Chapter Text
The drive is slow going. Stiles talks, he talks a lot, not that this is really a surprise but what is a surprise is that no one is yelling at him about it yet. Not Derek who seems to have suddenly become comfortable listening to Stiles talk as he drives and not any of the passengers in the back who are either too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to Stiles or are still using their eyebrows as their own form of communication. Allison lets out an annoyed sigh and Stiles looks back to see Isaac and Scott staring at each other and Allison looking like she is annoyed by the fact that she has no idea what they are trying, and kind of failing, to communicate.
"I need to stretch my legs and go to the bathroom. Can we stop at the next abandoned service station?" Allison asks still sounding annoyed from the back seat of the van.
"Sure." Derek says not seeming to notice her tone of voice. Derek's eyes are on Stiles with a smile on his lips, Stiles is pretty sure only he can see, creeping across Derek's lips. Derek’s smile is like seeing the sun shine on his face for the first time in a really long time. It makes Derek look happy, like really happy, not just okay or fine, he looks happy. And then Derek just looks away but he is still smiling and Stiles is starting to think that Derek is planning something and that kind of look worries Stiles.
Derek pulls into the next service station like Allison asked and Allison hops out pulling Isaac and Scott with her.
"We'll be back in a moment." She says to Derek from over her shoulder. Derek nods and gets out of the car to stretch his legs as well. Stiles soon find out that stretching his legs is not why Derek got out of the car. As soon as the others are out of sight Derek has made his way over to Stiles' door and is wrenching it open. Stiles turns towards him.
"You want me to drive, sourwolf?" He asked. Derek grips his hip and turns Stiles so that his legs are swinging out of the side of the van and Derek is standing, tightly fit, between them.
"No." Derek says in response to the question Stiles has now forgotten he had asked. Derek has that look in his eyes, that look that he had last night when he went to work on Stiles' neck. So Stiles is kind of expecting it when Derek leans down and tips Stiles head back so he can kiss him gently. Nothing stays gentle though because Stiles is too eager and Derek is way too good at getting Stiles’ heart racing. Stiles has just gotten his legs securely wrapped around Derek's waist when Derek pulls back and cocks his head to one side. He may be listening for something but his eyes are clearly focused on Stiles."I just," Derek stammers, which is completely weird in its own right. "I didn't know when I'd be able to kiss you again."
*****
Inside the service station:
“I’m getting annoyed.” Allison states the obvious at Isaac and Scott. “What are you two trying to tell each other with only your eyebrows?”
“They, they,” Scott looks awkward and confused. “Isaac, how do me and Allison smell or Boyd and Erica or Lydia and Jackson?”
“What?!” Allison asks but Scott is solely focused on Isaac. Isaac looks confused before answering.
“Like each other and, I don’t know, hormones, and warmth, and like the same person sometimes.” Isaac answered still looking slightly confused.
“Yeah, exactly. Now,” and Scott hyper ventilating a little now, “how do Derek and Stiles smell?” Isaac’s eyes get really big and then his mouth kind of falls open. “Oh god, you agree don’t you? I was kinda of hoping I was wrong.”
“Oh my god,” Isaac says. “They’re, they’re.”
“Yeah.” Scott says.
“Again, will someone tell me what’s going on?” Allison asks.
“So, Allison, you know how you’re my mate and stuff and that’s why you smell pack to Isaac and Derek and the rest of the pack. And how now we both smell like Isaac now too.” Scott starts to answer.
“Yes.” Allison says slowly.
“So and how we smell like each other and stuff in the same way Boyd and Erica smell like pack and each other and the same thing for Jackson and Lydia and...Stiles and Derek.”
“What?” Allison says.
“Yeah, they’re not just playing around or figuring things out. They’re mates and they are starting to actually smell like it.”
“Ohhh.” Is all Allison says.
“That’s why I have really wanted to puppy piles Stiles recently.” Isaac exclaims.
*****
Back outside:
Stiles smiles and Derek can see how the smile reaches his gorgeous brown eyes. Derek's left hand moves up to pull aside part of Stiles' scarf and look at the purple mark he left the night before.
"Yeah, now I have to wear a douche scarf because of you." Stiles responses with a laugh but Derek's looking at him seriously, rubbing one thumb over the mark, and making Stiles shiver. And then Stiles can tell, can tell that Derek likes it. Derek likes that Stiles has a mark on him, a mark that Derek made. Or Derek's wolf likes it at least because Derek's eyes go a little red as he rubs it with his thumb. "Oh my god, you like it. You like that you marked me." Stiles says his smile twisting a little as he holds in a laugh. Derek leans down his eyes still kind of red now and sucks hard on the same spot on Stiles' neck. And Stiles is only still up right because Derek's other hand is wrapped around his waist. As quickly as Derek came over to manhandle Stiles he leaves causing Stiles to fall back into the car. Derek’s opening his own door when Allison, Isaac, and Scott emerge from the service station. Stiles tries to get himself back into the van and get his scarf as straight as possible as the other three climb back into the van. Scott stops for a moment wrinkling his nose as he steps into the van. After Stiles has regained his ability to think and the throbbing of his neck as stopped, he turns back to Derek.
"Admit you like it." Stiles says grinning devilishly at Derek.
"Stiles." Derek says warningly gesturing with his head to the passengers in the back. Stiles just smiles wider.
"Admit it."
"No."
"But you do. It some wolf thing."
"Stiles." Derek says again. Stiles looks back to make sure that the passengers aren't paying attention. He wants to vomit a little bit when he sees them curl around each other in the far back seat, Isaac pressing small kisses to Allison's check and lips. Convinced that they really aren't paying attention Stiles leans over into Derek's space. Derek tenses for a moment refusing to take his eyes off the road in front of them. Stiles leans so that he is breathing hot and heavy over Derek's ear before speaking.
"You like it. Come on admit that you wanted everyone to see it and you want to do it again and again and you want to mark my whole body so that everyone knows. So everyone can see the lip marks and the teeth marks and everyone knows I am yours." As Stiles speaks Derek's hands grip the wheel harder and harder. "You want to make me scream so loud that everybody knows your suc-" That went Derek really can't take any longer and still drive safely so he shoves Stiles hard away from him. This of course rouses the group in the back as Stiles hits the passenger door laughing hysterically and looking at Derek smugly.
"What's going on?" Scott asks though he can smell the werewolves and human hormones in air in front of him.
"Nothing." Derek and Stiles say at the same time. Derek sounding tense and sexually frustrated and Stiles sounds amused and smug. Stiles pulls out his laptop which he is so happy to say survived even if he had to steal long term batteries for it to keep it running.
"You still have that?" Derek asks looking surprised at the laptop.
"Yeah, isn't it a miracle she survived. I'd almost cried with joy." Stiles says in all seriousness as he puts in on of the batteries and turns her on.
"Did you steal those?" Derek asks.
"I defend that their was no one there and that the world had just stuttered to a stop so it shouldn’t really be considered stealing." Stiles answers.
"No, that's still stealing." Derek says. Stiles rolls his eyes at him.
*****
“Are we there yet?” Scott whines for the third time that day. Allison groans from the back seat next to him. If Allison is getting annoyed that means that Scott is really getting annoying or they have all been in the car together for too long. Derek looks up from the book he is reading, that he stole out of Stiles’ backpack, and looks like he is about to rip all his betas apart.
“Maybe, we should stop for the night?” Stiles interjects. It dark out and even though they only have about four more hours till they reach Lydia and Jackson, Stiles thinks, they should probably stop somewhere to sleep before the van becomes the victim of an annoyed alpha and his betas.
“Sounds great.” Derek says sarcastically. Stiles rolls his eyes are him and Derek finishes, “Take the next exit.” Stiles nods and does as he is told, pulling off the main, deserted road to a smaller road. About a mile into the desolate town they come across an abandoned motel. The motel is vaguely similar to the one Derek and Stiles stayed in the first night they were together. Stiles pulls the van around the back of the motel and parks.
“Maybe we should get separate rooms.” Scott says as Derek tries to shepherd them all to one room.
“No, we should stick together at least till there are more of us.” Derek says pushing in the door and flipping on the light. The room itself is similar to the one they stayed in the first night as well. Two double beds, mostly clean, a bathroom, and heat. Stiles tosses his bag on the same bed Derek is sitting on. They have slept in the same bed for days now and he just assuming him and Derek sleeping in the same bed is a thing now. Isaac and Allison climb into the other bed while Scott goes to the bathroom. They look tired, Stiles thinks, but he assumes they all look like that right now. No one really talks, they’re all too tired and Scott joins Allison and Isaac on the bed when he returns. They all pass out within minutes, wrapped gently around each other focusing on each other’s skin and warmth. The way they are curled around each other makes Stiles stop for a moment. He hasn’t really seen them like this. There are no sexual vibes between them, they’re too tired, and it’s all affectionate. It is sweet in a way that doesn’t want to make Stiles puke.
“They’re cute when they aren’t having sex.” Stiles says turning to Derek who has already discarded his shirt.
“Really?” Derek asks as he moves closer and trails his fingers over the edge of Stiles’ t-shirt.
“I don’t want to think of Scott’s sex life with Allison and Isaac.” Stiles says trying to ignore Derek hands but kind of failing at ignore the way Derek’s hands are working on grabbing more and more of Stiles’ shirt.
“Well, you can always get him back when we tell all of them.” Derek whispers leaning in to kiss Stiles softly.
“They are asleep, right?” Stiles asks in a whisper trying to figure where his hands are suppose to go while Derek kisses his lips and jaw line. But then Stiles doesn’t really have to worry about his hands because Derek is pulling Stiles’ t-shirt up and over is head.
“Yeah, they’re asleep.” Derek answers tossing Stiles’ shirt to the side and pulling Stiles closer so he can suck on Stiles neck. He moves down to suck on Stiles’ collarbone because Stiles’ shirt will cover his collarbone, right? So Derek can mark him there are much as he wants or that’s the theory Derek is working under as he sucks a bruise on Stiles’ pale skin. Stiles grips Derek’s belt loops and pulls him forward towards the bed. The back of Stiles’ knees hit the bed and Stiles pulls them both down onto the bed. Derek is a lot heavier than Stiles and normally Derek would be prepared to check his weight before it hit Stiles. But this isn’t normally and Derek is distracted by Stiles’ skin and so when Stiles pulls Derek onto the bed with him Derek’s full weight hits Stiles. Stiles laughs quietly while he also refuses to let Derek move off of him. Stiles hold onto Derek’s hips.
“Don’t move.” Stiles whispers into Derek’s lips. It’s warm under Derek and that feels safe. The protection of Derek’s body over his own makes him feel likes he has never felt before. He has had boyfriends and girlfriends but he never been with someone who knows him as well or as fully as Derek. They had grown closer and closer in high school after Scott was turned. Stiles had a small crush on Derek in high school but he still going on the Lydia train at the time. But his crush on her pretty much went away after he began college and realized that boys were just as good as girls. He had soon realized that Lydia was way better as a best friend who he could talk to about his dates and his classes than she was as a crush. Stiles figures that he could never see that over his middle school obsession with her and once she was gone and he didn’t see her everyday he started to see every other attractive person around him and that some of them were interested in him as well.
While he had never seen Lydia, he had seen Derek at least every other week. Either when Derek, Scott, and Allison came up to visit or when Derek just came up to visit him. At first it was weird, when Derek showed up by himself to see Stiles but that feeling didn’t last long. Derek was easy to talk to and at the time Derek had needed someone to talk with. The more Stiles talked the more Derek would talk. It was in little bits and in the beginning it was focused on pack stuff or stuff going on in Beacon Hills at the time. But Derek opened up and they began it see each other even more and soon Stiles knew everything. Everything about the fire, Derek’s family, and Kate. It had been completely platonic, okay, maybe not completely but neither of them had acted on it. Stiles hadn’t been ready for that with Derek and Derek hadn’t been ready for any one like that. With Derek now on top of him and kissing him softly, Stiles thinks that maybe it wasn’t all platonic. Maybe they needed all that stuff to be known to each other before they work on helping each other and themselves.
“We should probably be going to sleep,” Derek mumbles into Stiles’ mouth and then Stiles moves down to suck on the vein in Derek’s neck in a way that is very far from stopping, “before the others wake up because of your heart beat.” Derek gasps slightly when Stiles sucks a little harder.
“I don’t think it’s just my heart beat.” Stiles presses his hand over Derek’s heart feeling it beat through Derek’s chest. Derek really hadn’t realized how sensitive that part of his neck was or how hard he is falling for Stiles. Stiles hooks his leg over Derek’s hip and nips at Derek’s neck with his teeth. And he not really sure which he is more shocked by right now because Stiles is doing something ungodly to the side of his neck and he is pretty sure they shouldn’t be getting this into it with two of his betas in the bed, literally, 3 feet away. Scott makes a noise in his sleep and Stiles jumps away from Derek, looking flushed and hot and heavy.
“Yeah, sleep.” Stiles mutters. Derek pulls him down for another kiss and it is soft and sweet, before tucking his head into Stiles’ neck. Sleep, Stiles think, yeah, cause that’s going to be easy with Derek next to him and a raging hard on.
*****
Sleep does apparently come because Stiles wakes up with the sun from the uncurtained motel room window streaming down onto him, a hard on, and Derek smiling down at him coyly. Derek moves his hand down from Stiles’ hip to his groin and Stiles’ eyes slide closed again as Derek keeps moving his hand.
Of course, nothing good lasts when you're traveling with a bunch of cock blocking werewolves who like to interrupt at exactly the wrong moments. Derek and Stiles split apart when Scott opens the door.
“I got breakfast.” Scott says seemingly oblivious to Derek and Stiles current position and holding up some bread and a jar of strawberry jam.
“Great.” Stiles says jumping up and trying to cover his erection. “I am going to take a shower.” He says as he hurries to the bathroom and to a cold shower. Stiles hears Derek chuckle into the bed and really wants to flip him off as the other two join Scott in the doorway.
“Whose shirts are these?” Scott asks as he picks up Derek and Stiles’ shirts from the floor where Derek threw them the night before. Scott looks slightly confused as he looks to Isaac who shrugs his shoulder and Allison stifles a laugh.
“Ou-I mean, Stiles and mine.” Derek sits up in bed gesturing for Scott to toss him the shirts. Scott raises a confused and suspicious eyebrow at Derek. “It was hot in here last night.” Derek defends himself to Scott’s eyebrow. Derek gets up and snatches the shirts when going to the bathroom door he hears Allison say, “Maybe it was hot for you two.” Or at least that’s what he thinks he hears. He tossing Stiles’ on to the floor of the bathroom for him when he gets out of the shower.
****
They’re about an hour from Lydia and Jackson’s apartment when Scott gives them a call on the phone Boyd gave Isaac. Scott talks to Lydia and she promises to be ready when they get there.
When they pull up to the house Lydia and Jackson are standing outside with their bags looking way more fabulous than anyone has a right to when the world has ended, like they always do. Stiles isn’t really sure how this is possible. He doesn’t think that there can be the much makeup and hair product at easy access since the world ended but never the less Lydia’s strawberry blonde locks are perfect and Jackson looks like he just walk out of a Calvin Klein ad and Stiles kind of hate them for it.
“I missed you.” Stiles says hugging Lydia and picking her up up off the ground in the process. He doesn’t have a crush on her any longer but he still loves her and she still one of his best friends and so he can hug her however he like despite the daggers her boyfriend may be shooting at him.
“Dude, I don’t have a crush on your girlfriend anymore.” Stiles says while trying to hug Jackson which doesn’t really work. Jackson final submits and hugs Stiles like he going to kill him. Stiles can hear Derek chuckle behind them. Jackson may still be a douche but the whole pack thing got to him after a couple of months of being a werewolf after the whole kanima debacle. He’ll never be the lovey-dovey pack type like Scott and Isaac but Stiles knows he loves the pack and he has seen that Jackson will protect the pack at all costs and Stiles can never fault Jackson for loving Lydia.
“Shouldn’t we be getting on the road?” Lydia smirks after they have all scented and hugged accordingly. She tosses her bags to Stiles and starts walking around to the front passenger seat.
“That’s Stiles’ seat.” Derek says to Lydia as he climbs in the driver’s seat. Lydia looks up at him and tilts her head a little. “When I drive, Stiles sits there.” Derek finish trying not to feel like she is looking at him way too hard. She gives him a small smirk.
“Okay.” She says. “Jackson sit in the back with me.”
Stiles slides into the front seat with a smirk on his face that really isn’t directed at anybody, okay a little of it is directed at Lydia. He thinks it’s probably stupid for him to be happy over the fact the Derek isn’t letting anybody else sit in the front seat but he is happy over it. He know they agreed to pretend nothing was happening and Derek not letting Lydia sit in the front seat is probably the opposite of that, yet, Derek’s insistence that Stiles sit in the front seat is somehow vindication of all the sneaking around they’ve been doing.
The first couple hours of driving are honorary storytelling hours. They all swap stories of when everything went down and how it has been since. And Isaac, Scott, and Allison tell Lydia and Jackson about their relationship and how it all came about. Jackson and Lydia’s reaction is way calmer the Derek and Stiles’ had been. They don’t really brush it off but they don’t ask question and they don’t seem to care beyond the fact that it is obvious Lydia and Jackson are happy for the three of them even though Jackson looks a little offended someone is getting more sex then he is. There is some crying for everyone involved when they relate stories of their parent’s deaths. Even Jackson, who will pretend later that he didn’t cry, tears up over his adoptive parent’s deaths. Jackson tells them all when they ask that Danny perfectly safe. Danny’s boyfriend’s parents are apparently big-wigs in some Swiss bank and when shit started to go down Danny and his boyfriend, Sam, were whisked off to some underground bunker in Russia. Jackson has a satellite phone that is still working that Danny got for him. The conversation lasts for hours until Scott and Isaac complain that they are tired and pull Allison into the back row of seat with them. They are curled around each other and asleep within minutes.
Lydia is quiet while Jackson wraps an arm around her and pulls out his book. Lydia’s eyes move slowly over the people in the van until they finally rest on Derek and Stiles in the front seat. She hasn’t really got a moment to think about Derek kicking her out the front seat till now. She wasn’t really focusing on it till Derek turns to Stiles with a small smile on his lips and he whispers something quietly so only Stiles can hear. Stiles smiles and blushes breaking eye contact with Derek for a second. She blinks twice to make sure she was seeing this right. Then she wonders how she hasn’t seen it all along. How hasn’t she noticed the way Derek’s eyes have been following the turn of Stiles’ lips when he smiles or the way Derek smiles when Stiles make stupid jokes. Or the way they stood close to each other earlier when they picked her and Jackson up. The question is whether they have figured it out yet. She assumes they haven't because she would've heard about that, right? Stiles won’t be able to keep his big mouth closed about that. Her and Stiles talk about everything, classes, boyfriends, books, girlfriends. But the way Derek and Stiles are acting is either: we’re being really subtle so we don’t realize we like each other but kind of obvious because we can brush it off as being friends or we being subtle so that everyone else doesn’t realize we are sleeping together but kind of obvious because no one is watching.
“Jackson.” She says pulling him out of his book.
“Yeah, Lyd.” He asks finishing his sentence as he looks up at her.
“Stiles and Derek, what do you think?” Lydia asks.
“I don’t know. Stiles has had a huge crush on Derek since, like, the moment they meet but Derek is way out of his league and he always been too caught up in you to realize.” Lydia looks at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. “What? Its obvious.” He says looking confused at her.
“You really need to start telling me all the things that are obvious.” She says before continuing. “But Stiles isn’t caught up in me anymore and hasn’t been for a while.”
“Yeah so?”
“Watch them for me.” Lydia asks gesturing to the two of them in the front seats. Jackson watches them and he can see what she means in the way Stiles is looking at Derek.
“Ohhh,” he says, “you really think so? I mean we don’t even know where Derek’s preferences lie.”
“I do think so. I mean if they aren't they should be.” Lydia is smiling dangerously.
*****
It their second night in some crappy motel on their way to Boyd and Erica’s when Lydia and Jackson put their plan all together. All of them are in the room Lydia, Jackson, Scott, Isaac, and Allison are sharing, because Lydia insisted so that Stiles and Derek would get their own room, and they are all taking hits of a bottle of Jack that Derek and Stiles had been hiding in the back of the van since the beginning of the trip. Lydia made sure nobody went into Derek and Stiles room last night because she wants them to think that no one knows. They haven’t talked to Scott, Allison, or Isaac about it yet because Lydia assumes that they are all too focused on each other to notice the change in behavior between Derek and Stiles. So, basically, without telling each other Allison, Isaac, and Scott and Jackson and Lydia think Stiles and Derek are together and Stiles and Derek are still under the impression they are hiding it well.
Around eleven everyone is slightly buzzed off the alcohol and everyone is yawning even though all they did was drive all day.
“I’m going to go to bed.” Stiles says getting up off the floor. His eyes flick over Derek and he smiles. He knows if he “goes to bed” so will Derek and they can make out and blow each other in peace. And Stiles really wants to because as he learned last night Derek tastes really good, like beyond real, and being with Derek, like that, feels better than it has with anyone.
“Yeah, me too.” Derek says getting up to follow Stiles taking the bottle with him.
Stiles is leaning back against the wall next to the door when Derek closes the door behind him. Stiles presses Derek into the door and Derek moans into his mouth.
“I missed you all day.” Derek says tossing the bottle onto the extra bed.
“I was with you all day.” Stiles says pulling his t-shirt off and pulling up on the bottom of Derek’s shirt.
“You know what I mean.” Derek pushes Stiles back towards the bed as he gets out of his own shirt and runs his palms over Stiles’ sides. Derek turns them so that the back of his knees hit the each of the bed first and he pulls Stiles down with him. Stiles laughs as he falls on Derek, his legs falling open to straddle Derek.
“This feels so good, Derek.” Stiles gasps trying to get more air in his lungs as Derek’s hands dig into his hips. Despite that fact that he is a werewolves Derek is also having trouble keeping enough air in his lungs. Stiles is rolling his hips down onto Derek and Derek is trying to do the same thing upwards but Stiles has him pinned to the bed and Derek is trying to remember to breath. Derek finally finds enough brain power to use his weight to flip them so that he can roll down on Stiles. Stiles legs get tangled in with Derek in the flip and one is laying loose on the bed while the other is hooked up around Derek’s hip. Derek hold his weight up with one hand and slides the other under the waistband of Stiles’ jeans where Stiles legs is hooked over Derek’s hip. Stiles bits down on Derek’s lower lips in attempt to suppress a moan as Derek’s fingers play with the band of his briefs. Stiles knows the walls here are thin so he trying not to moan too loudly even though it’s really hard when Derek it grabbing his ass like this and Stiles has never really been good at being quiet.
*****
“Did they take the bottle?” Isaac sounds sad at this.
“Yeah,” Lydia says and then she get a thought. “Let’s go grab it. I have a key to their room we won’t even have to really bother them.”
“It fine, really.” Scott says looking like he really scared to interrupt Derek and Stiles. Allison raises her head from where it was resting on Scott’s shoulder.
“Good idea, Lydia.” She says with a smile. The boys all get up reluctantly following Lydia and Allison as they make their way to the door. Lydia throws Jackson another dangerous smiles as she pulls him to the front of the group with her.
“What are you doing Lydia?” He aks.
“Ohhh, you know. Derek and Stiles, their own room, where they don’t think they’ll be interrupted.” She says grabbing his hand. He smiles down at her. He loves her more than anything. She saved him when he had given her no reason to. And she had been the only one he had loved for a long time. That has changed now. He has the pack, yeah he never thought he would say it either, but he does love them each and everyone of them. Lydia slides the key into the lock and turns giving Jackson that dangerous smile again before pushing the door open.
Scott screams like a girl. Derek is on top of Stiles. Their shirt are somewhere on the floor and Stiles has one leg wrapped around Derek’s hip. Stiles is moaning into Derek’s lips until that moan turns into a scream when he sees them all standing in the doorway. Derek tries to sit up and off of Stiles but ends up falling down again when he can’t get his hand out of Stiles’ pants fast enough. Lydia and Jackson smirk at each other.
“ I knew it.” Lydia says and Allison and Isaac say, “We knew it,” as Scott tries to cover his eyes and as Jackson crosses his arms and puts on a shit eating grin.
Both Stiles and Derek have managed to fall off the bed by this point and are laying on the floor hoping everyone will leave them alone.
“What?” Lydia turns to Allison with her hands on her hips. “You knew and didn’t tell us.”
“No,” Allison says. “We thought that they were together. Isaac and Scott said they smell like each other.”
“We smell like each other?” Stiles says finally pulling himself from under Derek and sticking his head above the edge of the bed. Stiles’ hair is askew from Derek’s fingers being in it and he keeps having to bat Derek’s hands away from pulling him down again.
“Derek get up here.” Lydia says and Derek groans from where he is currently laying on the floor behind the bed. Stiles chuckles a bit as Derek sits up. “We are a pack and we have to talk about this.”
“Talk about it?” Stiles looks confused as he stands up, pulling Derek with him, and trying to pulls his pants up to an appropriate place on his hips.
“Yes, talk about this.” Allison says joining Lydia with her hands on her hips. All the boys on the other hand look like they would rather just leave with the bottle of Jack than talk about this. Jackson is staring into space and Isaac and Scott are studying each other’s hands. Stiles is trying to sit down on the bed, like a normal person, but Derek is trying to pull Stiles into his lap and it overall not working real well.
“You two are seeing each other?” Lydia asks. She is getting annoyed at them for the PDA they are displacing right now. Or the PDA Derek is displacing. She also kind of annoyed Stiles didn’t tell her about this earlier.
“Yes, that should be fairly obvious.” Derek says finally managing to pull Stiles onto his lap. Derek flicks his eyes up to the group in the doorway and then with a smirk dips his head to lick a line up Stiles neck that ends with his kissing underneath Stiles ear.
“Dude, no.” Scott yells. Trying to cover his eyes again. Stiles laughs wrapping a hand around the back of Derek’s head and leaning his own head back so Derek can get better access to his neck.
“You guys probably want to leave.” Stiles says as Derek turns them so that he can access Stiles’ mouth. “But I mean, you’re welcome to stay.”
“You into that?” Derek asks between open mouth kisses.
“I don’t know. Never tried it.” Stiles answers and Derek smiles wide at him.
“No, we’re leaving.” Scott and Jackson say and then turn to leave only then realizing that they were going to have to drag Lydia, Allison, and Isaac with them.
“Really?!” Jackson says.
“I didn’t even know I wanted that till right now.” Lydia says looking slightly dazed.
*****
Lydia bangs on Derek and Stiles door at 7 the next morning.
“I know you two probably had a late night but-”She cut off when Stiles swings the door open. He is wear probably the best grin she has ever seen and a dark line of hickeys is evident from the top of his neck to below the top of his t-shirt.
“Don’t worry we’re ready.” Stiles says as Derek comes up behind him carrying both of their bags and holding Stiles’ hoodie out for his to put on. Lydia takes one look at Derek holding Stiles bag and bursts out laughing.
“What?” Derek asks pushing Stiles out the door and closing it behind them. Stiles is having some trouble walking normally after last night. He is sure everyone will notice his slight limp and that combined with the line of hickey he know are very visible on his neck is making his face heat up as Lydia looks him and Derek up and down. She laughs.
“Oh my god. You are so whipped.” Lydia says to Derek between bouts of laughter. Derek doesn’t even look offended, which surprises Stiles. Derek leans over a kisses Stiles on check without a word to Lydia and then wraps an arm around Stiles’ waist. Derek doesn’t care what Lydia thinks. Stiles is his mate, they haven’t really discussed that yet but Derek knows Stiles is his mate, and it his job to protect, love, and make his mate happy. He can’t even help it. It’s a natural instinct to do whatever he can to make Stiles’ life easier and it’s a natural instinct to want to wrap himself up with Stiles all the time. Derek just trying to bask in that feeling instead of thinking about it. He’s never trust or loved someone like this and it’s scary but everything in his body, all his senses, all his instincts are telling him to trust Stiles with everything and to love Stiles with everything he has got in him.
“We should get going. Is everyone else ready?” Derek asks. Lydia gives him a strange look before responding.
“Yeah, they’re waiting outside.”
When they get outside all the wolves look like they are trying to fight the smiles that are overwhelming their faces. Scott looks like he going to either kill Derek or hug him. Derek and his wolf are so happy and he is the Alpha so his feelings are overwhelming his betas. Scott walks up to Derek trying to look like the threatening best friend but end up with a twisted smile on his face (half smile and half threatening scowl).
“If you hurt him I swear to God I will hurt you.” Scott says to Derek. Derek nods seriously.
“I will never hurt him.”
“Umm, him is standing right here.” Stiles interrupts coming to stand next to Derek. “And he is completely allowed to hurt me if I ask for it.” Stiles says leaning down and biting at Derek’s shoulder.
“Oh, too much information, Stiles.” Scott says as Derek turns and pulls Stiles face up to his own. “Are they always going to be like this?” Scott turns to ask the group as Derek and Stiles are making out behind him.
“You really shouldn’t talk.” Stiles says when Derek finally releases him. “This is for all the years I had to hear about your sex life with Allison and the fact that all three of you eat face in public all the time.”
“Can we get going?” Lydia sticks her head out of the door from the backseat. “While I am really happy you two finally got your acts together if we start now we can make to Boyd and Erica’s tonight.”
*****
Lydia is right they do make it to Boyd and Erica’s at about 11 that night. And they are all really ready to be out of the car. Everyone but Derek is about to kill Stiles for the amount of things he says that just plain dirty. Derek is about to kill everyone but Stiles because they keep preventing him from talking dirty back to Stiles.
Erica and Boyd jump on Isaac as he gets out of the van. Stiles hasn’t seen them in months, though he has talked to them, and he hadn’t realized how domestic they have gotten. Erica has certainly mellowed a lot since high school. Her hair and clothes and makeup are still perfect but they have become less revealing and more her. She is still hot and every guy still looks down her shirt but she plays with them less. Boyd keeps her close with an arm around her waist. As a couple they were never the lovey dovey type like Allison and Scott but they relied on each other and we best friends a long time before they ever entered into a monogamous relationship. They were on and off in high school. There was never much drama but Erica wasn’t a one guy girl for a long time. Stiles had seen the way Boyd felt. And Boyd had been patient till Erica had given up the others for only him. Now they are closer than anything Stiles has ever seen. They are best friends, lovers, pack mates, and mates. Erica looks like a really proud mother as she hug Isaac and smiles at Allison and Scott and Boyd has his arm wrapped protectively over her shoulders as she kisses the top of Isaac’s head. They decide to crash for the night at Erica and Boyd’s house. It’s a large tudor style house just off the campus of the college the two of them and Isaac used to attend. Derek got it for them when they all decided to go to school there. The apocalypse hasn’t damned the brightness of the inside of the house. After living with Derek in an abandoned train car the betas felt the need to live somewhere a little brighter. The rooms are painted warm colors and they are numerous framed photos of the pack with all the werewolves wearing sunglasses.
“I’ll show you all to your rooms.” Erica says as she closes the front door and does up the numerous locks that are on it.
“You should put those two together.” Isaac says pointing to Stiles and Derek.
“Oh my god, really?” Erica looks fuck ecstatic as she looks wide eyed at Derek and Stiles. She throws her arm around Derek’s neck. “I’m so happy for you.” Stiles gives her a strange look. “Does this mean I get free gay porn?”
“No!” Derek says.
“Never mind, it probably be like watching my parents bone each other.” She says looking slightly disgusted at herself.
*****
The van’s getting a little crowd as they start out the next day. The wolves like to be close but after five hours with an extra two werewolves in the back of the van everybody is feeling the strain.
“Where are we even going?” Erica asks as she attempts to push Scott out the window of the van. The windows barely opens in the back so it not really working well for anyone.
“I told you, Erica. My family had a house up north and that is where we are going.” Derek says from where he is curled into Stiles’ side in the far corner of the backseat of the van. They’re letting Lydia drive because she needed out of the backseat with the crazy werewolves and Derek and Stiles needed a break from the road for a bit. Derek is trying to get some sleep and his betas are making it extremely difficult by either asking him question about where they are going which he has told them fifteen million times or make crude comment about the way his head is tucked under Stiles’ arm. He, personally, really likes the way his head fits under Stiles’ arm. He can angle his head downward a bit and press the top of his head into Stiles’ ribs. He can smell Stiles perfectly when he is trying to go to sleep. The combination of happiness, love, and the crazy, beautiful way Stiles always smells. He likes the sweet, subtle way Stiles curves his side around Derek’s head, so that they fit perfectly together.
“I know,” Erica starts again, “but, like, where is it? And how long is this gonna take? Because I’m not sure how much more of the nine of us one van I can take.”
Derek growls sleepy into Stiles’ side wishing everyone would just stop talking for awhile, or the rest of the drive.
“Erica, let Derek sleep.” Stiles says sternly pulling Derek closer to him. Erica gives him an annoyed look and then looks with fake disappointment down at her alpha. Stiles knows she secretly loves to see Derek this happy. Stiles doesn’t think her wolf has figured out why it’s alpha is so submissive yet. Stiles, personally, doesn’t want to think about why Derek is like this with him. Stiles likes it, that for sure, but they haven’t talked out anything yet. Stiles is pretty sure he is in love with Derek and he thinks Derek feels the same way about him but Stiles always second guesses himself. He second guesses himself because werewolves aren’t human and he knows they Erica and Boyd’s relationship and Lydia and Jackson’s and Scott and Allison’s, and maybe Isaac with that, goes beyond just love. It goes beyond human love at least. He knows what they are. That word he is trying to avoid thinking about. They are mates, beyond anything two human could have. Mates is forever and it eclipses all other love and any human love. The human in a relationship with a werewolf feels it just as much as the werewolf. In a sense they gain some of the magical qualities of their mate. Their ability to feel their mates feelings and if the pack is strong enough, to feel the pack’s feelings as well. Stiles hopes to whatever is listening that that is what this is.
Stiles did the whole fuck buddy thing in college, and the one night stands, and the causal boyfriends thing. He did it all and it never really clicked. He never trusted enough or found someone to trust to be able to say what he felt or commit. Now with Derek, he feels he could be great at it and he wants it. He wants to be fucking domestic and he wants to sell his soul to Derek along with his body for the price of staying with Derek forever.
Stiles leans down and places a soft kiss on the top of Derek’s head.
*****
They do what they have done almost every night of this trips so far: they crash in some god forsaken abandoned motel on the side of whatever random Canadian road they are on. They happen to find a dead body in this motel but other than that it seems relatively clean and a safe place to spend the night. Derek and Stiles are both tired despite having slept in the car. Unlike any night before this everything is slow and sweet and Stiles loves it. He is afraid Derek doesn’t until he sees the pure joy and love and happiness displayed openly on Derek’s face as Derek slides up next to him. Stiles lets his eyes slide shut until he hears Derek try to begin to speak. Derek voice is raspy from giving Stiles a blowjob and Derek gets caught on the words he’s trying to say.
“Stiles...” He starts as Stiles opens his eyes slowly, still feeling alert despite being tired. “Stiles, I know we haven’t really talked about this.” Derek is trying to says something but he not really sure what. Stiles looks at him with wide, beautiful, open eyes like he’ll accept anything Derek tells or says to him. He wants to tell Stiles that he is his mate but he not sure how you even bring that up. He can remember his father talking to him and Laura about it when they were younger but he can’t really remember the details. “I know we just been having sex and I want to make sure you know I want more. I want this to be a rela-”
“I’m your mate, aren’t I?” Stiles say it slowly and with no force on the “aren’t I” part, interrupting Derek’s attempt to say the same thing. Stiles couldn’t really hold it in any longer. He wants to make sure he has this all right. He wants to be Derek’s mate, he wants to be with Derek forever. He is afraid that is why he asks. He is afraid that they aren’t mates. Or that Derek doesn’t know they are mate or doesn’t want that. “I can’t do this if I’m not.” Stiles says and his words almost break Derek’s heart.
“Yes, Stiles.” Derek hears Stiles breath of relief. “That’s what I was trying to say. It just wasn’t working very well. You know I’m not great with saying things.” Derek stops for a second trying to catch his own breath. “I love you, Stiles. And I haven’t said that to anyone in such a long time. And it means something else now anyways because this feels so different. I just want to hold you and protect you and be with you all the time. And I love you and am in love with you every second of every day and I couldn’t forget it even if I wanted to, which I don’t, because every single thing comes back to you and how much I love you. And you don’t just make the human me happy, you make the wolf me happy too and some of my strongest instincts come from there and that why I would do anything to protect you and do anything to love you and why my whole pack is happy and can’t help but do the same. Laura always told me I would find my mate and it would feel like I could trust and love again and I never believed her till I fell in love with you. So, yeah Stiles, you’re my mate in every way.”
“Good, because I love you, too. And I never going to stop and I want to be with you forever. And likewise, I have never felt this way before. Not even close and I know I never want to again. Not for anybody but you.” Stiles says so relieved and bringing his hands up to cup Derek’s face and trace his fingertips over Derek’s cheekbones and his lips, which still have spit and Stiles’ come on them. “I want to you and not just that, I want the pack. I want all of us to be a family and together. I love them and I love you.” Nothing could have meant more to Derek. He had already known that he loved Stiles and he would keep Stiles forever but Stiles wanting the pack too is so much more. Derek has always known that Stiles loves the pack, all of them, but his words make it so much more real and the wolf inside Derek is so happy that its mate wants to take care of his betas. And Derek is so happy because despite that fact that he was never meant to be an alpha he does have a pack now and despite that fact that he wouldn’t admit it for a long time, he loves them and he needs them.
“Me, too. Stiles, me, too. I love you.” Derek takes Stiles face in his own hands kissing him softly and his presses through his lips all the love he has and he can feel Stiles doing the same. He can tastes Stiles’ love on Stiles lips and he can taste it as he lets it all in.
*****
They get to the house in the middle of the third day of driving. Derek is driving so that they don't get lost. They leave the main road with two more hours to go. They get on some dirt road that Stiles thinks looks like the place where serial killers come to find their victims. There is excitement in the air even though most of them are pretty subdued after not much sleep the night before. Finally a place to settle down after weeks of motels and finally a home again. Derek makes his way up the winding driveway, which Stiles only figures out is a driveway when they are halfway up the hill and Derek has to hop out of the van to unlock a metal gate that blocks the road.
"Kate never knew about this place. She never got to it." Derek says to Stiles as he pulls up the last half of the driveway. He reaches across the middle of the seats to take Stiles hand as he pulls out of the forest.
In front of them is a large wooden house. Rustic looking but also very nice and welcoming and comfortable. Stiles usually doesn't associate rustic with nice and comfortable.
And it is a comfortable and modern despite that fact that it is in the middle of nowhere in Canada. The first floor is large open rooms. A dining room, an amazing kitchen, a multiple living rooms that all kind of flow together. The basement is the same only the doors are all reinforced steel and despite that fact it does not display anger or hatred. It's clearly a werewolf confinement space but it much nicer than Derek's idea of werewolf confinement in the abandoned train car had been. The second and third floor are taken up by large bedrooms with each of them having their own bathroom. The beds are all huge and the non-societitally bound romantic groups throw their stuff in the rooms they want on the second floor. Derek pulls Stiles towards the bedroom at the very end of the hall. It's the largest and has a large wall of windows on one side of the room. It's a beautiful view Stiles reflects before Derek tackles him on the abnormally large bed.
They eat dinner together that night after Derek makes sure the bed gets a good first use. It's nice. There is tons of food. Derek says there is enough to last 10 years. Literally rooms full of food in the basement. The house was supposed to be the safest place for the Hale Pack and it was made to hold a pack and hold off their enemies for a long time. And even though the pack has changed a lot from what the house was intended for it's still is the safest place for the Hale Pack. Derek and Stiles cook. Stiles never had any idea that Derek could cook. Years with the pack and Stiles had always been the only one cooking and yet Derek seems to be rather good at it.
*****
Stiles realizes one day that things are better. He doesn’t know why it hits him when it does but it’s kind of a shock that things aren’t just superficially better but they have actually improved. The pack is settled and everyone has finally worked out little routines and the house is starting to feel like home as everyone works into their routines and they all warm up to the house and being close again. He doesn’t know when it all started being okay again, when things got better and they began to feel okay again. Maybe it was when Erica flipped open one of her bags and pulled out all of the photos of the pack Stiles remembers from her house. Maybe it when Stiles realizes he doesn’t have panic attacks much anymore. He does still get them but they are few and far between. Derek holds him through them. Crushing Stiles’ sobs against him chest and placing Stiles’ hand on his chest so that Stiles can try to breathe at the same rate he is. Stiles focuses on the rise and fall of Derek’s chest or the soft beat of Derek’s heart to calm his own breathing. Or maybe when they start having huge puppy piles in the living room, which was actually specifically built for puppy piles. Or maybe it the moment when Stiles is laying in Derek’s arms on the sofa in front of a fire they don’t really need and Stiles can watch the rest of the pack, his pack, their pack, going in and out of the kitchen making dinner and setting the dining room table. Erica smiles, along with everyone else, when Isaac get the sauce he been practicing making for week just right. Allison’s eyes follow the pack around the kitchen and land on Stiles and Derek. That fact that Isaac and Allison feel safe here and feel like they aren’t going to lose this. Stiles can see it in everyone’s eyes. The feeling of connection to the others in their pack and the feeling of safety, finally, and the feeling of protection and family and love. Everything they have all lost at one point or another. Stiles can be happy, at the simple fact that they all have those feeling back. And Stiles can be in love with that fact that he can share in it all with them and with Derek most of all.