Chapter Text
“We were at four on two, so it didn't take long. They weren't very strong anyway. Or very clever.”
Erica laughed and took another slice of pizza. Scott had been sent to buy food since he was the least bloody of all. They were in the Hale house,sitting in the living room, a huge quantity of pizza, pies and drinks on the floor, everyone sat around it, passing the pharmacy set to each other. They hadn't cleaned themselves properly yet, but they had jumped into a cold river fully dressed to take off most of the blood so it wasn't as scary a view as it could have been. Stiles was lying on the sofa, not talking and taking all his time to eat the same slice of pizza he had been picking at for the past fifteen minutes.
As soon as the exorcism had been over, he had fainted, and Derek, still very weak, hadn't been able to carry him. He had howled, calling for his wolves, and hoping they’d arrive fast. They dealt with the bodies and the blood after making sure Stiles was safe. It had not been easy convincing Scott not to bring his best friend to the hospital, but after all, Stiles had no physical wounds and Lydia said that if his soul had been hurt, being in a hospital wouldn't help. She had came to meet them as soon as they called her. She looked worried, tired with anxiety, but fierce as always, and proud to see that they'd won. She'd almost cried when she saw Stiles' unconscious body.
“He... How is he? He's all right? It's... It is Stiles, right?” She had asked, stammering a little.
Derek had put a hand on her shoulder and smiled slightly.
“He will be fine. He just need to rest for now.”
Shesmiled back, and they went back to work.
Isaac was in a better state than he should have been. When Derek had asked him how he was, with all the cuts and bruises that weren't healing from the different wolfbane-covered weapons the demons had used on him, the beta had only smiled. “It wasn't that different from... You know...” He said, with a sad laughter in his voice and as he curled up against Erica and Boyd.
Lydia always had the bestiary on her, and she was reading, sitting next to Allison who had arrived with Scott. Derek knew they would have to do something soon to make sure those events would stay in the past. Protect the houses of every member of the pack, the warehouse too, even the cars... But not right now. Right now, they had to heal, physically and mentally. The Alpha looked at Stiles. He hadn't moved, he had only finished eating his pizza and was looking blankly at the ceiling. Scott was glancing at him repetitively, but Stiles didn't seems to notice. He was breathing heavily, playing with his fingers, obviously not aware that the sound of his bones cracking was even more annoying for werewolves. Derek sighed and somehow, Stiles reacted. He turned his head and stared at Derek before whispering.
“I'm going outside for a minute. I need... Some fresh air.”
Scott immediately reacted.
“Do you want me to come with you? I mean, if you want to talk or just... You know, support.”
Stiles smiled, but declined and stood up to go out. There was a heavy silence in the room, as if everyone was holding their breath, they all looked directed at Stiles. The boy tried to smile, but failed miserably and just turned around and left the room.
It was a dark now. The night was clear, stars and almost full moon shining in the sky above the trees. The betas were asleep in the living room, curled up against each other in one huge pile of teenager. Their heartbeats were slow, calm, finally relaxed. Derek had taken place on the sofa after Stiles went out and was looking at them, hesitating between feeling annoyed at the teenagers taking over his living room or relieved that they were all safe. When he was sure that none of them would wake up, he stood up and went to the door.
Stiles was outside, sitting on the porch, looking at the sky. Derek had never stopped listening to his heartbeat since he left the room, and he knew that despite being “out for some fresh air” for almost two hours, the boy still hadn't relaxed. His anxiety was almost visible. He wouldn't stop shivering, his shoulders were tense with anxiety and his hands were shaking when he released them from his pockets. Silently, Derek sat next to him.
Stiles didn't even react. He gave a quick look at Derek and sighed deeply. Derek put his hands on the ground behind him, jerked his head back and stared at the night sky.
“They're all asleep.” He said softly.
“I know.” Stiles replied after a moment. “I stopped hearing voices. I wanted to go back inside but...”
“It's OK. You don't have to. Not yet.” And Derek smiled, turning his head to look at Stiles. Their eyes meet and Stiles smiled, a shy, discreet and sad smile.
“I”m... I'm fine. Really. I'll get over it soon enough. It's just... What happened. What could happen next. It's huge. Demons and all that. I wouldn't be surprised if there were angels too, seriously. It's not just werewolves and humans and a few creepy shape-shifters now.”
“I know.”
Stiles continued, ignoring Derek.
“Just, how many demons have we already encountered? How many times I could have been possessed already? Or my father? Scott's mom? Maybe someone close to us has been possessed for a while and once we'll come back home we'll met black eyes and...”
His voice was trembling now, and his eyes were wet with tears.
“If... If my father is... possessed or... Or any of you... I wouldn't... I couldn't hurt you. I couldn't...”
“Shhhh, Stiles, it's OK. It's OK. We're not going to let that happen ever again. We're ready now, we know what to do to protect ourselves... And your families.” Derek said more softly than he intended. Almost unconsciously, he put his arm around Stiles' shoulders and tugged the boy against him. He heard Stiles' heart beat faster with surprise but he didn't pull away. Instead, he leanedinto Derek, setting himself comfortably against the man's body, and closed his eyes. Derek found himself relaxing, and closing his eyes, too. They didn't say anything for a while, just listening to the night. The random noises of the forest echoing around them, Stiles' heartbeat resonating in Derek's head, slow and steady. They didn't count the time they stayed like this, not moving, warm and comfortable against each other, safe.
Explaining everything that had happened during the past two days to Scott's mom took longer than they thought, mostly because Melissa McCall was freaking out and they had to take several breaks so that she could take a beer, get some fresh air, or just think. Stiles had too admit that it must be a lot to take in at once, but they needed her support more than anything, especially with Stiles' dad freaking out even more than Melissa. Hopefully she would be able to calm him down. With demons around, Stiles was even less enthusiastic at the idea of telling his dad about the supernatural.
Stiles only knew it was lunch time because Mrs. McCall was cooking. To say that he was lost was an understatement. He had no idea what day of the week it was, even what month. He didn't know and didn't care about school, or homework, or anything that wasn't surviving scary supernatural creatures. He hadn't slept, obviously. Scott wouldn't stop giving him worried looks and Stiles did his best to smile every time their eyes met. Earlier that morning, when the pack had finally woken up, Derek had announced that they were not to be alone at any time until they had assured their safety. No one had asked where Stiles and Derek had slept, or if they had actually slept, and most importantly, no one said anything about the things Stiles and Derek could do alone, at night, when not sleeping... But Stiles had to be the only one to think about that kind of stuff involving the Alpha... Certainly... Anyway, they had asked how he felt, and when they all left, Isaac and Boyd patted his shoulder and Erica, Allison and Lydia hugged him. The smile that appeared on his face then was sincere and he felt himself relaxing a bit more.
Stiles and Scott left in Stiles' Jeep. Stiles complained loudly about the new blood stains on the seat, but made sure not to meet Derek's eyes. He had basically spent the night hugging him and sobbing into his shoulder and was too tired to hide his embarrassment. He had too many emotions for a while and was definitely not ready to talk about his seriously growing crush on the werewolf. Maybe after a week of uninterrupted sleeping, he thought, but right now, they needed to get a lot of things over with and the sooner the better. So they didn't lose any more time and drove to Scott's house.
“Are you telling me that I've been drinking holy water for two days?” Melissa asked her son, wide eyed, mouth falling open.
“No, only yesterday. I'm sorry, I didn't have the time to plan anything better.”
Melissa sighed and took another piece of chicken.
“Alright. So, Stiles.” She said, turning to face the boy. “I called your dad. I told him that Scott was really sick and I had a lot of work so you stayed to help. I hope that's OK.”
“It's perfect, Mrs. McCall. Thank you.”
Only a few minutes after finishing the dishes, Scott and Stiles received an email. It's Scott who heard the email alert coming from the computer on his bedroom and warned Stiles. Stiles checked his phone immediately.
“It's from Lydia.” He said, face lightening. “It's the exorcisms!”
“Awesome!” Scott exclaimed.
They sat down on the sofa and started reading.
“There's four.” Stiles said. “Wow, this one is really long!”
“Why did it have to be Latin? It couldn't be, I don't know, Spanish? I can speak Spanish a little.”
“Stop complaining and learn your exorcisms Scott.”
They burst laughing, slowly starting to feel lighter. They would be OK. They could manage this.
Stiles almost screamed out loud when he got Lydia' email, but it was 6 in the morning and it would be a bad idea to wake up his dad because of werewolf-related news so he restrained himself.
It was what he had been waiting for the whole night, without knowing exactly what it would be, of course, but in the last few pages of the Bestiary's chapter on demons, there had to be something about how to protect yourself of them. Lydia told them, before leaving, that she would complete the translation as soon as she'd arrived home, and Stiles had been impatient since then, checking his phone every five minutes. He didn't sleep, as planned. Scott and him separated as late as they could, but they were both worried about their parents and decided that they knew how to handle themselves well enough to be alone in their home for a few hours. Moreover, who would be stupid enough to target them when they're super aware of everything surrounding them and being more paranoid than ever. The number of things that could be considered as a weapon if you know about supernatural beings Stiles has on him is quite ridiculous, really.
So, around 6 in the morning, Lydia send in a email, with an attached file, and a sad face in the subject. Stiles' heart skip a beat but someone like Lydia would put an sad face if it was really bad news, right?
When he finished reading it, his face was lightened by a huge smile.
Surprisingly, the first person he called was Derek.
“Hi, dude, sorry, am I waking you up? Huh of course I am not, do you ever sleep? I mean, even in time of peace? Is it a werewolf thing?” Derek growled on the phone. Stiles shivered. He was feeling more anxious than usual, but definitely wasn't going to let it show. He still had enough adrenalin in his body to sound relaxed. Normal. “Anyway, that's not it. Lydia just send me an email and we have the solution to all our problems! Well, not all, but one of the biggest. And you're probably not going to like it because you're going to have to play the serious and respectful adult and be sociable and talk to people and that kind of thing. And also risking getting killed by my dad, Scott' mom, Lydia' parents and Allison' dad too, but he already wants to kill you so he doesn't count.”
Derek sighed and cut Stiles in the middle of a sentence. “What. Is it.”
He certainly didn't expect Stiles to sound so joyful, and heexpected even less the answer he gave him.
“We're going to have to get tattooed!”
Derek almost choked.
“W-what? Stiles, you're sixteen! You can't get tattooed!”
“No, you don't understand. That's the saving-us-all thing! It's an anti-possession tattoo! You got that on you, you can't get possessed by a demon. Ever.”
Stiles heard Derek stop breathing at the end of the phone. Stiles waited. And waited. And waited.
“Dude, are you still alive?”
“I'm coming. Don't move.”
“Dude, it's 6am, there's no way I'm leaving my room.” Stiles replied, but Derek had alreadyhung up.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on Stiles' window.
“Come in.” Stiles whispered, and shaked his hand lazily to Derek.
“So...” He started as he sat on Stiles' bed, right next to the teenager, and stared at the computer opened in front of him.
“Shhh! My dad is still sleeping and he needs his rest, so lower your voice!”
Derek immediately closed his mouth and looked away from Stiles, immediately thinking that he should question the boy' order. A legitimate order that is, but still. Derek is the alpha. And – oh fuck, he didn't have time for this little game of power. He didn't even want it. He didn't need it. Not with Stiles. That was the thing with this boy. Derek didn't feel the need to show that he's in charge, because it wasn't important, even when he isn't, it wasn't a problem. He's not worried when Stiles is in charge. He trusts him.
“So.” He started again after taking a long, deep breath. “What is it?”
Stiles' face lightened with excitement. He opened a file on his computer and a weird drawing that looks definitely related to the occult appeared on the screen.
“This.” Stiles announced proudly. “Is an anti-possession tattoo. Lydia and I verified it, it's two hundred percent working. With that tattooed, you can't be possessed by a demon. Ever. They'd have to take the tattoo off you to possess you. Like burn it. But we're not going to let that happen of course.”
The werewolf tried his best to hide is excitement, but really, he wasn't expecting such good news. was so relieved he kind of wanted to hug Stiles, and for a minute, it was hard to take his eyes off the boy.
They were sitting next to each other, their thighs almost touching, and it was as awkward as it could be. They both knew that the other knew that they hadn't forgotten the past night they've spent against each other in front of the Hale house. They also both knew that the other wouldn't ever use the word hugging despite the fact that it being exactly that.
“Stiles.” Derek's voice was strangely hoarse and he tried not to cough or do anything stupid and obviously embarrassing like that. “That's... That's great. It's not going to be easy though. You're all sixteen, and tattoos for a werewolf, well...”
“Oh yeah, right! I always wondered how does it work? Since you heal and stuff. Like yours. How is it possible?” And Stiles' smile was bright and his eyes were light with sincere curiosity.
“You have to put wolfsbane in the ink.”
Stiles gasped. “No? Shit! Isn't it dangerous?” He looked truly terrified.
Derek sighed and put a hand on Stiles' shoulder. He felt the boy shaking under his touch but didn't move.
“No, it's fine, really. The quantity is really precise. It slows down the healing process so that the ink has time to be accepted by the body. It's just... Very painful. More than for a human.”
“OK, ok...” Stiles said after a short silence. “I'm glad it's possible. I don't know if demons can possess werewolves, but I'd just... I'd feel safer knowing you can't get possessed. All of you. The pack, I mean. Not just you you, I mean, well...”
“I got it Stiles. We'll all get tattooed as soon as we can. We'll be fine.” Derek answered, doing his best not to listen to Stiles' heartbeat speeding up. He took his hand off Stiles' shoulder and stood up abruptly.
“I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep.”
But as he turned toward the window, he felt Stiles' hand grabbing his shirt. Derek stopped short, feeling Stiles coming closer and pressing his face against his back, the warmth of Stiles' hands holding onto him spreading inside him far quicker than he wanted it to.
“Thank you.” Stiles' mumbled, and if Derek wasn't a werewolf, he wouldn't have heard the soft whisper vibrating with emotion.
They stayed like that, not moving an inch, for what seemed like hours. When Stiles finally pushed away, Derek didn't even dare to look him in the eyes before leaving because he was sure he would do something totally stupid and careless like taking advantage of Stiles' current state of shock and kiss him.
There were few things that could have make Stiles hate the Argents (excluding Allison, of course) more than he already did, but when he saw Scott's face when he showed him the anti-possession tattoo design, he knew it would have something to do with them and that it would make him angry.
“What?” He asked angrily.
“I already saw it!” Scott said in a breath. “Fuck Stiles I...”
“That? where?” He pressed.
“On Allison...”
Of course he was right. When Scott made that kind of face, it always meant Allison and bad. He took a deep breath, sat on the sofa in Scott' living room and rubbed his head.
“Ok. Explain.”
Scott looked embarrassed, worried and quite annoyed too.
“It's on her foot. Under it I mean. All tiny and discreet and apparently she had it all her life. Family tradition or something, she invented a pretty big story to explain it before she knew about the hunting but... She didn't know about the demons, she couldn't have known. I would have known if she had lied to me when she told me about it.”
Scott sat next to Stiles and they both sighed, perfectly synchronized.
“So...” Stiles said after carefully thinking over his friend's words. “I guess it makes sense that the Argents know about the demons since it's in their bestiary but the fact that they didn't tell us about it – us, the kids involved in dangerous supernatural stuff that we should never have to deal with – knowing that we would encounter it one some day exactly as we did... I don't know, but they just came second in my list of people-I-hate-and-wish-I'd-never-met.”
“Who's first?”
“Oh my god, Scott, that's not the point!”
They looked at each other and a grin slowly appeared on their faces and before they realized it, they were choking with laughter, rolling on the sofa, and feeling strangely happy. Things were still not over, they were still not entirely safe, they would probably never totally be, and now they had to have a long conversation with the Argents about being responsible adults and how not getting killed by a demon is not something a teenager is supposed to experience alone, if you don't stop at just 'experience'. But they were all alive, and only two days after the events happened, it still seemed like a miracle.
They all got tattooed a week later by two werewolves from New York. Erica and Boyd hold hands during the whole thing, Lydia stood fierce and didn't tear up at all, saying it was perfectly fine, but Stiles didn't believe her because it had hurt like hell. But then she did it on her thigh and he did it on his ribs. But he had to find a spot where his dad wouldn't see it and there was no way he was going to get tattooed on his ass. The bestiary specified that the tattoo would stop being effective if damaged so ribs seemed like a better idea anyway. There's many situations in which an ass is not safe, no sexual pun intended.
Stiles hadn't intended to be alone with Derek in the Hale house, and he had no idea how it happened but when the tattoo artists left the place, the whole place became suddenly very quiet without the constant buzzing of the machines and it took a few minutes to Stiles to realize that Derek had been the last person to get tattooed. Stiles wanted to talk to him about the Argents and what he should say to them, how he should present himself – as the pack messenger? That sounded silly – and he hadn't noticed the betas leaving, Allison picking up Lydia and Scott, and he must have been lost in his thoughts because it was late afternoon and he didn't remember the day at all.
He was sitting on the stairs of the porch of the house when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He stood up slowly, preparing himself to smile and act as casual as possible. They hadn't been alone together since the night after the events, and despite perfectly knowing that they needed to talk about feelings, Stiles really didn't want to. Feelings were the one thing he really didn't want to talk about at the moment. He's been embarrassed and humiliated enough by Thomas the demon for the next ten years of his life. The whole point of having crushes on unattainable people was that there would be no shame and pain of rejection because there would be no asking in the first place. They were like a phantasm, the point of it being not to be acted upon. But he had started to really like Derek, way before this whole mess, even if he had buried as deep as he could inside him. At some point he saw that Derek was actually a good person, and how he cared about his pack, how he tried to do the best he could despite having no idea what it was, how he grew up and somehow became an Alpha who was still quite pathetic but who they could trust to keep them safe. How he had made Stiles feels included and useful. But it wasn't important yet. He had forgotten about it many times, had ignored his attraction as much as he needed too, and he didn't mind. It was normal, it was fine. And then Derek had started to show emotions, and to act as if he cared, and he had hugged Stiles and comforted him that night after the events, and everything Stiles had buried inside him that was already slowly dripping through his barriers had exploded and he had started to hope. But hope was dangerous, and he had to leave quick before saying something stupid like “I actually really like you, Derek, because you're a good person and you care for us, and you deserve someone to care for you and try to heal your wounds and I wouldn't mind being this person.” In the best situation, he'd get his throat ripped out by teeth. In the worst, he'd be coldly rejected and condemned to a lifetime of shame and regret. So the one thing Stiles was going to do at this moment was to turn and face Derek and tell him about the important things in a few short sentences and then calmly walk to his Jeep and leave. That sounded like a good plan.
The shirtlessness should have been expected but had been conveniently forgotten. The perfect abs were usual and shouldn’t leave Stiles as speechless as they did since it wasn't the first time he saw them. The lose pants worn as low as possible to show a bare hip with a brand new tattoo in the other hand were new and oh god. Stiles swallowed and took a deep breath.
“I, er, I will. I'll just. Go. Leave. Now. Ok.” Stiles stammered, trying to laugh his embarrassment off. Derek just looked at him with wide eyes and raised an eyebrow.
“Didn't you wanted to talk to me about something important?” He said while taking a step forward.
“Huh, er, yes. Right. Of course.” And he was starting to blush. Oh god please no.
It was in that kind of moment, when Derek didn't look like a werewolf at all, just like really hot guy, and talked to Stiles with a non-aggressive, almost soft, voice and it was way too easy for Stiles to remember that he was really just a teenager and that it would be really easy to let his hormones take control.
“So, er...” What did I wanted to tell him already? Oh god I'm so fucked. Stiles tried to looked away, but Derek came closer and put a hand on his shoulder. OH MY GOD. Stiles could swear his heart skipped a beat. They looked into each other eyes and the teen felt himself melting under Derek' strangely serious gaze.
“It's OK Stiles.” The Alpha said softly.
Stiles wasn't expecting anything in particular to happen yet couldn't help to be surprised by Derek' word. He looked at him, confused.
“It's OK.” Derek repeated. “We're safe now, we've done everything we could to keep everyone safe. You don't have to talk now. You can take a break. Talk when you're ready.”
He took his hand off of Stiles' shoulder, leaving a sweet warmth where it had been. He sat on the floor next to the boy silently. After a moment, Stiles followed the movement and installed himself against Derek. They stayed silent, and Stiles couldn't help but hope that this sitting-in-front-of-the-house-against-each-other-in-silence-watching-the-sun-set thing was becoming a habit, because it felt nice, and peaceful. He closed his eyes but he couldn't fall asleep. He let himself drown in the scents around him, the forest's, the house's, and Derek's... He repeated in his mind Derek's words, trying to accept them as the reality, even day after the events and repeating it all the time. It seemed more real when Derek said it, like he meant it. It was real. We're safe. We're safe. Finally.
“It was weird, you know. Like, really weird. Not scary or anything. Just... weird.”
“What?” Derek asked.
“Being possessed I mean.”
They've been sitting in silence for approximately an hour now, and Stiles may have fallen asleep at some point, but he was fully awake now, and so was Derek. Stiles' back was resting on Derek' side, they didn't look at each other, but they were close enough to feel each other's breathing rhythm.
“When I realized he had possessed me, I thought 'that's it, I'm going to die' and I couldn't help but think about all the things I didn't do, didn't say... Like, my dad, and the pack... And I expected to black out, to disappear or something. But I closed my eyes and when I woke up I was still here, just, like an observer. I had no control. It was weird.” His voice was almost like a whisper, but calm, not trembling with emotion like he thought it would be. It was much easier to talk about it than he expected. And strangely, it felt really good, like releasing another weight from his shoulders.
“How was it?” Derek asked.
“It was... Lonely. I could see and hear and almost feel everything you saw. But I couldn't make anyone know that I was here. I was... I don't remember it clearly. I could see myself, but everything around me was dark, and it was infinite. I couldn't feel anything where I was, because there wasn't anything to feel, or smell, or see, really. But at the same time I was still living in my body, just... Not controlling it. It's hard to describe. It was like being at two places at the same time except not exactly. And you know, the demon, Thomas, he could have done anything to me there.”
Derek shivered, which made Stiles stop.
“He didn't... He said he didn't hurt you. He wasn't lying. He didn't... Do anything to you.” The man' voice was trembling, and Stiles realized that Derek must have been wanting to make sure of that since the beginning but didn't dare to ask Stiles in case it was too soon. And it meant.... It meant that Derek was worried for him. Judging by the tone of his voice, he really was, werewolf senses were not needed to know that he was sincere.
“No, no he didn't! He really didn't! He just... Talked to me. Showed me things sometimes, his own memories. Made a big mess in my own, but he was just curious, and bored I think, because he just looked. He could have... I was ready, when I realized I was conscious, to endure anything. He had total control over my body and my soul, but he didn't do anything. I was ready to die.” He stopped again, because saying it out loud made it feel closer, more real. It hasn't been a dream. He has really been ready to die. “I... I feel like it wasn't real. I've been a big part of all of it haven't I?” He felt Derek nodding against him. “But I wasn't really there. I had never been so helpless before, never been so close to... die. I guess it made me realize a lot of things.” He laughed bitterly. “I guess it's what we call a life-changing event or something. Life meaning. Giving a meaning. To life I mean. Not that my life didn't already had a meaning, I'm not a meaningless person, or at least I hope so. I guess humans always try to find a meaning to their lives. Or to give it one. And werewolves too, humans and werewolves. But sometimes it's not really obvious? In fact it's still not, for me I mean, but now I get how mortal I am and I just... I don't want to lose time. I don't have super werewolf healing. Don't get me wrong, I love being human, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world, but it made me think that I have to be more careful because I could die so easily. And at the same time, that I shouldn't be afraid to take risk because it's the only life I have and there's so many possibilities, so many things to do and I shouldn't be afraid. Because, come on! Look what I survived already!” He laughed again, but it was lighter this time. He really had no idea why he was telling Derek all this but he definitely fell better. Derek didn't seems to mind. He didn't said anything, he did not complain, did not judge. He just listened and that was exactly what Stiles needed. Stiles moved to sit next to Derek because his bony back against Derek' muscular shoulder is not the most comfortable position, and now their arms and thighs brushing against the other's, and wow, that's definitely much more comfortable and they're touching way more now than they were and Stiles doesn't know if he should listen to reason and back up or just lean into the man's body. As it could be simple, his brain decided to make him do both at the time, which resulted in him moving forward instead of away.
It was an accident that neither of them could predict, but after reflection, they both decided that the timing wasn't so bad.
Somehow, Stiles and Derek had decided to react at the same time and to have the exact same reaction that consisted in turning to face each other. Except that Stiles had moved forward quite abruptly and that they hit their forehead and that instead of whining, Stiles started blushing because his and Derek' lips weren't even a inch away. And that Derek wasn't moving, either. Stiles was breathing slowly, staring at Derek' mouth since there was no way he was going to look into the man' eyes, afraid that anything he could do would break the moment. He had no idea how long they stayed like this, breathing on each other' face, so close and yet... Stiles wanted to lean in, wanted more than anything to put his lips on Derek's, and his heart was beating so fast, his cheeks were hot and Derek was licking his lips and...
Derek kissed him, and it was nothing Stiles could have imagined, it was way way better than that, it was amazing. The kiss was strangely sweet and tender, at first almost shy, only lips softly touching, then Stiles closed his eyes and leaned in and felt Derek' hands cupping his jaw and the kiss deepened. It was wet but slow, all tongues and lips and biting, but without urge. Like they had all the time in the world to discover and taste each other. Stiles' mind was blank, he couldn't concentrate on anything else than Derek' warm lips on his, on Derek' tongue brushing against his teeth, on Derek' hand stroking his cheeks softly, on his own hands that moved to Derek' hips almost unconsciously and generally on the warmth of Derek' body against his.
They kissed for god knows long, but it's only when Stiles' phone rang that they separated. It was really dark outside, but they were close enough to see each other clearly. Not that Derek would have problem seeing in the dark, with the werewolf senses and everything. But for Stiles, to be able to notice the blush on Derek' cheek, and to see his flushed lips, still red and wet, and his eyes glowing affectionately, it was important and it made his heart beat faster again. It was hard to search in his pocket for his phone and looked at his messages when he wanted nothing more than to go back to kissing Derek. They stayed silent while Stiles replied to his dad asking what he wanted for dinner. He didn't dare answer that he wouldn't be there for diner. Probably. At least he hoped so. He looked at Derek. The expression on the man' face was utterly confusing, a mix between want and fear.
“Derek, I...”
But he didn't know what to say. His mind was still foggy with the memory of the kiss. He didn't even know what he felt for Derek, if he was in love, if he wanted to be in a relationship with the man or not... Being a teenager, he only had the experience of a teenager on those subjects, more precisely the one of an awkward teenager who haven't dated anyone since he was 8 and who hadn't had any feelings of any kind for anyone else than Lydia Martin for years. Feelings that were definitely different than the absolute and immediate need he felt for Derek right now. And that sensation of comfort and safety he had started to feel a while ago. No, forget what had be said, he totally knew if he wanted to be in a relationship with Derek. It wouldn't be easy, because they both had issues, Derek certainly more than him, and they both had their secrets that would need to be shared in order to have a healthy relationship but they could work it out. Stiles wanted to believe that they could help each other. Maybe even make each other happy. And that was only talking about the feelings because if they continued to kiss like that, it would definitely make Stiles' body happy. And they did more than kissing... OK, he had lost his train of thought again.
“Is it OK if...”
“Stiles, I'm...” Derek cut him off. “I'm not sure it's a good idea. We shouldn't... I can't...”
“What.” Stiles asked firmly. If they were going to talk about it now, they were going to do it well now and not walk around the subject for hours. He wasn't a patient boy, and he really wanted to go back to kissing as fast as possible.
“I have... Issues. I'm not... I'm not good at this. I could hurt you, even if I wasn't a werewolf and way older than you.”
“If that's worrying you, know that I am able to give my consent and that my dad won't shoot you if we keep things I'm not supposed to be doing as long as I'm under-age secret. Probably. Plus the age of consent in sixteen in like, ninety percent of the world.”
Derek blushed at the mention of “things they're not supposed to be doing as long as Stiles is under age” and Stiles couldn't help but smile.
“No that's not... “
“Derek.” Stiles said, voice shaking, but loud and firm. Better go straight to the point. “Just... Do you want to date me? Because I do. Want to date you, I mean. I... I think we could work. It won't be easy, because we obviously both have a lot of issues, the first you have being words apparently, but I... I like being with you. I feel good around you. Safe. I trust you.” Derek shivered at those words but Stiles pretended not to notice. “And I obviously find you hot because, well, have you seen yourself? And even if I find it hard to believe that you would be interested in a skinny teenager like me, I take the absolutely amazing kissing we just had as a sign that you are. So...” His voice softened then, becoming almost a whisper. “Do you... Do you want it...” And oh god, Derek' eyes were so bright and full of hope and it was all Stiles could do to not jump on him right now and kiss the hell out of him again.
There was a silence during which Stiles could have died ten times until Derek whispered “OK...”
“Really?”
Derek looked so different than usual. Not weak but... More human. He was showing what he felt, obviously not feeling the need to hide his emotions in order to protect himself, and it somehow made Stiles happy because it meant that Derek felt as safe around him that he felt around the Alpha.
“Yeah...” Derek said, looking away from Stiles... Shyly? No, Stiles was still not ready to think of Derek as shy. But he was sure he could get around the idea with time. “I want to. I really do.” Derek continued, and put his hand on Stiles' thigh. “I've got more issues than you can imagine though. It's not going to be easy. If we... Date. If you date me.”
“I know, I got that, I told you. So... We're a thing now? For real?”
Derek's grip tightened.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Cool!” And Stiles put his arms around Derek' neck and leaned him to kiss him again.
A month later.
The first thing Sheriff Stilinski noticed was the hickey in his son' neck, carefully hidden by a scarf. He had noticed it because Stiles never wore scarf, so it had to mean something. He noticed the tattoo soon after, since the red mark had given him a good reason to observe the boy more. He tried to be a good father and not to push his son too much, but there was only so much freedom a teenager could get before his parents worried, and well, the sheriff was human after all, and humans are curious. He didn't ask about it immediately though, because he wanted to give Stiles a chance to start the conversation himself, but mostly, it was because he knew the conversation would be awkward and preferred to delay it as much as possible. When he saw Stiles going in the car of a former murder suspect, he knew he couldn't wait anymore.
“Be at home at 7 tonight. Be ready for a long conversation.”
Stiles looked at the text message and blinked twice.
“Huh. OK. I think my dad might have noticed something. I don't know if it's about werewolves, or the tattoo, or a big gay thing with a former murder suspect.” He told Derek who was driving his Camaro to the Hale house for the weekly 'Pack meeting' as Stiles called it. “Actually, I hope it's about the werewolves. Last time I had a sex talk with my dad, it went terribly. You don't want to know. But it involved Science books, and a list of different condoms sizes and the address of all the sex shops in town. It was creepy.”
“I imagined that your dad would be pretty cool with that subject. He seems open minded.” The werewolf said calmly, not looking away from the road.
“Oh, he is! But he doesn't like to go into details... It was just really awkward for both of us, especially since I didn't had a sex life then and everything I knew I knew it from the internet.”
“Huh. Not sexy.”
“Hey!” Stiles yelled, punching Derek in the shoulder and trying his best to look offended. Apparently it wasn't very convincing because Derek just laughed.
They had come a long way in one month, they couldn't quite believe it themselves. It was mostly because Stiles insisted to have “talk times” as soon as he felt some tension between them. It hasn't been easy, especially when Derek had started talking about Kate. Stiles had cried then, and he had never wanted to hug Derek more in his life.
“It's so fucked up. It's... I knew she was a monster, but I had no idea it was to this point. She's worse than a demon, way worse.” He had said between sobs. “If she wasn't already dead, I would kill her. I would fucking kill her...” Then Derek had tightened the hug and they had both cried in silence before falling asleep in Stiles' bed.
They didn't talk about it anymore but it was obvious that Derek felt lighter after talking about it. No more secrets, they had said, and the trust they showed for each other seemed surreal when you compared it to how they acted when they just met. Of course, there were still secrets to tell, and they would probably be new ones, but they worked on it pretty well. For the first time for months, Stiles felt trusted and loved and cared for, and if there were still trust issues to resolve, they concerned more Stiles and his dad. But Derek smiled more, which already made him really happy. Actually it all seemed surreal to Stiles but he was not going to try to come back to what used to be his reality.
Lydia and Erica had suddenly became friends and Stiles was sure that it was the worst thing that had happened in a month because, seriously, alone they were already quite evil, but together? You didn't want to be near them when they were in a good mood because it meant endless teasing of the worse kind that even Stiles was having a hard time finding comebacks to. Both girls had strong personalities and you could think that they wouldn't like each other – which is what happened at the beginning – but they found a common interest in teasing Stiles about his relationship with Derek and it brought them closer.
Derek and him hadn't been able to hide their relationship to the pack for more than two days. Not that they wanted to, really, but it had been awkward. Mostly because Scott was having trouble understanding how Stiles had went to wanting Derek dead to loving him. He had gotten over it after an hour and been very supportive since then. Everyone had been fine about it. Especially because they had thought that Derek would soften and slow down with the trainings they had established which were pretty harsh, even for werewolves. He didn't, of course, and Stiles had almost been blackmailed to convince the Alpha to be nicer with his betas. It had ended up with Stiles being forced to participate in the trainings and he hadn't talked to any of the betas for three days. Three days of not talking were very long for Stiles. It had been compensated with twice more kissing with Derek of course.
They had met demons twice since the events. The first one had been easy to take down but it was still a bad memory for the pack. It was Boyd and Erica who had noticed it. They rarely went to this part of town but apparently there was a new coffee shop that had opened and Erica had taken Boyd on a date there on a Sunday afternoon. The coffee shop was near a park full of children playing happily in the sun. But the smell was omnipresent. They had spent the rest of the afternoon searching for the demon, smelling all the adults in the street before realizing that it was a little girl no more than 8. Exorcizing her in public was impossible and somehow Erica got an idea who made her number three on the list of best strategist of the pack – made by Stiles obviously, the first being him and the second Lydia, and that was only because he had been there before Lydia. Somehow, Erica had managed to talk to the mother of the girl and two days later, herself and Lydia had spent the night at her house for some babysitting. Installing a devil's trap in a stranger's house wasn't easy but they managed to catch the demon in the little girl's bed and to exorcize her. The most terrifying part had been not knowing in which state the little girl's soul would be in. If there was still a soul. Luckily, the little girl had woken up after two hours of unconsciousness and Lydia had called the hospital explaining that the girl hurt her head by falling of her bed.
The second demon they met had been way scarier but less violent. She actually came to them directly.
One morning, three weeks after the events, a woman presented herself at the Hale house. She was pale, with long blond hair, and in her mid-thirties. She was wearing sunglasses despite the rain and did a really good job at hiding her smell because Derek didn't realized she was demon before standing in front of her. He had immediately wolfed out but she had reassured him.
“I'm not here to fight Hale. Don't worry, I won't hurt your little pack.”
“What are you here for then?” He had growled.
“I'm taking news!”
“What?” That had been Stiles, appearing behind Derek with a bottle of salt in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other.
“You see”, she had continued “I have a friend in hell. Well, I say friend... Anyway, I saw him there and considering our past together, I agreed to do him a favour.”
“What?” That had been Derek.
“Yeah, a certain Thomas... I believe one of your pack mates was very close with him a while ago.”
“Oh.”
“He wanted to know how you were doing. So here I am, asking how you are doing.”
She was smiling broadly and didn't seem ready to attack, but Derek was still wolfed out and Stiles ready to throw the bottles at her. However, they listened to her carefully.
“As you can see, we're doing really fine.” Derek had said, pointing at Stiles.
“Yeah, I can see that. Is that an anti-possession tattoo?”
“Yeah, it is. Demons better not mess with us now.” Stiles said, grinning.
“Good, good. I'm sure he will be pleased to hear that.”
And that was all. She left, and they never heard from her or Thomas or any demons since then. Stiles and Derek had stayed breathless for a minute after she was gone then burst out laughing to release the tension. Somehow it had lead to kissing and then a bit more than kissing but they had kept that to themselves when they talked about their encounter with the rest of the pack.
Somehow, their current problem was way easier than any demons or other supernatural creature.
Usually, Derek drove Stiles to his house after the meetings, but tonight, Stiles felt it would be better if it was Scott, because he was pretty sure the conversation he was going to have with his dad was going to involve Derek and he hoped that maybe coming back with his best friend would look less suspicious.
As expected, his dad was waiting behind the door when Stiles opened as silently as possible.
“Oh, hey dad! How are you doing? Did you wait for me to eat dinner?”
“Hello, son. Yes, I thought it would be nice, to have some family time together for once.”
“Oh.” Stiles knew perfectly what family time meant, which is awkward talk time.
They sat in the kitchen and ate dinner in silence. Take away, as usual. The silence preceding the conversation was already awkward and Stiles was constantly looking at his phone, hoping for an important call from Scott or anyone just to get out of there. No one called and his dad gave him his “we're going to talk and you're not going away” look. Stiles swallowed.
“So.” Sheriff Stilinski started. “What do you want to start with? The tattoo or the kissing marks on your neck and the fact that you've been having a lot of sleepovers lately? And it was not at Scott's, don't try to feed me that lie again.”
“I...” Stiles started, and oh god, he was so so fucked.
“Let's start with the easiest. So you have a girlfriend? Why didn't you tell me? You know I have no problem with that, as long as you use protection when...”
“No, no, we're not talking about my sexual life!” Stiles cut him off, almost yelling.
“OK. So, you do have a girlfriend? Is it the Martin girl? You've been hanging out with her a lot...”
“No, it's not...” Stiles whispered. He knew his dad was open minded, but coming out was never easy. “It's not a girlfriend.”
“Oh.” The sheriff said, looking less surprised than Stiles had expected. “So it's a boyfriend? You know I have no problem with that either. You could have told me.”
“Yea, I know I just...” Stiles started. “I wanted to be sure it was serious.”
“And it is?”
Stiles stayed silent for a moment, lost in his thought.
“Yes.” He finally said. “Yes it is. Because... I love him. I really do. And he loves me. So it is serious, definitely serious.”
“Good. I'd like to meet him then. Who is he? Beacon Hills is a small town, I must know him. Is it someone from school?”
“No it's...” That was the complicated part. Going out with a former murder suspect that you have yourself accused twice when your dad is the sheriff is certainly not the most clever thing to do. And that's without mentioning the werewolf thing.
“Son.” The sheriff said with a smile, trying to be reassuring. It only freaked out Stiles more.
“It's Derek Hale.” He said, swallowing slowly and waiting for his death sentence.
His dad' face at that moment was worse remembering. Stiles almost regretted not not taking a picture.
“You... You mean twenty-three years old former murder suspect living in his parents' burnt house Derek Hale or is there another Derek Hale somewhere who doesn't look like a serial killer?”
“Derek doesn't look like a serial killer.” Stiles said firmly. He looks like a predator, a wild animal certainly, and he can be scary. “And he was acquitted.”
“Riiiight. You know you're still under age right?”
“Dad! Not talking about my sexual life! Also, we didn't do anything illegal.” That was a lie but his dad definitely didn't need to know that.
“You said it's serious, so I'm going to believe you. Invite him to dinner tomorrow night, I want to meet him properly.” And despite the man' soft tone, Stiles knew it meant “He better come to dinner tomorrow or I'm going to hunt him through the whole town with my gun and you'll never be able to do anything illegal again because I'm going to shoot him.”
“OK.” was the only thing he could answer to that.
Despite the awkwardness, Stiles was feeling lighter already. Lying to his dad had been hard, especially about Derek, because it made him happy and he wanted to share this happiness with his dad. But Sheriff. And former murder suspect. So he had waited, avoided the subject as long as he could... He had secretly hoped that his dad wouldn't find out about it before he was eighteen but papa Stilinski wasn't the sheriff for nothing.
“So, now, the tattoo. You know that it's completely illegal and that I'm going to sue the guy who did it right?”
“Er, I don't think you'll be able to find him... He's not from around here and we... I've been careful. So , er, sorry about that I guess?” He smiled shyly. It wasn't nice to tell that to his dad but he couldn't risk anything, especially not the safety of the kind werewolves who had tattooed them.
“OK. Right. Then can you at least tell me why you got tattooed?”
“Er. Not... Yet?”
The Sheriff sighed, got up and went to the fridge to get a beer.
“It's more complicated... It... It has something to do with everything that has happened since last year... Can we talk about it next week or something? Please? So you can prepare yourself because it's pretty big. Like, really big. But don't freak out, it's fine, but... Please?” Stiles asked, doing his best puppy eyes.
They stared at each other for a while, Stiles shivering under his dad's cold look, until the sheriff sighed again and finally said :
“OK, fine. A week. But after that, no more lies.”
“No more lies.” Stiles repeated.
“You can go to sleep now. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow. Also, don't forget about the dinner.”
“Yes, right! Good night dad and... Thank you.”
With that, Stiles ran to his room.
He was not surprised to find Derek there, waiting for him in the dark.
He closed the door behind him, carefully locking it.
“You hear everything?” He asked.
“Almost.” Derek answered, walking toward Stiles.
“So dinner tomorrow?” Stiles said, putting his hands on Derek' hips.
“Dinner tomorrow.” Derek answered. “Should I wear a tie?” He asked, sounding worried.
Stiles let out a laugh. “If you want to! But my dad won't mind if you don't. Just try not to look like a serial killer OK?”
“OK.”
They were against each other now, hugging, and Stiles clung on Derek, finally relaxing.
“We'll have a meeting the day after tomorrow. To plan how to tell your dad about...”
“Yes, that too.” Stiles mumbled against Derek' neck.
“It'll be fine. Trust me.”
“It will.” Stiles whispered.
Then, Derek' hands were on his face and Stiles noticed how Derek' eyes were bright with emotion, hope and trust and he couldn't help but smile. He leaned in for a kiss. It was sweet at first, but it quickly deepened.
“Bed, now.” Derek said softly.
“My dad is here.”
“I know.” Derek laughed. “To sleep, I mean.”
“Oh. Well.”
Derek dragged him to the bed, still hugging him and installed them under the covers. Of course, they kissed some more. Stiles would never get tired of it, kissing Derek, the warmth of his lips against his, of his body tangled with Derek's, of the safety that he felt in Derek's arms. Of this constant feeling of happiness. At that moment, he believed every word that came out of Derek' mouth. It would be fine, it really was going to be fine. He smiled and started falling asleep. Suddenly, he felt Derek' lips moving against his ear.
“I love you.”
Stiles smiled. He was really never getting tired of all this.
---
The end.