Work Text:
1.)
The first time it happens is after Stiles had moved into his dorm and was getting to know his suite mates. He had been at UCSD for about a week when the group of eight had gotten together at a mixer the resident assistant had put together. They had all been talking and sharing stories from back home when one asked if Stiles had a girlfriend.
“No, but, I have a boyfriend.” He had replied
“Oh? What’s his name?” The girl from across the hall, Suzie, had asked.
“Derek, Derek Hale. He lives back home.” Stiles said with a fond smile on his face.
“No plans for college?” This from Stiles’ roommate Robby.
“Actually, he graduated from NYU a few years ago. He’s working as a deputy now.”
“What does he look like? How did you get together? Tell me all the juicy parts!” Suzie’s roommate Tiffany spewed out. She, Suzie and Robby along with Stiles had moved to a corner of the room while the other four people had started a board game a few minutes earlier. They all looked at Stiles with interest as he worked his way to telling them the story.
So, Stiles proceeded to tell them about his and Derek’s relationship, from how they met in the woods that first night, through accusing him of murder, and all the way through the night after he turned 18 when he and Derek finally got together. Leaving out all the supernatural werewolf parts of course. When he started to explain what Derek looked like, the group had started asking for pictures.
Stiles of course, didn’t have any. What with the laser werewolf eyes and all. And honestly, he had been too busy enjoying being with Derek to worry with taking pictures.
That excuse didn’t hold up well with the group and so the seeds of doubt about Stiles and his mystery, too good to be true boyfriend were planted.
2.)
The second time it happened is the weekend of fall break, around the first of October. Stiles had gotten somewhat close with his three suite mates and they had become friends. The four we super excited about the extended weekend. Suzie, Robby and Tiff were ecstatic about going to a party at Tiffany’s boyfriend’s house off campus. They had been talking about it for weeks and Stiles had planned on going with them, but after class on Monday the week of the party, Stiles had announced that he wouldn’t be going. Much to the disappointment of the group.
Tiff had immediately gotten a pouty face and whined “Why not Stiles?”
“Yeah Stiles, you have been working your butt off for the past week so that you could have everything done for a weekend free to just have fun. I know you haven’t been assigned any extra work” Suzie had pointed out. She and Stiles were in the same major and had a lot of the same classes so she always knew what Stiles had going on academically.
“Because,” Stiles said, trying not to bust from excitement, “Derek is coming this weekend!”
That had gotten everyone’s attention so Stiles explained how Derek had called him during his lunch break to tell him that he had managed to get a few days off that weekend and was planning to come down and spend it with him. He would be coming in Friday evening, the same night as the party, and would leave Sunday morning.
Stiles spent the rest of the week planning what he and Derek would be doing for the weekend and had told everyone to plan on getting lunch on Saturday to meet Derek.
By the time Friday had rolled around, Stiles was a literal ball of energy, so excited about seeing Derek for the first time in almost two months that he couldn’t contain it. His legs were bouncing and every time he spoke his arms flailed a little more than usual.
Derek had been scheduled to arrive around 7 that evening and it was approaching 8:30 and he still hadn’t shown.
“Come with us Stiles” Robby had said as the three were getting ready for the party.
“No, Robby, I told you, Derek is coming. He is just a little late, he’ll be here.” Was Stiles’ reply.
“Stiles, it’s been two hours, I don’t think he is coming” Suzie said in a soft hesitant voice. Trying not to upset Stiles.
“He’ll be here guys, stop worrying. Go, go to the party and have fun. I’ll see you all at lunch tomorrow with my arm candy ok?”
“Stiles” Tiff said in a sad, questioning voice,
“No, really, go, have fun” Stiles said as he pushed them out the door.
Then next day they met Stiles at the café they had planned on for lunch. It was just the four of them.
“Stiles, are you ok?” Suzie had asked when Stiles sat down with a sad smile on his face.
“Yeah, Derek finally got here about 10 last night and stayed the night. But he got a call early this morning and had to go deal with something that came up at the Sheriff’s office.” Stiles said. What really happened was another pack had crossed their territory that night and Scott had called all the betas back home to help deal with it.
Suzie and Robby shared a look, they had been doubtful that Derek was real after Stiles brought him up the first time. Now they were starting to confirm their suspicions.
3.)
The third time it happened was a few weeks later, Suzie was hanging out with Robby and Stiles in their room when Stiles had gone to take a shower.
“I’m really starting to worry Suz, I mean, I really think he is making this guy up. I don’t understand why he can’t just say that he is single. There are tons of people we could set him up with. I just don’t know how to get him to stop.”
“Are you sure he is making him up Robby? Maybe we should find out for sure before we try doing anything.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” Robby said.
“Well, his phone is right there on his desk, just call Derek’s number and see if he answers.”
“Isn’t that too much of a violation of his privacy Suz?”
“Look, do you want to know for sure or not?”
“Ok, fine, but if he finds out, I am laying the blame all at your feet Suzie.” Robby said as he reached over and grabbed Stiles’ phone.
“Whatever, just make the damn call.” Was here response.
Robby searched through the contact list on Stiles’ phone until he found a number for Derek Hale and pressed the call button. Four rings later the voicemail picked up. Stiles’ voice rang clear through phone’s speaker.
“You have reached Derek Hale, he is busy right now, leave a message or call back later!”
Suzie and Robby exchanged a look as Robby ended the call without leaving a message.
“We have to do something, this is too much.”
4.)
The fourth time it happened was when Stiles came back from Christmas break wearing a ring on his left hand.
By now, Suzie and Robby had shared all their concerns with Tiffany who was a psychology major in her third year of school. She had suggested getting Stiles to see a school counselor.
They were all in Stiles and Robby’s room when Stiles got back from Beacon Hills. He had the biggest smile any of the other three had ever seen on his face.
“Guys, I hope you all had a great Christmas because I had the best Christmas that there ever was.” Stiles said as he put his bag down on his bed. He then turned to the group and held up his left hand, showing off the titanium band with a triscele inlaid with a stone that matched Derek’s eyes.
“I got engaged!” Stiles exclaimed happily. “I’m getting married!”
“Oh for the love of god!” Robby exclaimed, “You can’t get engaged to a fake boyfriend Stiles! This is taking it way too far.”
“Fake boyfriend? What are you talking about?” Stiles asked, the smile slipping off of his face.
“We know that Derek isn’t real Stiles,” Tiffany said, “we love you, but we really think you need to see someone about this. It really is going way too far.”
“I don’t need to see anyone about anything other than planning a wedding! Derek isn’t someone I made up, he is real.”
“Stiles, you don’t have any pictures of him, we have never met him, he isn’t on any social media, and when we called him, you were the one speaking in his voicemail.” Suzie said gently.
“We were really hoping that you would have dropped it over break, but just in case, we scheduled you an appointment with the school counselor, we will even go with you if you want.” Said Tiffany.
“So what, you are saying you have spent the last four months pretending to believe me? Why would I make something like this up?”
“I have actually spent a lot of time discussing this with my professor, who is the one we scheduled the appointment with. We believe that it is a coping mechanism you developed after something traumatic happened.” Tiffany explained.
“I can’t believe this, all of you, my ‘friends’, I just…..fine, you know what, I’ll go to the stupid appointment just to prove you wrong.” Stiles said as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
_______________
By the time the next Friday came around, Stiles was beyond done with the whole thing.
An hour into the appointment on Wednesday and things hadn’t gotten any better. The counselor that they were speaking with didn’t believe anything out of Stiles’ mouth and his suite mates just kept giving “evidence” to support Derek is fake to support their cause.
Stiles had stormed out of the office so mad he had tears rolling down his face. He wanted so bad to talk to Derek about it, but Derek was still so happy about the engagement that Stiles couldn’t bust his bubble. Besides, Stiles was an adult, he could handle this.
And handle it he did. Stiles didn’t talk to any of his suite mates for the rest of the week. Friday night had him so depressed of his new ex-friends betrayal that he decided to go to a party and just get wasted. He had been in college for five months and had thus far made it without getting plastered but he figured with the shit week he had had, he deserved it.
He was at some random house party, he thought one of the fraternities was throwing it, there were so many people there that Stiles just got swallowed up by the crowd. Somewhere around 1 in the morning, he realized how big of an idiot he was being and went outside to try and get some fresh air sober up a bit before heading home.
Out behind the house was a group of guys that Stiles vaguely knew because one of them was Robby’s boyfriend. They got quiet when Stiles came outside and started giving him funny looks.
“Hey” the one that was dating Robby said, gaining Stiles’ attention. “Aren’t you that freak that Robby lives with? Yeah, yeah I think you are, you’re the crazy guy who has a pretend boyfriend.”
“How is this my life?” Stiles asked himself quietly.
“What did you say?” the group had moved closer and Stiles was trying not to start panicking.
“I said please leave me alone.”
“No, no I don’t think that’s going to happen. Cause me and my friends here, we want you to know what a real boyfriend feels like” The guy said.
Stiles tried to run, he really did, but there were four of them, and even though Stiles had experience with supernatural creatures, drunk and uncoordinated Stiles didn’t stand a chance against four college jocks.
After they caught him, he fought to get away, then he fought to stay conscious. He lost both fights.
+1.)
Robby had decided that he and the girls had gone about this in the completely wrong way. Fake boyfriend aside, Stiles was one of the best people he knew. And he had quickly become one of his best friends. And when he looked back on the past week, he realized that he had shit all over that relationship in the most spectacular way possible. So, here he was, spending his Friday night going from party to party trying to find Stiles so that he could apologize. He was on his eighth when a friend said he saw his boyfriend out back earlier. Might as well get that over with too while he was at it. He was tired of dating the jerk and he thought he might have a real shot with Suzie after they got through with this whole Stiles thing.
He was not expecting what he saw when he came into the back yard. His soon to be ex and three of his friends were beating the crap out of some poor kid. He moved closer to break it up and realized, with no small amount of horror, who that poor kid was. He managed to call 911 before he stepped in and within 30 minutes, the jocks were in custody and he was on his way to the hospital to be with Stiles.
He called Suzie and Tiffany on the way there to tell them what happened and once they got there, the three of them sat outside Stiles’ door to wait. They weren’t told much other than he was unconscious and was going to make it.
____________________
The Sherriff was having a slow night, he and Derek were in his office eating take out burgers that they both swore to never tell Stiles about, feet propped up on the desk discussing the latest monster of the week when his phone rang. The unfamiliar number not registering with him as he answer it.
“Sheriff Stilinski”
“Mr. Stilinski, my name is Dr. Marks from Thornton hospital in San Diego. I’m calling because you are the emergency contact for a….um….I’m not really sure how to pronounce that name.”
“Stiles? My son, what happened? Is he ok?” The Sheriff asked. And only years of experience in law enforcement kept his voice level and steady.
“Mr. Stilinski, your son was attacked tonight, he is in stable condition but we are keeping him sedated because he is in a lot of pain. I can give you his room number and you can come and see him if you wish.” said Dr. Marks.
“Yeah, yeah, please” said the Sheriff. He wrote down the information then hung up the phone.
Derek had frozen during the phone call, hearing every word that was said. Words like attacked, unconscious, and hospital rolling through his head on a loop. "I couldn't lose Stiles, he couldn’t lose him too." thought Derek.
The Sheriff snapped his fingers in front of Derek, his beta blue eyes unfocused. “Derek, Derek, you have to pull it together, get control. We need to call Scott. I don’t know what attacked him and we need Scott.”
Derek snapped out of it and looked at the Sheriff. He grabbed his phone off the desk and started dialing as he headed out the door to get into the cruiser with the Sheriff.
__________________
Robby, Suzie and Tiffany had settled into the waiting room directly across from Stile’s room. They could see down the hall a ways and they were all three quiet, trying to hear anything the doctors and nurses might let slip about Stiles’ condition.
It was just approaching 6 in the morning when two uniformed officers can storming down the hall followed closely by a large group of very anxious looking people. The nurse on duty stopped them as they tried to enter into Stiles’ room.
“Excuse me, you can’t go in there.” She said.
“I’m Sheriff Stilinski, and that is my son in there.” Said the older man.
“Ok, but only two at a time.” Said the nurse.
The two uniforms went into the room first. The rest of the group made their way into the waiting room.
“Do all of you know Stiles?” Suzie asked the group.
“Yeah, we have all known Stiles for a long time, he’s family.” Said the guy with the mess of dark hair and uneven jaw.
“How do you know him?” The blond girl in the group asked, and somehow the question was accusatory rather than curious.
“I’m his roommate” said Robby, “and this is Suzie and Tiffany who live across the hall from us. We’re all friends with Stiles.”
The bigger group proceeded to introduce themselves: the one with the dark hair and uneven jaw was Scott (he seemed to be the leader) the blond was Erica, followed by a tall slender guy named Isaac, and a quiet man named Boyd.
“We need to keep the twins, Danny, Allison and Lydia updated as soon as we know anything.” Scott told the group. Boyd nodded his head and pulled out his phone and started texting.
“Do you guys know what happened?” Scott asked turning to Robby.
Robby started explain from the time he got to the party all the way up to the group got to the hospital.
Two hours later the Sheriff came out of the room and announced that Stiles was awake and that they could go in one at a time. The other officer having stayed in the room. Scott went first followed every few minutes by another member of the group (Robby couldn’t help but think of them as some sort of pack for some reason). Finally, the whole pack had went in and come out, all looking slightly more at ease after having talked to their friend.
“Robby” Scott called, “would you like to go in next?” Robby nodded his head and made his way into the room.
Stiles lay in the bed, with it tilted up so that he was in more of an upright position. His left eye was swollen shut, and his left arm was wrapped in a cast. Stiles’ lip was split in multiple places and he seemed to be only taking short, shallow breaths. None of that is what really caught Robby’s attention though. No, what had him pinned to the spot with the door falling closed behind him, was Stiles’ right hand, which was held tightly by the two hands of the young officer sitting by the bed. Beacon Hill Sheriff department logo on his sleeve, and his nameplate, which plainly read: HALE.
Derek Hale was an actual, real live, human being. Right there, in front of him. And nothing Stiles had ever said about the man compared to seeing him in the flesh. His face may have been showing signs of fatigue, but his eyes held so much concern and complete and unrestrained love towards Stiles that Robby started feeling the threat of tears sting the back of his eyes.
“Stiles” Robby choked out, “Stiles I am so, so sorry. About everything. I can’t believe I was such a crappy friend to you when you have been nothing but the best fiend a person could have to all of us.”
“It’s ok Robby, I understand how it all looked, I just wish you would have trusted me. And, you really need to break up with your boyfriend.” Stiles said, with a hint of a smile spreading across his face followed by a quick wince.
“Oh, I already did, don’t worry. I wanted to ask Suzie out anyway.” Robby said quietly. The corner of his mouth turned up, the beginning of a hopeful smile. Maybe Stiles could forgive them.
_________________________
After everyone had come and gone, Derek had requested a recliner to be brought to the room so that he could stay with Stiles as he recovered. The doctors wanted to keep him a few more days just to make sure he didn’t have any internal bleeding or other complications. He stayed by Stiles’ bed all day, taking some of his pain away so that he could keep a clear mind without so much medication.
Finally, that night, after things had calmed down, Derek slowly and carefully lay down on the bed with Stiles. Just touching the side of Stiles’ bruised body. He placed his face as close to the side of Stiles’ head as he could so that he could breathe in the scent of him as well as whisper quietly in his ear.
“I was so scared the whole ride here Stiles. I honestly don’t know what I would do without you. I don’t think I could live if you and your love didn’t exist anymore.”
“It’s ok Der, I’m fine now. I’m here and my love is a love that does exist.”