Chapter Text
For the record, this whole waking-up-in-the-hospital thing was getting kind of old. At this point, Stiles should get a punch card, just so that his tenth visit is free. At the rate he was going, he was going to be either dead or covered in scars before he graduated high school, which was not something he was particularly interested in.
This time, it was Derek by his side, not his father. Which was strange in it’s own right, but Stiles was extremely excited to see Derek by his side. It left him with butterflies in his chest and a happy feeling he didn’t realize he could have.
“Hey,” Stiles said, smiling at Derek. He tried to move, but winced as his movements pulled at his stitches and cuts. He had nearly forgotten about Kali kicking him across his chest, adding to the scarring already there.
“Stiles,” Derek breathed, leaning forward in his chair, moving closer. “You’re awake.”
“I would hope so. I didn’t think I did enough to kill me,” Stiles said, shifting his shoulders.
“Do not pass out on me again,” Derek said, sliding forward until his knees hit the edge of the hospital bed, his eyes intense. “I am really sick and tired of having to carry your limp body places.”
“Shut up, you love me,” Stiles said.
He looked around the room, as if his father was hiding out somewhere he couldn’t see. Where was he?
“Your dad is at the station. He said that you had been attacked by a mountain lion, so now he’s there setting up a hunt for a non-existent mountain lion to avenge his son,” Derek said, explaining the questions Stiles was quietly thinking.
But there was so much left to explain, so much that Stiles was missing. Considering that the last thing he remembered was Duke getting shot with an arrow, there were far too many questions he needed answered. He missed half the battle.
“What happened? After I passed out?” Stiles asked, frowning. He really didn’t like not remembering things, or in this case, not being awake for things. Besides waking up in confusion, it kind of sucked missing out on the action.
“Chris, Allison, Lydia, and Scott showed up right as you were drifting off. They helped kill Duke right away. After that, they finished off the other Alphas. It wasn’t that fair of a fight after Duke,” Derek explained.
That made sense with what Stiles could remember. He remembered seeing Derek kill Duke, and he remembered an arrow. At least things went smoothly after that, even if it did involve murdering those werewolves. They were arguably bad werewolves, so the morality issue was sort of hard to comprehend. They both did and didn’t deserve it.
“Where’s Peter?” Stiles asked, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. “He was right in the middle of the fight, where did he go?”
Derek shrugged. “He ran off. Pushed past Allison and Lydia when the betas weren’t looking. If he knows better, he’s halfway to Canada right now,” Derek said, grabbing Stiles’ hand between his own.
“And how do you feel about that?” Stiles asked, squeezing Derek’s hands.
“It feels good to know that I still have family out there, somewhere, but I’m glad he’s not here. He’s done too many bad things that I can’t forgive him for, and if he steps foot back into Beacon Hills, I’m going to kill him myself,” Derek said. This sounded honest, like the whole and complete truth.
There was a level of sadness to this revelation, but there was also a sense of peace. Maybe they had finally scared off Peter enough that he wouldn’t come back. Maybe he’d come roaring back in, as always. There was no knowing with him.
“I’m glad that there is some sort of peace,” Stiles said, leaning his head back against the bed.
“I can’t stand seeing you in a hospital bed,” Derek said, leaning down so that his forehead was against their hands. “I can’t look at you laying here and think that I’ve done something right,” he added quietly.
This was Derek beaten down and broken. Stiles could see the way that his honesty and vulnerability was wholly a result of having both of their lives almost stripped away. Seeing him this way was brutal, but it was better than closed off Derek who would refuse to accept help from anyone.
“How about we make a promise to each other?” Stiles asked, tugging on Derek’s hands. “I stay out of the hospital, and you try not to mortally wound yourself. Just because you don’t end up in the hospital, doesn’t mean that I can’t unsee you being fatally wounded,” Stiles continued, pulling Derek’s hands up towards his face.
“Fine,” Derek said, leaning forward and kissing Stiles gently.
“Better be fine,” Stiles muttered, squeezing his hands.
When the doctors came in, they were still in the same position, Derek holding Stiles’ hand as they talked. It felt weird to be separated for tests and for Derek to be sent away. They had spent so much time together over the past week, had rushed so quickly into loving each other, that the thought of being separated was blasphemous.
***
Stiles was quickly released from the hospital with some instructions on his cuts and some pain medication.
Apparently, recovering from a magical exhaustion only took some IV fluids and a night to sleep it off. Good to know.
John came over from the station to pick him and Derek up, taking the both of them back to the house for the night. He didn’t even blink an eye when Derek followed Stiles up to his bedroom, getting ready for bed as if this was a normal occurrence.
It wasn’t until the lights were off and they were tucked safely under the covers that Stiles dared ask what was on his mind. “Have we rushed into this?”
It took an unnerving few moments for Derek to answer. The long beats after Stiles’ question only multiplied his anxiety level, but he had to know. He had to make sure that they were doing the right thing, and that they were both ready for this. The worst case scenario would be to have all of this blow up in their faces after working so hard to get it right.
“Maybe,” Derek said, stroking his fingers along Stiles’ side. “But I don’t think either of us do normal very well.”
“I don’t know if we could,” Stiles said, shrugging. “Do normal.”
He let himself enjoy the way that Derek’s fingers were dragging up and down his side, not teasing but relaxing. It was soothing to hear his breathing, to feel the comfort of his body next to him in bed. If all of this felt so right, then their relationship had to be right too.
“I just want to make sure that we can last. I don’t want us to fizzle out because everything was based on arbitrary pain and suffering,” Stiles said, ducking his head into Derek’s chest. “I’m still going to have nightmares about being tortured, or losing you, or dying. Those things aren’t going to leave my head. And I’m sure you’ve got a lot more problems than me.”
Derek reached up to hold Stiles’ head to his chest, thumb stroking the hair back from his face. “Neither of us can change that.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Stiles asked, the nerves rattling around in his chest. “I know I love you. Watching everything go down with the Alphas scared me. I just don’t want to let any sort of fear or worry—” he cut himself off.
“Let’s just take things one day at a time,” Derek suggested.
“And let’s promise not to let our past experiences get in the way of building something new.”
Derek hugged Stiles tighter. “I love you. That’s enough for us.”
“I love you too.”
***
The silence that followed in the next week was almost eerie. There were no more threats, no more Alphas watching over your shoulder. It was all school work and being thankful that they had survived through that. Stiles was beyond grateful for his pack and friends, those who had saved him and Derek when the time came.
It was no surprise that Scott knocked on his door a week later.
Stiles opened it, almost glad to see him. He hadn’t felt glad to see him since they first fought, or even before that. It was nice to feel that familiar friendship feeling again. No member of the pack could recreate the specific Scott feeling of friendship. They each had their own flavor of friendship, and nothing was the same as years together.
There was still that bubble of hurt and resentment that was underlying their entire relationship. That might go away, but it might not. With the way that Scott had acted in the past, they would never get back to exactly how things were. They could harvest that familiar feeling again and bathe in the remains of their relationship, but nothing could rebuild or repair the strength of their relationship before.
“Hey,” Stiles said, smiling with his lips tight. He wasn’t quite sure how he should react.
“I want to try apologizing again. For real this time,” Scott said, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. “I screwed up, Stiles. I took our friendship for granted, and I used you only when I needed you. I needed to be a better friend, and set aside my past feelings. I’m sorry.”
This acknowledgement of his wrongdoings and this specific apology was exactly what he wanted all along. He only ever wanted Scott to know that he needed to do better, that he needed to work on their friendship rather than ignore it.
“I accept your apology,” Stiles said formally, extending his hand for a shake. When Scott put his hand in Stiles, he yanked him forward into a hug.
“Really?” Scott asked, pulling away.
“Things won’t ever be exactly the same, but we can be friends again. You just have to accept that I have a whole pack, a family, that is also important to me. It’s not just me and you anymore buddy,” Stiles said, pulling his arms back, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
Scott seemed to think for a moment, as if this was not a part of his original plans. “Okay.”
“And I’m dating Derek. I’m in love with him. Whatever negativity you have towards him cannot come out around me, got it? He’s just as important to me as Allison is to you,” Stiles continued, wanting to make himself clear.
He wanted things to go back to some sort of normalcy, but this was a big condition. He couldn’t have Scott as his friend when he would smack talk Derek at every chance. Despite the past, and the hardships with Derek, he was so important now. He was beyond important.
“I promise, dude. Anything to be friends with you again,” Scott said, grinning his sloppy, lopsided grin.
Stiles smiled back, happy that they had figured themselves out. “Listen, Derek’s inside making breakfast. But we can hang out tomorrow, if you want,” Stiles said, making a face.
“Sure thing. I’ll text you,” Scott said, backing away from the door.
“You better!” Stiles called out after him, laughing a little at his own dig.
He closed the door behind him, walking back into the kitchen where Derek was at the stove, cooking them up omelettes. He looked so cute when he was cooking, and even more so with his sloppy bed head.
He had been staying at Stiles. Since the big battle, the loft was kind of ruined now. Going back there wasn’t impossible, but it would be hard on either of them. For Derek, he had a pipe shoved through his chest and had a massive battle that resulted in pain for his whole pack. No one really wanted to go back there.
He had been looking at other places, and had listed the loft for sale again. There were a few small houses on the edge of town that backed up to the preserve, which was what Derek wanted. He craved the privacy of the Hale house again, but there were too many memories tied to that specific place. There was no way that he could go back there either.
“You accepted Scott’s apology?” Derek asked, not looking up from the pan. He was clearly trying to give Stiles space without being too particularly obvious about it.
“I felt like he deserved it,” Stiles said, shrugging. He leaned on the edge of the counter, watching Derek work. “He recognized what he did wrong, and he seems to want to make things better. We both had a little space, but he came through to save us when the time came. I can’t act like he doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”
Derek hummed in acknowledgement, flipping the omelette onto a plate. “Is he joining the pack?”
That was a good question.
“If he wants to, and if you accept. For now, I think it’s just us deciding that our friendship is too important to throw away. Outside of that, there’s a lot of work,” Stiles said, walking up behind Derek and hugging him, pressing his face into his back.
“Big of you,” Derek muttered.
“We all deserve a little forgiveness, don’t you think?” Stiles asked.
Derek spun, pulling Stiles to his chest. “Of course.” He leaned forward and kissed Stiles, softly, holding him as if he mattered the world.
“If you didn’t forgive me for getting you arrested, then we wouldn’t be here,” Stiles said between kisses, wrapping his arms around Derek’s waist, holding him close.
“Twerp,” Derek teased.
“Sourwolf.”