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The rain was rolling down the shed window in rivulets. The humid air left steam between the lines of water. Stiles hand reaches out for the glass, looking for purchase. His short nails squeak and scrape at the glass, leaving smudges as the only evidence of this moment.
The heals of his shoes dig into the back of Derek’s thighs. Stiles is sitting on an old tool table, leaning forward, allowing Derek to take his weight. He gasps as one of Derek’s teeth scrape across his collar bone.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this again. Such a bad idea,” Stiles mumbles in Derek’s hair line. The shed is hot, bringing beads of sweat to Derek’s forehead. He runs his tongue along Derek’s skin, feeling feral and unhinged.
“You didn’t have to come outside when I called,” Derek replies with a rasp to his voice.
A mirthless laugh leaves Stiles, “Yeah right.” He gasps and bites his lower lip for a moment. His fingers leave the window and grip deeply into the meat of Derek’s forearms. “I think we can both acknowledge that this pull between us isn’t something we’re opting to ignore.” A deep shiver runs through his chest and shoulders, causing his back to arch.
“Are you cold?” Derek asks him, hazel eyes meeting his, concern showing in his face.
“No,” Stiles allows a real laugh this time, warmth spreading through his chest. “I’m pretty sure I’m just really, REALLY aroused.”
He feels the rumble of laughter coming from Derek’s chest. He leans forward and rests his face against the shirt to feel the vibrations on his cheek. Derek brings his fingers up to Stiles scalp, massaging his skin with blunt nails. He knows that scalp massages are Stiles kryptonite.
“Use your claws...the tips will feel so good,” Stiles whispers into his skin.
Derek stiffens at the request, hesitantly brings his hands up and stares at them for a moment, before slowing allowing his nails to grow into sharpened points. “Don’t move,” he tells Stiles. “Not even a millimeter.”
“I trust you,” is the response he receives. The words set a flutter of anxiety in Derek’s gut.
“That’s because you’re an idiot,” he replies while slowly carding his nails across Stiles scalp again, gently allowing himself to caress the sensitive skin.
Stiles giggles, causing his shoulders to shake.
“Shit! I told you to sit still.”
“You didn’t even break the skin, Derek. Don’t freak out… And by the way, I’m the smartest person you know, so your ‘idiot’ comment is invalid.”
An impish smirk crosses Derek’s lips. “Lydia is a borderline genius.”
“Oh fuck you!” Styles retorts with a smile, and then ducks down away from Derek’s fingers to quickly bite at the corner of his throat. Derek gasps in response, feels his control slipping and pulls his hands high away from Stiles head. Stiles pulls back to give an amused expression, then tilts his face up to look at Derek’s hands hanging above him. “Big hands…must mean you also have a big-”
“Stiles!” Derek interrupts with a long suffering sigh. “Not until you’re eighteen.”
“Fuck,” Stiles replies with annoyance crossing his face. “It’s such bullshit. This is California, Derek. The land of surfers, actors, and potheads. No one gives a shit about sexually active teenagers.”
“Your Father, the Sheriff, would care a whole hell of a lot.”
“Garrgh!!!” Stiles proclaims while shaking his fists and scrunching up his nose.
“Nice,” Derek replies dryly. “Very mature reaction.”
Stiles huffs and gives him the stink eye. Despite his best efforts to keep a scowl, Derek can’t stop himself from grinning at the adorable guy in front of him. He brings his claws back down to Stiles scalp, breathing in the scent of contentment that starts to take over his boyfriend’s body. A few minutes pass with neither of them speaking.
Stiles is watching the rain run down the window. “It’s beautiful,” he sighs.
Derek tamps down to urge to tell him that Stiles is equally beautiful. He’s never felt comfortable with sensitive expressions. So instead he leans forward to place a heartfelt kiss to Stiles lips. Stiles opens his mouth, and draws him in even closer. Seconds roll to minutes, while their tongues speak words their voice boxes aren’t ready to admit.
Derek has discussed this with him time and again. His need to wait until Stiles is of legal age. His need for others to know that he cared enough about Stiles to wait for him. His need to show the Sherriff that he respects Stiles implicitly. He also confessed once, whispering the words into Stiles earlobes, that he needs to right the wrong committed against him when he was too young and hormonal to wait for a true romance, instead of just sweaty passion.
Stiles fingers begin to drag down Derek’s chest. They settle over his groin, but make no move to apply pressure. Derek pulls back from the kiss. Their eyes meet.
“I know why you want to wait. And I respect you enough to allow it. But these moments…” his voice trails off, but Derek knows what he’s thinking. Lying on the ground at the preserve, leaves getting stuck in their hair while they kiss for hours after Stiles gets home from school. Heated embraces in the back of their cars, blankets covering them so passerby’s won’t see. Texts that say “Meet me in your shed,” sent and obeyed even with a downpour of rain muddling their footpaths.
“I don’t know how to turn it off around you,” Derek confesses.
“Turn what off, your feelings?” Stiles asks without judgment. “I wouldn’t want you to turn those off. Our feelings are pretty much the defining aspect of our…you know…” his voice trails off shyly.
“Our…relationship?” Derek supplies with equally red cheeks.
“That’s…yup, a pretty good word to use for our current status,” Stiles agrees with a laugh. He leans in for another kiss, letting his hands move over to Derek’s hipbones. When their lips part, a look of resolve has crossed his face. “I love these moments with you. These moments where there is no one else on earth but us, and all the dangers and letdowns of the world are far away. But Derek, I’m so tired of feeling like a dirty little secret.”
Derek feels sucker punched. He realizes that in his attempt to keep their relationship discreet, and legal, he’s managed to make Stiles feel rejected and ashamed. His instinct now is to berate himself. Remind himself why he’s a fuckup that shouldn’t be dating anyone, much less a kindhearted person like Stiles. But this is part of why the two of them have been working so well in this relationship. Stiles wholeheartedly believes that Derek is a good person. That he’s flawed just like any other, but not so damaged that he’s unworthy of love. Had he heard these words from anyone else but Stiles, Derek would have cast them aside as trivial platitudes. But to Derek, Stiles was the perfect catch. He’s smart, and quick witted. His loyalty is boundless, and his capacity for love seems unending. Derek believes in Stiles. He believes in the boy that bravely runs with wolves. The boy that held his body to keep him from drowning in a pool. The boy whose inner spark moves ashes. The boy that overcame a Nogitsune demon trying to rip away his soul. And if Stiles sees something worth loving; something worth saving in Derek…then Derek has learned to try and see the goodness in himself as well. So instead of giving into his doubt, he focuses on fixing the pain in his partner’s eyes.
“I am not ashamed of you,” his voice says, firm and level. “You are the most amazing person I’ve ever known, and I am not ashamed of you!”
Stiles eyes drop to his lap, and he worries his lip between his teeth. Derek knows that it takes Stiles a few moments to process things sometimes. He waits for the gaze of brown eyes to fall on his again. Stiles nods his head slowly, and puts his hand on Derek’s chest, right above his heart.
“Do you want me to say it again, so that you can feel my heartbeat?”
“No you dork, I believe you. I just like feeling your heart under my hand.”
“Because it belongs to you?” Derek asks with a sly grin on his face. Stiles bursts out laughing, and puts his fingers on Derek’s ears to pull his face closer.
“If you want into MY heart, cheesy clichés like that one seem to work surprisingly well.” Stiles kisses each of Derek’s cheekbones in turn, pulling back with a dimpled grin on his face.
“I want into your heart,” Derek says sincerely. “And I don’t want to ever make you feel ashamed again. The whole reason for the secrecy is because I didn’t want us to complicate your life in any way. For every second you’ve felt awkward or inexperienced in this, I’ve felt like the bumbling buffoon that was going to fuck everything up. Our pack love us, but their judgment can be brutal. I just wanted time for us to firmly get our feet on the ground, side by side, before we started fielding questions and harsh remarks from others. I wanted us to be a unified pair, before we face our pack.”
Stiles nods his head in understanding, a relieved smile on his face. “You wanted us to feel like mates before our judgey-wudgey friends throw shade at us.”
“I wanted you to be sure you truly wanted me by your side,” Derek said softly. “I wanted to give you an easy way out.”
Stiles reaches up and grabs his earlobes again, this time pinching them tightly. “That is not okay. You are an awesome boyfriend. You’re tough as hell in fights and sweet as sugar when you’re with those you care about. But you’ve been making a big decision about my life, without my consent. I understand not telling my Dad until I’m legal. In fact I’ve already worked out some cutesy ‘dates’ we can go on in front of him after my birthday, so that we can ease him into the idea of our relationship. But our friends, Derek. Our friends are our pack, our partners in crime, our sounding boards for everything. And they love us. Yes, they’ll tease us mercilessly in the beginning, but they’ll support us in our relationship. They’ll support us because they care. They’ll support us because they’re our family. They’ll want us to be happy.”
A crack of thunder echoes outside. Instinctively Derek pushes Stiles back on the table to cover his body protectively. He blushes at once, realizing his error, but Stiles doesn’t tease him. Nope. All that he sees in Stiles face is adoration. All that he sees is love. This is the face of his mate. This is the face he wants to grow old with. He wants to see wrinkles and gray hairs, wants to be there through the thick of things. And now, he’s ready to let everyone know it. In fact, he feels like a dumbass for waiting this long. “Let’s call the pack together. Let’s do it tonight.”
“What?! Tonight? Derek it's pouring rain out there!” Stiles replies in annoyance. “If we’re going to tell them, we need to at least buy them a pizza first. Everything is easier to handle when there’s pizza in your belly.”
Derek laughs. “Then let’s go buy some pizzas, and tell the pack to meet us at my loft.”
Stiles looks into his eyes, searching for something. Derek knows when he’s found the answer he was looking for, because contentment comes over Stiles features. “Okay. Let’s go get soaked and tell the world that we’re in lo- that we’re in a very heavy state of ‘like’ with each other.” Stiles pushes Derek’s weight off of him. He grabs the wolf’s hand, and together they open the shed door. Walking briskly through the rain around them, he pauses when Derek pulls him to a stop. He looks back at Derek. The man that knew him when he was an annoying kid searching for his buddies asthma inhaler, and watched him grow into the man that would battle beside wolves, and he feels a lightness in his chest.
Derek pulls him in, kisses the water droplets off his lips, and shares the same air with him for a little while.
“Let’s get the pizza,” Derek tells him softly, “then let’s go tell our friends that we’re in love.”
The End