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Stiles woke up stretching out his back, he forgot how hard the bed at his dad’s was. Grabbing his phone the usual morning text from Derek was already waiting, except alongside it, was a reminder for the camping trip. He skim-read the text, locations, times, objects to bring. He had completely forgotten about the camping trip and had planned to spend the day being lazy playing games.
Dragging himself from his bed he clambered downstairs.
“Dad, I have a very important issue I need your help with.” Stiles declared catching his dad mid-bite into his lunch, as he stumbled into the room taking a seat, “It’s about Derek.”
“Err, I think you should ask Melissa, she knows about things like that,” The sheriff awkwardly cut in, not wanting to let Stiles finish that sentence, full of embarrassment.
“Wha?” Stiles crumpled his face in a confused manner, staring at his dad. “We are going Camping....” Stiles slowly stated.
“Oh Camping.” The Sheriff nodded before starting to frown, “Camping, Like the time you went camping to Mexico to a village that was destroyed by an earthquake?” The Sheriff questioned dropping his sandwich.
Stiles had forgotten about, why do all these camping experiences have to tie back to Derek? He wondered. “No. Like actual camping with woods and bugs, which is why I need you to ground me.”
Earning a laugh from the Sheriff, “I’m not going to ground you.” He shook his head, still chuckling. As if he’d ever managed to successfully ground Stiles.
“Please. Please, dad, I’ll let you eat steak and deep-fried greasy fries with no vegetables one day this week.” Stiles pleaded.
“Stiles you’re 21, I can’t ground you.”
“Yes, you can! I’m under your roof, see roof yours, so your rules.” Stiles dramatically waved around a hand.
“A roof you don’t live under anymore.” The Sheriff pointed out.
Stiles slumped, “I’m begging you, Derek thinks it’ll be good for us to getaway to the countryside, I don’t wanna getaway, I want to finish my holiday playing video games,” Stiles sobbed crashing to the table.
“Stiles, nature isn’t going to kill you, besides Derek’s house is in the middle of the woods.”
“Yes, house. With a roof and walls, and no longer any bugs inside, did I mention the bugs? It's the middle of summer prime bug hunting time, and I mean those bugs hunting me, not the other way around.”
“Stiles, go camping. Have fun.” The Sheriff stood up taking his sandwich with him as he left the room ending the conversation.
Stiles dramatically sobbed away, moaning that he didn’t want to go in hopes of the Sheriff changing his mind and helping him.
He didn’t.
Stiles was still sulking when he had to leave, grabbing a change of clothes it was weird not taking anything else but apparently they were going hardcore camping. Or that’s the impression he got from Derek’s, ‘you don’t need it’ text messages.
“HEY BATMAN!” Erica screamed when he opened the front door.
“No.” Stiles declared unimpressed. “What are you doing here?” He questioned; they were supposed to meet at the campsite directly. Something Derek was apparently really insistent on if the number of detailed maps showing the exact location he had been sent meant anything.
An evil grin lighting up her face, “Derek thinks you're a flight risk.”
“Derek?” Stiles lifted an eyebrow, doubting that fully.
“Okay no, not Derek. But there’s a bet, and my money is on you, sooo...” Erica shrugged, grabbing his arm.
Stiles left himself be dragged to his car, complete confusion hitting him, what bet? How was he winning it? And was he getting any money once he helped her win it?
The pair arrived last, Stiles interrogation methods failed miserably. Erica had spent the entire time giggling in a way he’d never seen her do before. There was a level of evil under it which he'd admire if it wasn't directed towards him.
Derek was his typical grumpy self which was unsurprising as ever. Stiles didn't blame him, it seemed like Derek was the only one doing anything when they arrived. The others sat around the fire chatting.
Scanning the site. Stiles was amazed to see an actual campsite with a fire, food cooler, several bags, and what he assumed was a tent. A tent Derek was currently wrestling. No spending the night under the stars being eaten alive by the bugs tonight, he celebrated. The sleeping part, however, seemed negotiable, The tent looked way too small to fit everyone in, even with their need to puppy pile on top of each other.
Dropping his bag he wondered over to Derek. "What is that?" he questioned without greeting the other.
"A tent..." Derek replied, eyebrow glare on point, looking at Stiles like he was an idiot.
Stiles snorted unphased, "That would be an insult on all tent kind," he joked, kicking the edge of the sheet, doubting they could get three people in it, let alone the rest of the pack.
Derek didn't reply, instead, he shot daggers at the tent, as if it’s very existence caused him pain.
Stiles sighed, bending down to pick up one of the rods.
"What are you doing," Derek stated. Although Stiles was sure it was supposed to be a question.
"Helping" Stiles rolled his eyes, "I'll do the-"
"I've got it" Derek growled at him.
Catching Stiles by surprise, it had been a long time since Derek growled at him. Stiles slowly lowered the tent pole, "okay," he muttered, "I'm just saying-"
"I'm doing it," Derek snapped at him.
Raising his hands Stiles walked away without saying anything. Having all his attempts to help rejected, Stiles joined the other by the unlit fire. He didn’t want to be here in the first case, so if Derek wasn’t going to let him help & get grumpy at him. Well fine, the sourwolf could fight the tent on his own.
Looking around something grabbed his attention, “Wait, Where's everyone else?” he questioned noticing the sudden lack of pack members. There was Scott, Alison, Erica, Boyd, Derek and himself. Part of him was surprised by Issac’s lack of attendance, maybe he was organising his useless scarf collection.
“Not coming...” Scott frowned looking concerned, While Erica was smiling like a madwoman from across the campsite.
“But I thought...” Stiles question got cut off.
“Hey, Stiles, look at this spider I found!” Erica declared bouncing over the log and opening her cupped hands above his head.
Stiles reacted the same way any sane human being would: he jumped out his skin and dived away with a manly scream. Ending up in Derek’s arms, as he looked around for the apparently made-up spider Erica had thrown at him.
Stiles would have shouted at her, but he was momentarily distracted by Derek’s magically appearing arms, Derek's strong muscley... - Nope. No Stiles, No, he scolded himself. He didn’t want to be on this camping trip and Derek had just yelled at him, it was a negative experience, no positives where allowed, nope. Climbing down, he shot Erica a glare. He had better be getting half this bet money. A bet he still I didn’t know about.
After throwing some remarks back and forth the conversation continued like before. Derek joined them, after finally finishing the tent, sitting next to Stiles their legs touching. It was still weird how much Derek had warmed up to him in the last couple of months. From threatening to rip his throat out, to somewhat best friends, Stiles wasn’t entirely sure what that situation was. He knew he wanted more, however, this was Derek, who he never stood a chance with. So he shrugged the idea off again, and jumped back into the pack meeting, chatting away about rubbish, until it ended in a play fight resulting in the resident human getting injured and Derek snapping at people.
Later, the pack broke off into two, most going for a run in their shifted form, leaving Stiles, Boyd and Alison to awkwardly sit around the campsite. Stiles confirming once more he had no signal.
“Why aren’t you two running?” Stiles frowned, turning to them.
Boyd was a werewolf himself and Alison could easily keep up. During the monthly pack runs she was always ahead with the others. While Stiles trailed along behind in his own world, that was until Derek got bored and came back for him pushing him to run the rest of the way. Thinking about it, Stiles didn’t really enjoy pack runs, mostly because of the running part.
The pair frowned at him for a while, “You know what this is right?” Boyd questioned, pointing around them.
“Err... camping?” Stiles shrugged.
Earning a laugh from Boyd, one of the first times he had ever heard the guy laugh.
Boyd and Alison shared a look, then continued their conversation that Stiles wasn’t interested in. Maybe a nap in the tent would be a good idea. After all, he was not getting any sleep in there tonight, not with the entire pack's body heat, threatening to melt his skin off. Crawling into the tent, he found Derek had layered several blankets and sleeping bags around. It was heavenly like soft spongy clouds and he fell asleep quickly.
“Stiles, Stiles.” Someone said, softly shaking him. It was a rather gentle way to wake up, especially when he found Derek hanging over him, “Food’s ready,” he muttered, climbing out the tent and leaving the sleepy Stiles to contemplate life as he tried to wake up. After a while Stiles literally stumbled out the tent, earning a snort from Derek. He must have slept longer than he thought; the sky was dark with stairs already appearing.
Sitting down Stiles was glad he had gone for a nap, it looked like Derek had cooked up his latest kill. Sure Stiles knew how the meat got to his place, but was still odd to see his friends catch, butcher and eat something within hours of each other.
“Wait, where'd everyone go?” Stiles announced, looking around the empty camp.
“To their campsites...” Derek frowned at him over the fire, as he plated up some incredible looking meat.
Accepting the plate, Stiles entire focus was taken by the mouth-watering smell. The meat was hot, like scolding his tongue, hot, but Stiles didn’t care and had to keep eating. It tasted amazing. He didn’t bother telling Derek how good the food tasted, from the moans he was making and the small pleased smile on Derek’s face, Derek knew it was good.
“Man, we should have brought Dad, I promised he could have meat, and this might be the best meat he ever gets to taste.” Stiles rambled once he was finished.
“You bribed your dad into letting you come?” Derek smiled a bit bigger.
“Er no. I tried to bribe him into grounding me.” Stiles awkwardly declared.
Earning a confused look from Derek, who thankfully didn’t press him on it. When they finished the pair sat around in silence staring at the stars. Stiles could only stand it so long before he started getting angsty, needing to move and do something.
Suddenly he jumped up “I’m going to stretch my legs,” he declared, walking away. Feeling disappointed when he realised Derek wasn’t planning on joining him. Shaking out his arms, Stiles followed a path for a little while. Until he saw the silhouettes of some people he knew. Considering Scott is the wolf, he probably should have sensed Stiles way before Alison did. And yet Stiles still ended up with a bow pointed at him. It didn’t matter how many times she did that, it was still terrifying.
“Stiles...” Alison huffed lowering her weapon.
“Dude, Where’s Derek?” Scott frowned, looking around.
“Back at camp,” Stiles shrugged.
“What did you do?” Scott looked worried.
“Nothing. I got bored sitting around doing nothing,” Stiles returned his frown. Why did he have to do anything? Just because Stiles did most of the stuff didn’t mean he caused it all. “I might as well do something, instead of wasting time on stupid star watching.”
Alison sighed, “Stiles, this place is called Lovers Peak,” she rolled her eyes. “It’s a spot for lovers to sit and watch the stars together, you know, where certain people can prove they can provide and care for mates,” she commented, opening her eyes wide, almost trying to transmit the information directly into Stiles’s brain as she nodded towards Scott, who was looking innocently confused.
“Oh,” Stiles said out loud, suddenly understanding the situation. “Well have fun,” he awkwardly muttered, already backing away. He was stupid. So stupid. He already heard enough about their relationship from Scott, he didn’t need to see it first hand as well.
Getting back to camp he was still laughing away his embarrassment of crashing their date, something he’s done many times, but that still didn’t help. Stumbling back into camp he was greeted with a big smile from Derek, who almost looked relieved he would return. Stiles smiled back about to explain everything that just happened to him when an idea hit him. He looked at the one tent, looked at the fire, then two plates and finally at Derek. The meanings finally sinking in, ‘their own camp’ Derek had said earlier, ‘Provide for mates’ Alison had stated. Holy shit this was a date, a date he was on... with Derek.
“Dude, is this a date?” Stiles froze, confusion covering him. He couldn’t be on the date, could he?
Stiles took Derek’s frown as a yes.
“You never said it was a date!” Stiles shouted sitting down on the log. “No, this can’t be a date, the others came!” He started waving his arms about nearly hitting Derek in the process.
“Because you invited them...” Derek slowly commented, confusion covering his face.
Stiles quickly replayed everything in his mind, okay, yes, he had invited the others. But only because when Derek mentioned camping, he thought he meant a pack bbq at the house. Looking back he couldn’t fully understand why he would link the two together and yet he had. “Ohhh yeah I did, man, I’m stupid,” he slowly commented. Remembering the nervous unsure glare Derek’s eyebrows had been sending him when Derek first mentioned the camping trip. Derek had been nervous about asking him on a date, and he went and invited the entire pack along too. Stiles wanted to go whack his head against a tree. “And you’re sure you want me as a potential mate?” Stiles questioned, feeling like every inch of intelligence he ever had was a lie.
Earning a snort from Derek, “No I wanted Boyd, but he’s taken so your second best,” Derek deadpanned.
He succeeded in making Stiles laugh, it wasn’t funny but for some reason, Stiles was still laughing. Letting himself recover before speaking, “So this whole, providing food and shelter,” Stiles said pointing to the meat Derek had caught and cooked, The tent Derek had set up and the fire Derek had created, “it’s like a werewolf courting thing?”
Derek nodded “When you word it that way. Yes,” he said, sounding unsure where Stiles was heading.
“So, in courting, people ask for the parent’s hand. Did you ask my dad’s permission?” Stiles questioned.
Derek’s face instantly pale, “err...i.. umm, is that something you wanted me to do?” Derek suddenly looked a lot more nervous and less confident.
“No, No I’m joking,” Stiles waved his hands around, “Cause earlier Dad completely hinted towards me getting the Bids and Bee talk from Melissa. As if I didn't create those pamphlets she hands out. Seriously, you should have seen the ones the hospital handed out before, they were totally crap,” Stiles rambled along. Spotting the small smile on Derek’s face. “What?”
“Nothing,” Derek smiled, turning his attention back to the sky.
Stiles wriggled up the log and snuck under Derek’s arm because that was a thing he could totally do now. Humming happily he lent on the other's shoulder. “You like mee...” Stiles sang off-key joking, before turning serious, “Holy fuck, you really like me,” the full realisation only just hitting him.
“God knows why,” Derek mumbled practically pulling Stiles on his lap.
“I take back everything I ever said, this camping trip is fun.”
Derek froze, “You weren't having fun?”
Stiles cursed himself.
“No, well, basically I wanted to play video games today, then you got all snappy when I turned up, which I now understand cause you were stressed, but you did an amazing job, like so good, that tent is comfier than my bed. The meat is to die for, I think I was put on this planet to eat that, it was soo good,” Stiles started to ramble, feeling his face going red, so he quickly changed the topic, “If I can name more constellations than you do I get a kiss?” Stiles cheekily asked.
“Made up ones don’t count,” Derek chuckled back.