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Growing up in a big family of werewolves gave you automatic insight on certain topics that most families probably never touched upon openly, because when the majority of the family had heightened senses, there was no hiding even the most private of issues. But, then again, it also made for some easy family bonding to bring your sisters chocolate or onion rings when they were on their periods, or to have quick, unplanned romps in the forest when your parents suddenly started smelling like that.
So yes, Derek was raised to know about things most teens never even bothered with outside of sex ed, and it came in handy when he suddenly had to teach three newly turned teenage werewolves about how it was really bad form to call out people on their smells, and also that no matter how interested someone smelled, that was not an invitation.
But even born wolves raised by decent parents could put their foot in it every once in a while, and there were certain things Derek had never really had a chance to experience first-hand. So when he happened to catch a certain smell on Stiles, at first he assumed it was either an accident, or something kinky he really didn't want to know about. But then it happened again, and again, and eventually it started nagging Derek.
Because Stiles looked, sounded and smelled like a guy. Nothing in his appearance or anything Derek's senses could catch had ever revealed him to be anything but male. But having spent his entire childhood surrounded by healthy females ensured that there was no way Derek could mistake that one smell as anything else.
It smelled like Stiles was on his period. Which... okay, weird.
At first Derek brushed it off, because it mostly just smelled like blood, and Stiles was constantly getting himself hurt, either from supernatural issues or natural clumsiness. But it carried the unmistakable decaying odor of old blood, but the smell was sharp, meaning that the old blood had yet to coagulate. And if Derek let himself open his senses enough, there actually was a faint hint of that one special smell that you'd normally only find with women you were very intimately acquainted with.
Stiles was a guy, though. Hell, he was even growing stubble these days, pathetic as it was. And yet... Derek could not stop thinking about it. Why Stiles would smell like that. And, of course, now that Derek was aware of it, it was like he could smell nothing else if Stiles was in the room.
It wasn't like Derek didn't have enough things to think about, still being a new alpha with unruly teens as betas, the Argents living literally next door, and whispers of an alpha pack starting to circulate. No, Derek had enough on his plate.
But that didn't change the fact that Stiles had become a sudden enigma to Derek, and as much as he'd already been puzzled by the guy, this new development made it almost impossible to think of anything else when they were around each other.
By complete coincidence, Derek ended up alone with Stiles one day, having been the only one available to drive him home after the Jeep had once again suffered injury from Stiles' charging into things he should really stay out of. Stiles stared morosely after the tow truck as it disappeared down the road, and finally got into the Camaro with a sigh.
As much as he tried not to, Derek could not help himself, and drew in a deep breath to check for the smell. It wasn't there right now, but if he focused hard, there was still that tangy smell...
“You smell like-” he started, but cut himself off harshly. Had he really just been about to talk to Stiles about it? Derek's mother would have snarled him into the ground for being that rude. And it was none of his business, he told himself sternly.
But it was too late.
“Like what?” Stiles asked, and Derek took his annoyance at himself out on the throttle, until he remembered that speeding with the Sheriff's son in the car probably wouldn't make him seem less like a criminal.
“Nothing.”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “No, dude, you can't just say something like that to a guy and just not finish it! I mean, is it BO? Did I step in something? Be a pal and spare me the humiliation if I have something stuck to me.”
“You don't need help humiliating yourself,” Derek grumbled, because that's how he and Stiles talked. It was banter and snark and insults, and, frankly, Derek liked it that way. Because that was safe.
“Hardy har har, wolf's got jokes. But no, seriously, how am I ever gonna get laid if I smell like something nasty?”
“You don't.” Shit. Derek should have just lied. He cursed himself for becoming too much like Stiles and speaking before thinking.
“O...kay,” Stiles said slowly, and there was definitely something wary about him now. And it was Derek's fault. Double shit.
He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, it's nothing. Humans probably can't even smell it.”
“You are really not helping, dude. Just tell me what it is!”
Stiles' heartbeat was quickening, and Derek could smell how he started sweating. He was upset. Triple fucking shit.
“It's just... sometimes you smell like. Like period blood.”
There, he said it, and whatever the reason, he was prepared for Stiles to mock him now.
But Stiles didn't mock. If anything he curled in on himself slightly, and he smelled... embarrassed.
“Ah. Well. Not much I can do about that. Sorry.”
Derek blinked slowly. “You're... but you're a guy.”
Weirdly this made Stiles grin at him. “Really? I don't smell like... girly or anything to you?”
As odd as the question was, Derek decided it deserved a straight answer, and shrugged. “Men and women don't smell that different. It's mostly their choice in fragrances that makes them easy to tell apart. I'd have to have my nose pretty much in someone's crotch to tell for sure.” That was a slight exaggeration, but he'd learned from experience that it was best to underplay his senses somewhat around humans. They generally didn't like the idea of just how few secrets they could really have around werewolves.
“Sooo,” Stiles started haltingly. “Even to a born wolf there's nothing... uhm.”
Derek was seriously confused, but he almost swerved on the road when his brain finally put the pieces together. Stiles was...
It was so ridiculously simple that Derek should probably bash his head into a wall a few times as punishment for being this slow. Despite Stiles being a run-of-the-mill horny teen, Derek had not once smelled a boner on him. And that smell was pretty damn distinct. Plus, Stiles had never taken his shirt off outside of the locker room, even when all the wolves had been in various states of undress. Not to mention that he'd written a paper so absurdly detailed about penises that Derek had been half sure he was gay.
“Oh. So you're. You're a...” Derek grimaced, because he didn't have the right words for this. “I don't know how you're supposed to say this but... you're telling me you have girl... parts?”
Stiles barked out a small laugh, and his heartbeat went into double time. “I think the word you're looking for is transgender. And yeah. I have 'girl parts'. Hopefully not forever, though.”
Derek thought about it for a second, and then something else occurred to him. “Is that why you call yourself Stiles? Is your real name for a girl?”
“Well, yes and no. My real name is an awful Polish tongue-twister, and I doubt anyone non-Polish would know either way. But yeah, it's... feminine. All the more reason to pick my own.”
“But, how come...” Derek started, but trailed off again. He was really poking his nose into things that were none of his business. “Never mind, sorry,” he grumbled, and focused on his driving. They were entering Beacon Hills, so it wasn't long until Stiles was home.
Stiles gave him a strangely significant look. “You can ask, you know. I don't mind.”
Permission or not, it still felt invasive. But Derek had to admit he was curious. And at least he could maybe settle the smell question...
“Okay, so... you definitely don't look like a girl, so how come you still...” he made a vague motion towards Stiles' crotch, and yanked his hand back to the steering wheel when Stiles quirked an eyebrow. Smooth.
“Why the periods? Well, that's a new thing. See, most doctors aren't too happy prescribing hormones to kids, so the best I could get was blockers. So I didn't start puberty until all the damn shrinks and experts finally realized that I wasn't ever gonna be a girl. My fifteenth birthday present was my first testosterone injection. I have never been so happy to see a needle in my life.” Stiles obviously tried to make it sound lighthearted, but there was so much sadness there. Derek suddenly understood a lot more of why Stiles considered himself such an outcast.
“So, anyway, puberty started, and it kinda began with the default setting, so I get the periods, and a little... uhm. Anyway, it'll take a while for the hormones to really kick in, and until that happens, it's shark week once a month.”
Derek snorted. “Shark week?”
“Yeah,” Stiles said with a grin. “You know, constant hunger, animal aggression and buckets of blood. A Discovery Channel special if ever there was one.”
They pulled up outside Stiles' house, and he made as if to get out, but hesitated. “You don't... you're not... grossed out?”
“No?” Derek blurted, because what was there even to be grossed out about?
“Oh. Okay. Cool. I'll, uh. See you around. Thanks for the ride!” Stiles called and pretty much raced to his door. Derek stayed in the car and listened for a while longer. Stiles' heart was still pounding away in his chest, but he'd smiled as he closed the door behind him, so Derek let him be, and drove off.
- - -
In the weeks that followed, Stiles was different around Derek. It was subtle, but there was no mistaking it. He laughed more freely, touched Derek more, and was apparently a lot more comfortable in his space. Derek wasn't sure he was entirely comfortable himself, not used to much touching these days, but he didn't want to push Stiles away and risk adding to the hurt he was already carrying, so Derek just let it happen. Eventually he even began to like it, and he realized that maybe he'd needed some closeness too. Not sex, because he could get that anytime. But intimacy, friendship and comfort. Derek had pretty much forgotten how valuable those were.
However, it was still completely and utterly surprising to Derek when he dragged himself home one night after a very close shave with a goddamn troll, of all things, and Stiles kissed him. They'd hobbled through the door, slightly worse for wear, but Derek was healing, and Stiles was mostly just dirty. He'd insisted on driving Derek home, and considering how wobbly he walked that had probably been best, no matter how much he complained about it.
And then Stiles had just cut off his grumbling, soft lips crashing into his, and Derek was so shocked he froze completely, panicking slightly, because what the hell was he supposed to do with this?
When Stiles pulled away after a long, hesitant moment he looked stricken.
“Oh... no, dude, I am so sorry, I shouldn't have... I just thought... shit, I'm sorry, just forget I did that, I'll leave you alone, now, oh my god, I can't believe I thought-”
Derek shut down his rambling by clapping a hand over his mouth, because it was just too much noise to his ears right now, while everything was still achy and tender from the rapid healing. But he couldn't let this go, because Stiles had done nothing wrong.
“Stiles. It's okay. I'm not angry.”
There was a pinched look on Stiles' face when Derek lowered his hand. “Okay. Uhm. Good. I'll just...” he motioned towards the door, but Derek stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“No, hang on. Why did you do that?”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “Why do you think? I'm... you know, into you, and I kinda thought you might be a little bit into me too, or... well, at least not completely weirded out about my body, so I thought... why not chance it?” He chuckled darkly. “As per fucking usual I do stupid shit without thinking first.”
Derek took a moment to try and make sense of it. Stiles had kissed Derek because he wanted to. Because he liked Derek, and wasn't that just unreal enough all on its own. But he'd also decided to take the chance because Derek had responded positively to the revelation of his gender issues. It made Derek a little sick to think what kind of abuse Stiles had probably been exposed to, in order to be pleasantly surprised by Derek not giving a shit.
And that was the moment Derek realized just how much he cared. How much it upset him to know that someone hurt Stiles, and just how badly he wanted to tear the throats out of anyone who might give him shit. Kiss or no kiss, that wasn't something Derek wanted to let slip away.
“It's fine. Really.”
Stiles scoffed, and Derek shook him gently by the arm. “No, it is. I just think maybe you should ask me on a date first.”
The look on Stiles' face was almost comical. “Are you... dude, you don't get to joke about this.”
“I'm not.”
“...seriously?”
Stiles' voice was thick with hope, and it made Derek weirdly warm inside to be able to nurture that hope and fan the flame of it to life.
“Yeah. Seriously.”
The smile on Stiles' face was bright like the sun, and it felt like the end of a long winter for Derek. Maybe for them both.
End.