him here just let me know,” Andre said earnestly.
Stiles, who admittedly was running on way less sleep than he liked and way too much coffee, felt like he was missing the thread of the conversation. “What are you talking about? I’m not dating anyone, you know that.”
“Stiles, buddy. You don’t have to hide him from me. I saw that guy in the silver SUV drop you off this morning,” Andre explained and suddenly Stiles understood. “That was Derek, right? I knew something was up when you were saying some dude’s name in your sleep but now it all makes sense.”
Stiles sputtered as he turned on his heel to face his roommate. “Okay, let’s get this out there. Derek and I are not dating, we just had some stuff to do for a friend so he picked me up and dropped me off. And besides,” he continued easily, low-key excited that he could lie without a supernatural lie detector sounding off. “I’ve never had a sex dream about Derek.”
Andre nodded and Stiles turned back to packing his bag, pleased with how he handled the situation.
“Okay, cool. Gotta run but we’ll grab dinner later, yeah?” Andre said as he left their dorm room. Before the door closed behind him he stuck his head back into the room. “Oh, and Stiles? I never said you were having sex dreams about Derek.”
The door shut automatically behind Andre when he ducked back out, leaving Stiles to stare disbelievingly at his school books.
***
It was weird between them.
A few weeks after their visit to the naguals Stiles was back in Beacon Hills again to help the pack research and deal with a nest of small supernatural pests along the edges of the preserve. It was after 2am on Saturday morning and Stiles had barely looked up from the stack of books Deaton lent to them to study.
Usually Stiles would be up and down from the table a dozen times to grab drinks and snacks or his phone or to dance around the room to a secret song in his head or merely to annoy the shit out of Derek as he pretended to focus on the work.
It was difficult to concentrate when Stiles was around, but clearly not just because he could be so annoying.
That Stiles was being so quiet and distant bothered Derek and he had a sinking suspicion it had to do with the night they stayed with the naguals and shared a bed. He didn’t take Stiles as someone who would staff embarrassed after jerking off in the shower but that was the only thing he could think of that would have set Stiles off.
“What’s wrong?” he finally asked from where he sat across the table from Stiles, who looked up with a weird look in his face.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re being weird,” Derek told him.
Stiles arched an eyebrow. “‘Weird’? That’s the best you can do?”
Derek frowned. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
Stiles started to shake his head but then he saw Derek’s pointed look at him and sighed. “It’s not you, okay? My roommate was being stupid this week and I’m behind on a paper that’s due next week and I haven’t slept much this week,” Stiles explained. Derek thought for a second; something wasn’t right.
“What did your roommate do?” Derek asked casually, looking down at a text that was written in old Latin.
Stiles hesitated for a long moment before saying casually, “He told me I could kick him out for the weekend when my boyfriend comes to visit so I don’t have to leave to see him.”
Derek blinked at the word ‘boyfriend’. “Oh, I didn’t l know you were seeing anyone.”
Stiles snorted lightly. “I’m not. He thought it was you because he saw you drop me off on Monday.”
When Derek didn’t reply Stiles glanced up at him so Derek nodded jerkily. “Oh.”
Stiles’ face stayed neutral but Derek could see the corners of his mouth turn down before he forced a grin. “He’s crazy, right? You and me together? Ha!”
Stiles looked back at the text he was examining, looking even closer and more intently despite not understanding the bulk of the language.
There wasn’t an obvious lie in what Stiles said but Derek could see he was uncomfortable and not telling the full truth. Instead of calling him out on it Derek hummed his vague agreement and copied Stiles’ pose and buried himself in the book in front of him.
Stiles’ words repeated over and over in Derek’s head as the foreign words swarmed in front of his eyes. Needless to say the information they sought wasn’t found that night.
***
Sometimes Stiles felt like such an asshole when he took Scott for granted.
He was at the tail end of a massive rant about Derek and his stupid eyebrows and fucking perfectly manicured beard when he really looked at Scott and realized he was laughing lightly at him.
Stiles paused, mid-sentence, with his hands in the air. “Am I amusing to you?”
Scott nodded. “You have no idea,” he laughed.
“Hey, I have valid concerns here!” Stiles insisted but Scott laughed harder. “What’s so damn funny?”
“I know I can be oblivious sometimes but are you seriously being this blind right now?” Scott asked incredulously.
Stiles shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Lie!” Scott exclaimed.
Stiles took a deep breath and ducked his head down for a long minute as he tried to explain why he couldn’t come right out and admit that he was torn up over what he grudgingly admitted to himself were feelings for Derek. He didn’t need someone else with that information in their head, though. “Scott, I need this right now, okay?” His voice came out thinner than he liked and he had to swallow to fight back the urge to give in and let his emotions go full-bore.
Scott sighed lightly but he nodded and didn’t bring Derek up again for the rest of the night, not that it made much difference. It felt like he was in Stiles’ damn blood.
***
“Sheriff,” Derek greeted John as he opened the loft door. “What can I help you with? Got some new cases for me to look over?”
John stepped inside but his hands were obviously empty and he was dressed in civilian clothes. “Uh, no. I was around and thought I’d…” John trailed off when he saw Derek raise an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I didn’t think that was going to work. Stiles here?”
Derek gave John a startled look and immediately his brain jumped to the worst possible scenarios. “Is he missing? Does Scott know? Sometimes he’ll answer Skype if he trying to study and he’s ignoring his texts, I can call him up,” Derek offered.
John watched Derek with an unreadable expression, nodding as Derek talked. Derek took that as a sign to grab his computer and turned to get it but John reached out and held him back lightly. “Sorry, Derek, no. I mean, Stiles isn’t missing and he’s at school. At least, not as far as I know. But if he was going to be anywhere but there I figured he’d be here.”
Derek shook his head and tried to make sense of what the Sheriff was saying. “You know he’s not here but you asked if he was anyway? John--”
“Derek, I’m in law enforcement. And I have eyes,” John cut him off in an obvious tone but Derek stubbornly refused to see what he was getting at. “Kid, come on. I like you, I do. But if you jerk him around I’ll come after you with wolfsbane bullets.”
“Stiles has already said what he thinks about the idea of us getting together,” Derek told John stiffly. “He’s not here and we’re not together so that should put any of your fears to rest, Sheriff.”
John frowned at Derek but he didn’t try to argue. He nodded sadly and said he had a couple new cases at the station the next time Derek was by. Derek could tell he wanted to say more but he wisely left.
Unfortunately not soon enough that Derek’s afternoon was spent replaying Stiles’ story about his roommate thinking they were dating.
“He’s crazy, right? You and me together? Ha!”
Over and over until Derek stripped naked, shifted fully, and spent the entire night running the preserve until he collapsed in a heap on the forest floor in exhaustion.
***
“‘Pukwudgies? That sounds cute’,” Stiles hissed at Liam while they hit behind a boulder in the forest and watched for something to attack them.
“It did,” Liam insisted around his fangs, words coming out a little slurred.
A call from Slade from the naguals set Stiles flying out of his dorm to the Jeep, hurriedly making up a crap excuse to Andre about needing to return home. On the off chance Slade ever saw the kind of nest in the Beacon Hills preserve he’d texted some pictures from Scott off to him. The research in the books at Derek’s turned up squat so Stiles figured whatever was in the preserve had to have different origins and thusly weren’t covered by any of their texts that mostly came from Derek’s meagre collection and Deaton.
He’d answered Slade’s call with a smile and cheery greeting but quickly his face fell and he sprang into action, leaving without even packing a bag. He called Scott immediately, then Derek.
Neither answered.
The two hour drive back to Beacon Hills was the most nerve-wracking one he’d ever made. He sailed into town doing almost twenty over the speed limit and sailed through more than one stop sign as he worked his way through town to the other side where Derek’s old house once stood and the nests were closest to.
Malia and Liam met him at the old Hale property, the only two pack members he was able to easily get in touch with. Scott was probably at community college and Derek… Stiles had no idea where Derek was or why he hadn’t yet called Stiles back. The longest it ever took him to respond to a message or call was usually overnight.
“Did you get ahold of anyone else?” Stiles asked as he flung himself out of the Jeep.
Liam shifted uneasily on his feet. “Deaton said he’d watch for Scott when he gets to the clinic for his shift after school and, um. Derek--”
“What about Derek?” Stiles barked.
“He went in,” Malia said bluntly, gesturing to the woods. “Told us to wait five minutes for him.”
Stiles took off running towards the woods, catching the weres off guard so they had to scramble to keep up. He could hear them calling for him to stop and come back but Stiles couldn’t leave Derek in there alone.
Fifteen minutes later they couldn’t find Derek and they were hiding from the pukwudgies, small humanoid creatures who could wield magic, liked fire and arrows, and luring people to their deaths. Scott was on his way but there was no way he’d be able to get from Beacon County College in time.
Stiles had no idea how to deal with a whole group of the creatures, not with only Liam and Malia as backup. He didn’t get a sense that the pukwudgies would be easily distracted by a running commentary or the challenge of solving a riddle like the fucking sphinx and he was starting to walk the edge of a full-blown anxiety attack over Derek.
Out of the corner of his eye Malia was scenting the air so Stiles breathed in and caught the smell of fire. The three of them looked at each other with wide-eyed terror for a second, then ran out from their hiding spot to tear across the forest.
“Which way?” Stiles yelled at Malia who was in the lead.
“Near the rock face!” she called back. Stiles waved Malia and Liam on ahead of him so they had a better chance of finding Derek without waiting for him.
It was a couple minutes later that he burst out of the treeline to a small clearing over a sheer drop into the heart of the preserve. The pukwudgies started a fire that was raging and moving swiftly and could potentially threaten the entire preserve. But all Stiles saw was Derek with four--no, five arrows sticking out of him from shoulder to knee and being forced to move back to the edge of the rock face.
Liam and Malia were facing off against their own individual groups of pukwudgies and Malia already had two arrows of her own sticking out of an arm and leg.
He looked up across the area between them and caught Stiles’ eye for a split second before he stumbled back and fell over the side. Stiles cried out and tried to rush forward but he was knocked back on his feet as four or five … panthers and coyotes raced past him. Stiles sat back, dumbfounded, and watched as they ripped into the pukwudgies without hesitation and decimated most of them within a minute.
Stiles dodged some bits of creature that were torn to bits and flung into the air as he crouched and ran across the clearing to the edge. He dropped to his belly and looked over, bracing himself for the worst.
“Derek!” Stiles yelled when he saw him clinging to the rocks with his claws. It looked like one of the arrows in his side was catching on the rocks and keeping him from making quick progress and Stiles could tell the rocks weren’t going to hold on forever. He reached his hand over the side as far as he could stretch it. “Grab my hand!”
“I got this,” Derek gritted out but Stiles could see his body shaking.
“Derek, come on!” Stiles cried. “Don’t be a fucking asshole!”
“So sweet,” Derek grunted.
“It’s how I react when people I care about are being fucking idiots!” Stiles snapped and lunged further over the edge. “Take my goddamn hand!”
Derek’s eyes snapped up to meet Stiles’ as he registered what he said. Stiles nodded desperately to encourage him and it seemed to work. Derek quickly let go of the rock face with one hand and heaved himself up as best he could to barely grab Stiles’.
“C’mon c’mon,” Stiles chanted as he tried to tighten his grip on Derek’s hand. They were too far apart though, and Stiles’ hand was sweaty and a little slippery. Derek’s claws were still extended and they clipped at Stiles’ skin but Stiles grit his teeth to get through it,
He was on the verge of letting out a sob when he felt Derek’s hand start to slip out of his and Derek’s expression seemed to soften a little into something akin to acceptance, much to Stiles’ horror. He opened his mouth to tell him to fight, just hold on, but instead a gasp came out as strong hands gripped his shirt and the waistband of his jeans.
“Grab him!” Scott yelled as he lowered Stiles enough to get a better grip on Derek. Then Scott helped pull Stiles’ back, then grabbed onto Derek to heave him up, too.
They all collapsed on the ground, panting and dripping sweat with seizing muscles. It didn’t matter to Stiles though, and he rolled to sit up and grabbed at Derek, pulling his head and shoulders into his lap while he clutched at him awkwardly. Derek seemed to have the same idea and held Stiles’ face between both his palms and kissed him upside down from his prone position.
It only lasted a second before Stiles pulled back and said, “You’re a fucking asshole and you’re going to hear all the reasons why.”
“Fine, later,” Derek agreed quickly with a nod and then they were kissing again and touching each other everywhere they could reach.
Later Scott told Stiles that the creatures that came to their aid were Slade’s cousin and his nagual family, tipped off about the pukwudgies after Stiles called Slade to ask about them.
“Is it always this dramatic in Beacon Hills?” Slade’s cousin Elias asked.
Malia rolled her eyes and Liam snickered but Scott just smiled tiredly. “You have no idea.”
Title: Truth has endurance
Rating: R
Pairing/s: Derek/Stiles
Character/s: Derek, Stiles, Scott, Malia, Liam, OMCs
Summary: He thought he'd gotten over that. Thought he and Derek were basically friends. Thought he could handle this.
Warnings:None
Content Notes: 5+1 fic, crushes & mutual pining, pack business, willful obliviousness
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count: 4141
Prompt: 222 - lie
Stiles figured the most important part of being in a werewolf pack was to stay alive. In his experience it became his number one priority. But once things in Beacon Hills finally were under control Deaton dropped a bombshell.
“You should be interacting with other packs and groups of supernatural beings to form alliances,” he mentioned casually one afternoon that Stiles was visiting Scott at work during a weekend trip home from college.
“Don't know you remember this, Deaton but we haven't exactly had the best luck with the other things that go bump in the night,” Stiles replied sarcastically.
“Which is why you should be seeking out the ones who will treat you as equals. Just as you wish to live a quiet life here in Beacon Hills, so do a lot of other people in their communities. And if something should arise again to cause issues you can call on them for assistance,” Deaton explained patiently.
Scott nodded, Stiles sighed and a couple weeks later Derek picked him up from his dorm at college so they could travel a couple hours away to meet up with a group of naguals. Scott sent Derek because he had the most insight into forming alliances with supernatural groups and Stiles because he had the healthiest level of skepticism and pragmatism out of the pack.
On the drive Stiles felt his anxiety level creep up on him as he imagined everything that could go wrong. Sensing the tension Derek reached out and rested his hand on the edge of Stiles’ seat, touching his leg lightly. Stiles focused on the connection and it helped ground him back in the moment and he calmed down.
The meeting went great. The head of the naguals greeted them warmly and told stories about what he knew of Derek's mother. They'd never met but her reputation as a steady-handed leader and respected alpha preceded her. By the end of the evening Stiles was disappointed that they had to leave because he was learning so much to take back to Scott.
“The nearest place to stay the night is at least a half hour drive, we have a spare room. Please, stay,” Slade, the naguals leader, insisted.
Stiles stopped himself from immediately accepting and deferred to Derek in case it wasn't on the level. Derek, more relaxed than Stiles expected him to be, nodded and accepted graciously.
It went until later, once everyone else in the small house was sleeping that Slade showed them to their room and bid them goodnight. And then Stiles saw the problem.
“There's only one bed,” Stiles obviously pointed out.
“And?” Derek replied, putting his overnight bag on the floor and pulling his Henley over his head.
Stiles couldn't help but watch and stare at Derek’s body. He wasn't as built as he was when he was the alpha but that didn't matter to Stiles. All his casual joking-turned-serious questioning about his sexuality in high school came to a head (ha!) in college and he realized he was 100% bisexual and that he absolutely had a crush on Derek in high school.
He thought he'd gotten over that. Thought he and Derek were basically friends. Thought he could handle this.
“Stiles?”
Stiles shook himself out of his daze brought on by the sight of Derek's abs and stammered, “Sorry, yeah. Tired. Uh, what?”
“Are you okay?” Derek asked, taking a step toward Stiles.
Stiles jumped and moved to the bed, waving his hand at it. “Fine! Just wondering how we're going to deal with this.”
Derek gave him an odd look. “We sleep in it.”
“Together?” Stiles nearly squeaked. “It's a double, at best.”
“I can handle it if you can. I'm not sleeping on the floor,” Derek told him.
“Right, okay. No, it's fine! I'm just gonna…” Stiles looked around the basic guest room and noticed N en suite bathroom. “Take a shower!”
He grabbed his bag and shut himself in the tiny bathroom quickly before Derek could say anything more. Once inside he let out a shaky breath as quietly as possible, mindful that Derek had preternatural hearing. He quickly turned on the shower to let it warm up and then stared himself down in the mirror.
“It's fine, you're fine,” he mouthed to himself. “It's Derek. Derek.”
Derek whose life he saved more than once. Derek who barfed up gross black stuff in front of himself Derek who he's ripped on many times in the past for various shortcomings.
But he was also Derek with the abs. Derek with the adorable bunny-teeth smile. Derek who he totally had a crush on in high school. Derek who was actually a really nice guy when he wasn't dealing with family trauma and alpha packs without understanding his own alpha power.
Stiles truly had seen him at his worst and his best so far. He wanted to be there for what amazing thing would come next.
“Maybe it'll be me…” he whispered, then looked himself in the eye with surprise.
Shaking his head he got undressed and stepped into the shower, now hot and steamy. He gasped at the temperature and forced himself to bear it until it evened out.
It didn't matter what was or what could be, stiles had to deal with the matter at hand and he absolutely could not get into that bed as the jittery mess he was. He didn't want to put Derek on the spot or out himself that he still had the hots for Derek as bad as he did in high school, if not worse.
Instead he used some shampoo and wrapped his hand around his half-hard cock, easily stroking himself to fullness. He had to bite his lip to stay quiet and hoped the shampoo and body wash he was going to use to wash after would cover the smell of anything else.
It took a little longer than he liked to come, cowed by the pressure he felt, but once he did he felt loose-limbed and slightly more clear headed. Maybe he was just worked up from the mission they were on or something. He was overreacting, right?
He finished his shower, noting that the water was starting to run a little cool, and quickly dried off and put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in. He left his towels to dry over the curtain rod and stepped out of the bathroom with a puff of steam billowing out after him.
“Any water left?” Derek asked wryly.
Stiles looked up and saw Derek sitting up in the bed to one side, shirtless with the blankets turned down at his waist while he held a book in one hand. He'd turned off the overhead light but the soft glow from the bedside lamps made him look warm and inviting.
“Uh, some,” Stiles mumbled back and hurriedly shoved some things in his bag and grabbed his phone before turning to the bed.
Derek flipped down his side of the blankets silently so Stiles put on a grim expression and climbed in. It was a tight squeeze since they were both fairly broad in the shoulders so Stiles immediately slid down and turned sideways with his back to Derek.
Derek put his book down and turned out the light, then mirrored Stiles position. Stiles could feel Derek's breath on the back of his neck in soft puffs. Stiles screwed his eyes closed and took a couple deep breaths to force himself to relax.
“You okay?” Derek asked softly.
“Just tired,” Stiles lied, even though his heart was pounding and his whole body was tense. Stiles felt Derek's hand carefully reach out and rest on the mattress at the small of his back, finger barely touching him, like he did in the car on the way there.
Stiles didn't say anything but he also didn't pull away. And it helped, however that worked, and he was able to drift off to sleep without any further freakouts.
***
“If you ever want the room to yourself for the weekend just let me know and I’ll hit the road, man,”
Stiles looked up at his roommate, Andre, as he packed his backpack for the day’s classes, confused. “What?”
“I figure it must suck having to go home all the time to see your boyfriend, so if you want to have him here just let me know,” Andre said earnestly.
Stiles, who admittedly was running on way less sleep than he liked and way too much coffee, felt like he was missing the thread of the conversation. “What are you talking about? I’m not dating anyone, you know that.”
“Stiles, buddy. You don’t have to hide him from me. I saw that guy in the silver SUV drop you off this morning,” Andre explained and suddenly Stiles understood. “That was Derek, right? I knew something was up when you were saying some dude’s name in your sleep but now it all makes sense.”
Stiles sputtered as he turned on his heel to face his roommate. “Okay, let’s get this out there. Derek and I are not dating, we just had some stuff to do for a friend so he picked me up and dropped me off. And besides,” he continued easily, low-key excited that he could lie without a supernatural lie detector sounding off. “I’ve never had a sex dream about Derek.”
Andre nodded and Stiles turned back to packing his bag, pleased with how he handled the situation.
“Okay, cool. Gotta run but we’ll grab dinner later, yeah?” Andre said as he left their dorm room. Before the door closed behind him he stuck his head back into the room. “Oh, and Stiles? I never said you were having sex dreams about Derek.”
The door shut automatically behind Andre when he ducked back out, leaving Stiles to stare disbelievingly at his school books.
***
It was weird between them.
A few weeks after their visit to the naguals Stiles was back in Beacon Hills again to help the pack research and deal with a nest of small supernatural pests along the edges of the preserve. It was after 2am on Saturday morning and Stiles had barely looked up from the stack of books Deaton lent to them to study.
Usually Stiles would be up and down from the table a dozen times to grab drinks and snacks or his phone or to dance around the room to a secret song in his head or merely to annoy the shit out of Derek as he pretended to focus on the work.
It was difficult to concentrate when Stiles was around, but clearly not just because he could be so annoying.
That Stiles was being so quiet and distant bothered Derek and he had a sinking suspicion it had to do with the night they stayed with the naguals and shared a bed. He didn’t take Stiles as someone who would staff embarrassed after jerking off in the shower but that was the only thing he could think of that would have set Stiles off.
“What’s wrong?” he finally asked from where he sat across the table from Stiles, who looked up with a weird look in his face.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re being weird,” Derek told him.
Stiles arched an eyebrow. “‘Weird’? That’s the best you can do?”
Derek frowned. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
Stiles started to shake his head but then he saw Derek’s pointed look at him and sighed. “It’s not you, okay? My roommate was being stupid this week and I’m behind on a paper that’s due next week and I haven’t slept much this week,” Stiles explained. Derek thought for a second; something wasn’t right.
“What did your roommate do?” Derek asked casually, looking down at a text that was written in old Latin.
Stiles hesitated for a long moment before saying casually, “He told me I could kick him out for the weekend when my boyfriend comes to visit so I don’t have to leave to see him.”
Derek blinked at the word ‘boyfriend’. “Oh, I didn’t l know you were seeing anyone.”
Stiles snorted lightly. “I’m not. He thought it was you because he saw you drop me off on Monday.”
When Derek didn’t reply Stiles glanced up at him so Derek nodded jerkily. “Oh.”
Stiles’ face stayed neutral but Derek could see the corners of his mouth turn down before he forced a grin. “He’s crazy, right? You and me together? Ha!”
Stiles looked back at the text he was examining, looking even closer and more intently despite not understanding the bulk of the language.
There wasn’t an obvious lie in what Stiles said but Derek could see he was uncomfortable and not telling the full truth. Instead of calling him out on it Derek hummed his vague agreement and copied Stiles’ pose and buried himself in the book in front of him.
Stiles’ words repeated over and over in Derek’s head as the foreign words swarmed in front of his eyes. Needless to say the information they sought wasn’t found that night.
***
Sometimes Stiles felt like such an asshole when he took Scott for granted.
He was at the tail end of a massive rant about Derek and his stupid eyebrows and fucking perfectly manicured beard when he really looked at Scott and realized he was laughing lightly at him.
Stiles paused, mid-sentence, with his hands in the air. “Am I amusing to you?”
Scott nodded. “You have no idea,” he laughed.
“Hey, I have valid concerns here!” Stiles insisted but Scott laughed harder. “What’s so damn funny?”
“I know I can be oblivious sometimes but are you seriously being this blind right now?” Scott asked incredulously.
Stiles shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Lie!” Scott exclaimed.
Stiles took a deep breath and ducked his head down for a long minute as he tried to explain why he couldn’t come right out and admit that he was torn up over what he grudgingly admitted to himself were feelings for Derek. He didn’t need someone else with that information in their head, though. “Scott, I need this right now, okay?” His voice came out thinner than he liked and he had to swallow to fight back the urge to give in and let his emotions go full-bore.
Scott sighed lightly but he nodded and didn’t bring Derek up again for the rest of the night, not that it made much difference. It felt like he was in Stiles’ damn blood.
***
“Sheriff,” Derek greeted John as he opened the loft door. “What can I help you with? Got some new cases for me to look over?”
John stepped inside but his hands were obviously empty and he was dressed in civilian clothes. “Uh, no. I was around and thought I’d…” John trailed off when he saw Derek raise an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I didn’t think that was going to work. Stiles here?”
Derek gave John a startled look and immediately his brain jumped to the worst possible scenarios. “Is he missing? Does Scott know? Sometimes he’ll answer Skype if he trying to study and he’s ignoring his texts, I can call him up,” Derek offered.
John watched Derek with an unreadable expression, nodding as Derek talked. Derek took that as a sign to grab his computer and turned to get it but John reached out and held him back lightly. “Sorry, Derek, no. I mean, Stiles isn’t missing and he’s at school. At least, not as far as I know. But if he was going to be anywhere but there I figured he’d be here.”
Derek shook his head and tried to make sense of what the Sheriff was saying. “You know he’s not here but you asked if he was anyway? John--”
“Derek, I’m in law enforcement. And I have eyes,” John cut him off in an obvious tone but Derek stubbornly refused to see what he was getting at. “Kid, come on. I like you, I do. But if you jerk him around I’ll come after you with wolfsbane bullets.”
“Stiles has already said what he thinks about the idea of us getting together,” Derek told John stiffly. “He’s not here and we’re not together so that should put any of your fears to rest, Sheriff.”
John frowned at Derek but he didn’t try to argue. He nodded sadly and said he had a couple new cases at the station the next time Derek was by. Derek could tell he wanted to say more but he wisely left.
Unfortunately not soon enough that Derek’s afternoon was spent replaying Stiles’ story about his roommate thinking they were dating.
“He’s crazy, right? You and me together? Ha!”
Over and over until Derek stripped naked, shifted fully, and spent the entire night running the preserve until he collapsed in a heap on the forest floor in exhaustion.
***
“‘Pukwudgies? That sounds cute’,” Stiles hissed at Liam while they hit behind a boulder in the forest and watched for something to attack them.
“It did,” Liam insisted around his fangs, words coming out a little slurred.
A call from Slade from the naguals set Stiles flying out of his dorm to the Jeep, hurriedly making up a crap excuse to Andre about needing to return home. On the off chance Slade ever saw the kind of nest in the Beacon Hills preserve he’d texted some pictures from Scott off to him. The research in the books at Derek’s turned up squat so Stiles figured whatever was in the preserve had to have different origins and thusly weren’t covered by any of their texts that mostly came from Derek’s meagre collection and Deaton.
He’d answered Slade’s call with a smile and cheery greeting but quickly his face fell and he sprang into action, leaving without even packing a bag. He called Scott immediately, then Derek.
Neither answered.
The two hour drive back to Beacon Hills was the most nerve-wracking one he’d ever made. He sailed into town doing almost twenty over the speed limit and sailed through more than one stop sign as he worked his way through town to the other side where Derek’s old house once stood and the nests were closest to.
Malia and Liam met him at the old Hale property, the only two pack members he was able to easily get in touch with. Scott was probably at community college and Derek… Stiles had no idea where Derek was or why he hadn’t yet called Stiles back. The longest it ever took him to respond to a message or call was usually overnight.
“Did you get ahold of anyone else?” Stiles asked as he flung himself out of the Jeep.
Liam shifted uneasily on his feet. “Deaton said he’d watch for Scott when he gets to the clinic for his shift after school and, um. Derek--”
“What about Derek?” Stiles barked.
“He went in,” Malia said bluntly, gesturing to the woods. “Told us to wait five minutes for him.”
Stiles took off running towards the woods, catching the weres off guard so they had to scramble to keep up. He could hear them calling for him to stop and come back but Stiles couldn’t leave Derek in there alone.
Fifteen minutes later they couldn’t find Derek and they were hiding from the pukwudgies, small humanoid creatures who could wield magic, liked fire and arrows, and luring people to their deaths. Scott was on his way but there was no way he’d be able to get from Beacon County College in time.
Stiles had no idea how to deal with a whole group of the creatures, not with only Liam and Malia as backup. He didn’t get a sense that the pukwudgies would be easily distracted by a running commentary or the challenge of solving a riddle like the fucking sphinx and he was starting to walk the edge of a full-blown anxiety attack over Derek.
Out of the corner of his eye Malia was scenting the air so Stiles breathed in and caught the smell of fire. The three of them looked at each other with wide-eyed terror for a second, then ran out from their hiding spot to tear across the forest.
“Which way?” Stiles yelled at Malia who was in the lead.
“Near the rock face!” she called back. Stiles waved Malia and Liam on ahead of him so they had a better chance of finding Derek without waiting for him.
It was a couple minutes later that he burst out of the treeline to a small clearing over a sheer drop into the heart of the preserve. The pukwudgies started a fire that was raging and moving swiftly and could potentially threaten the entire preserve. But all Stiles saw was Derek with four--no, five arrows sticking out of him from shoulder to knee and being forced to move back to the edge of the rock face.
Liam and Malia were facing off against their own individual groups of pukwudgies and Malia already had two arrows of her own sticking out of an arm and leg.
He looked up across the area between them and caught Stiles’ eye for a split second before he stumbled back and fell over the side. Stiles cried out and tried to rush forward but he was knocked back on his feet as four or five … panthers and coyotes raced past him. Stiles sat back, dumbfounded, and watched as they ripped into the pukwudgies without hesitation and decimated most of them within a minute.
Stiles dodged some bits of creature that were torn to bits and flung into the air as he crouched and ran across the clearing to the edge. He dropped to his belly and looked over, bracing himself for the worst.
“Derek!” Stiles yelled when he saw him clinging to the rocks with his claws. It looked like one of the arrows in his side was catching on the rocks and keeping him from making quick progress and Stiles could tell the rocks weren’t going to hold on forever. He reached his hand over the side as far as he could stretch it. “Grab my hand!”
“I got this,” Derek gritted out but Stiles could see his body shaking.
“Derek, come on!” Stiles cried. “Don’t be a fucking asshole!”
“So sweet,” Derek grunted.
“It’s how I react when people I care about are being fucking idiots!” Stiles snapped and lunged further over the edge. “Take my goddamn hand!”
Derek’s eyes snapped up to meet Stiles’ as he registered what he said. Stiles nodded desperately to encourage him and it seemed to work. Derek quickly let go of the rock face with one hand and heaved himself up as best he could to barely grab Stiles’.
“C’mon c’mon,” Stiles chanted as he tried to tighten his grip on Derek’s hand. They were too far apart though, and Stiles’ hand was sweaty and a little slippery. Derek’s claws were still extended and they clipped at Stiles’ skin but Stiles grit his teeth to get through it,
He was on the verge of letting out a sob when he felt Derek’s hand start to slip out of his and Derek’s expression seemed to soften a little into something akin to acceptance, much to Stiles’ horror. He opened his mouth to tell him to fight, just hold on, but instead a gasp came out as strong hands gripped his shirt and the waistband of his jeans.
“Grab him!” Scott yelled as he lowered Stiles enough to get a better grip on Derek. Then Scott helped pull Stiles’ back, then grabbed onto Derek to heave him up, too.
They all collapsed on the ground, panting and dripping sweat with seizing muscles. It didn’t matter to Stiles though, and he rolled to sit up and grabbed at Derek, pulling his head and shoulders into his lap while he clutched at him awkwardly. Derek seemed to have the same idea and held Stiles’ face between both his palms and kissed him upside down from his prone position.
It only lasted a second before Stiles pulled back and said, “You’re a fucking asshole and you’re going to hear all the reasons why.”
“Fine, later,” Derek agreed quickly with a nod and then they were kissing again and touching each other everywhere they could reach.
Later Scott told Stiles that the creatures that came to their aid were Slade’s cousin and his nagual family, tipped off about the pukwudgies after Stiles called Slade to ask about them.
“Is it always this dramatic in Beacon Hills?” Slade’s cousin Elias asked.
Malia rolled her eyes and Liam snickered but Scott just smiled tiredly. “You have no idea.”