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“Come on, buddy. We have to hurry. Dad doesn’t like it when we come home that late.” Stiles pulled softly on his dog’s leash to get Buster to at least look at him. But the dog didn’t even pay any attention to Stiles. “Buster! Come one now. It’s getting dark already. We shouldn’t be out here at a time like that.”
Buster was a big black Doberman Pinscher and was actually a police dog. But Stiles had fallen in love with Buster the moment he first saw him at the Sheriff’s station when he was ten years old and when the original owner had to give Buster away out of personal reasons Stiles’ had managed to convince his dad to take the dog in as their own. And just like Stiles had promised back then, he always helped his dad with taking care of the dog. He loved it and he loved Buster.
And even though Buster was a big dog and always ready to protect Stiles, the teenager didn’t like to be out in the preserve by night. At least not when he was alone and especially not because his dad had told him to stay away from the preserve more than once.
Stiles sighed when Buster suddenly seemed to be really interested in a certain larger bush.
“There is nothing there. Let’s go.” He said when the dog started growling and barking at the bush and Stiles tried to pull Buster away so that they could finally go home. But when there was suddenly another growl Stiles immediately stopped. This one was louder, and it definitely didn’t come from his dog.
He slowly turned back around to look at Buster, who was now cowering on the ground letting out silent whimpers.
Stiles wasn’t able to see what was in or behind the bush, but he took a few steps backwards pulling on Buster’s leash. “Alright, Buster. It’s definitely time to go now.” He said quietly, and he tried his best not to panic.
There had been a lot of dead bodies found in the preserve over the last few years. Weird animal attacks. Stiles definitely didn’t want to become one of them and with his dog cowering and whimpering like that, Buster was obviously not able to protect him from whatever that growl came from.
“Come on, Buster. Be a good boy and come home with me now. We really need to go!” And that was when the bush suddenly started to move and Stiles took a few more steps backwards when a body was stepping out of the bush. A human body to his relief. And – oh god – not just any human body.
The slightly older boy stared at Stiles with something that looked a lot like anger. He was breathing heavily but Stiles was too focused on his eyes, that for a second seemed to glow almost yellow.
“Derek? Derek Hale?” He managed to get out and the anger on the other boy’s face suddenly turned into confusion.
“You are the captain of the basketball team. I’m Stiles by the way. Stilinski.” Stiles quickly explained. And oh, that was definitely not the only reason why Stiles knew exactly who Derek was. In fact, he has had a crush on the older boy for almost a year now.
But when Stiles thought about what just happened, he suddenly was the one that looked confused. “Did you just growl at my dog? Dude, he’s scared as hell of you and he usually never gets scared. How the hell did you do that?”
Derek stayed quiet, still breathing heavily while he just stared at Stiles.
“What are you even doing out here all alone at this time?” Stiles just continued, not wanting to give in to an awkward silence since Derek didn’t really seem to be talkative.
“I could ask you the same thing. This is private property!” Derek said.
“Right.” Stiles mumbled. “I was about to leave anyways. Before you scared Buster to death.”
“Then leave now!” Derek’s voice was almost a growl again and Stiles wondered what was going on with him. That was when his eyes wandered down Derek’s body and stopped at his clenched fists that were both dripping with blood.
“Holy shit. Derek, you are bleeding! Are you alright? What happened? Do you need help? I can call my dad.” He offered but Derek’s reply was another growl and this time his eyes were definitely glowing.
“Derek?” Stiles couldn’t decide if he was supposed to be scared or if he should help Derek. Whatever helping him meant.
Before he was able to make up his mind he heard someone calling for Derek behind him and just a second later a young man, maybe in his late twenties, was standing in front of Derek, grabbing him by the shoulders.
“Derek, remember what I told you. Say the words. Say…”
“Peter!” Derek interrupted the man, who slowly turned to follow Derek’s eyes just to find another boy standing behind him.
“Who is he? Who are you? What are you doing here? This is private property!” Peter glared at Stiles, who just stood there trying to find words.
“I … uh … I’m Stiles. Stilinski. But I was … was about to leave.” He mumbled, pulling on Buster’s leash once again, but before Stiles actually turned around to leave he glanced at Peter again. “Is Derek okay?”
“Yes.” Peter nodded quickly. “Yes. Just go now.”
Stiles glanced at Derek one last time before turning around and running home.
“Stiles!”
It was almost a week later when Stiles heard someone calling his name in the school hallway and when he turned around he found Derek jogging towards him.
Derek. Derek Hale remembered his name and he was even calling him. If this was a dream Stiles never wanted to wake up again.
“Stiles. Hey.” Derek said when he finally caught up with Stiles. “I wanted to say sorry for the other day. For being kind of dismissive I guess. Oh, and for scaring your dog.” He let out an almost nervous chuckle, but Stiles just smiled at him.
“Not a big deal. I was just a little worried about you. You seemed a bit off and you were hurt, weren’t you?” Stiles tilted his head a little when he looked at Derek. “And who was that guy? Peter? Is he your brother or something?” He had to stop himself from asking too many questions at once to not scare Derek away immediately.
“No. Peter is my uncle.” Derek explained. “And I just hurt my hand a little. No big deal.”
“You are lying.” Stiles just said, regretting it only a second after.
But Derek didn’t seem to be angry. He looked confused. “How do you …? Do you …? What? Are you a …?”
“I’m the Sheriff’s son.” Stiles explained and almost grinned at Derek’s confused expression. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to confuse you like that.” He added and this time he chuckled.
Derek’s sigh sounded a lot like a sigh of relief, but yet he smiled at Stiles. “There is actually something else I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?”
“I was wondering if you are maybe free next Friday?” Derek’s voice was so quiet suddenly that Stiles almost wasn’t sure if he heard that correctly, but when Derek continued he had no doubts anymore. “We could … I don’t know … go to the movies maybe?”
Stiles didn’t even have to think about that. “Yes. That sounds great. Yes.”
“Great.” Derek smiled back at him. “How does five sound to you? I could come pick you up.”
Stiles didn’t feel like he was able to form actual words anymore, so he just quickly nodded at Derek. He was probably grinning like a maniac, so Stiles quickly decided to change the topic. “Just one last thing. You weren’t doing drugs the other night, right? Because my dad is a cop and he would totally kill me if I spend time with the wrong people, you know?”
“Drugs?” Derek chuckled. “Don’t worry I definitely don’t do drugs.”
“Good. Because I am really sure I saw your eyes glowing like … yellowish. And the only explanation I had were drugs and I definitely didn’t take any.” Stiles explained but shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh, that!” Derek grinned. “No. Definitely no drugs. But that is a longer story. I’m going to tell you some other day.”